Deadpool

For the film based on the character, see Deadpool (film). For the video game based on the character, see Deadpool (video game). For other uses, see Dead pool (disambiguation).

Template:Infobox comics character and title Deadpool (Wade Winston Wilson) is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Fabian Nicieza and artist/writer Rob Liefeld, the character first appeared in The New Mutants #98 (cover-dated February 1991). Initially Deadpool was depicted as a supervillain when he made his first appearance in The New Mutants and later in issues of X-Force, but later evolved into his more recognizable antiheroic persona. Deadpool, whose real name is Wade Wilson, is a disfigured and deeply disturbed mercenary and assassin with the superhuman ability of an accelerated healing factor and physical prowess. The character is known as the "Merc with a Mouth" because of his tendency to joke constantly, including his proclivity for breaking the fourth wall, a literary device used by the writers for humorous effect and running gags.

The character's popularity has seen him featured in numerous forms of other media. In the 2004 series Cable & Deadpool, he refers to his own scarred appearance as "Ryan Reynolds crossed with a Shar-Pei". Reynolds himself would eventually portray the character in the X-Men film series, appearing in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Deadpool (2016), and its sequel Deadpool 2 (2018).

Publication history

Further information: List of Deadpool titles

1990s

Created by artist/writer Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool made his first appearance in the pages of The New Mutants #98 cover dated February 1991. According to Nicieza, Liefeld came up with the character's visual design and name, and Nicieza himself came up with the character's speech mannerisms. Liefeld, a fan of the Teen Titans comics, showed his new character to then-writer Fabian Nicieza. Upon seeing the costume and noting his characteristics (killer with super agility), Nicieza contacted Liefeld, saying "this is Deathstroke from Teen Titans". Nicieza gave Deadpool the real name of "Wade Wilson" as an inside-joke to being "related" to "Slade Wilson", Deathstroke.

Other inspirations were Spider-Man and Wolverine. Liefeld states: "Wolverine and Spider-Man were the two properties I was competing with at all times. I didn't have those, I didn't have access to those. I had to make my own Spider-Man and Wolverine. That's what Cable and Deadpool were meant to be, my own Spider-Man and my own Wolverine." Both Deadpool and Cable were also meant to be tied into Wolverine's history already from the start, as Liefeld describes: "Wolverine was my guy. If I could tie anything into Wolverine, I was winning." Liefeld's favorite comic title before X-Men was Avengers, which featured weapons like Captain America's shield, Thor's hammer and Hawkeye's bow and arrow, he decided to weaponize his new characters as well.

The character's co-creator, Rob Liefeld, holding up a copy of New Mutants #98, in which the character first appeared, during an appearance at JHU Comics in Manhattan held three days before the release of the film Deadpool

In his first appearance, Deadpool is hired by Tolliver to attack Cable and the New Mutants. After subsequently appearing in X-Force as a recurring character, Deadpool began making guest appearances in a number of different Marvel Comics titles such as The Avengers, Daredevil, and Heroes for Hire. In 1993, the character received his own miniseries, titled The Circle Chase, written by Fabian Nicieza and pencilled by Joe Madureira. It was a relative success and Deadpool starred in a second, self-titled miniseries written in 1994 by Mark Waid, pencilled by Ian Churchill, and inked by Jason Temujin Minor and Bud LaRosa. Waid later commented, "Frankly, if I'd known Deadpool was such a creep when I agreed to write the mini-series, I wouldn't have done it. Someone who hasn't paid for their crimes presents a problem for me."

In 1997, Deadpool was given his own ongoing title, initially written by Joe Kelly, with then-newcomer Ed McGuinness as an artist. Deadpool became an action comedy parody of the cosmic drama, antihero-heavy comics of the time. The series firmly established his supporting cast, including his prisoner/den mother Blind Al and his best friend Weasel. The ongoing series gained cult popularity for its unorthodox main character and its balance of angst and pop culture slapstick and the character became less of a villain, though the element of his moral ambiguity remained. The writer Joe Kelly noted, "With Deadpool, we could do anything we wanted because everybody just expected the book to be cancelled every five seconds, so nobody was paying attention. And we could get away with it." Reportedly Kelly introduced the fourth wall breaking gimmick.

The series was taken over by Christopher Priest who noted that he found Kelly's issues to be "complex and a little hostile to new readers like me" and that by issue 37, he realized that "it was okay to make Deadpool look stupid." Kelly may have introduced Deadpool to breaking the fourth wall, but Priest "could be credited for establishing it as an essential part of the character's personality and worldview." Priest left the series after only one year at issue #45.

2000s

For a time, writers who followed generally ignored the fourth wall entirely, until Gail Simone took over with issue #65. Her version is remembered for the frequent use of the "little yellow boxes." Deadpool lasted until issue #69, at which point it was relaunched as a new title with a similar character called Agent X in 2002. This occurred during a line-wide revamp of X-Men related comics, with Cable becoming Soldier X and X-Force becoming X-Statix. Simone notes that "When I took the Deadpool job, the revamp hadn't been planned, so it was a complete surprise. Thankfully, we heard about it in time to make adjustments to the early scripts." It appeared that Deadpool was killed in an explosion fighting the supervillain Black Swan. Deadpool's manager, Sandi Brandenberg later founded Agency X with a mysterious man called Alex Hayden, who took the name dubbed Agent X. Deadpool later returned to the series. Simone left the title after seven issues due to creative differences with the series editor, but then returned to conclude with issues 13–15.

Deadpool's next starring appearance came in 2004 with the launch of Cable & Deadpool written by Fabian Nicieza, where Deadpool became partnered with his former enemy, Cable, teaming up in various adventures. This title was canceled with issue #50 and replaced by a new Cable series in March 2008. Deadpool then appeared briefly in the Wolverine: Origins title by writer Daniel Way before Way and Paco Medina launched another Deadpool title in September 2008. Medina was the main series artist, with Carlo Barberi filling in on the first issue after the "Secret Invasion" tie-in.

A new Deadpool ongoing series written by Daniel Way with artist Paco Medina began as a Secret Invasion tie-in. In the first arc, the character is seen working with Nick Fury to steal data on how to kill the Skrull queen Veranke. Norman Osborn steals the information that Deadpool had stolen from the Skrulls, and subsequent stories deal with the fallout from that. Writer Daniel Way explained, "the first thing Osborn does to try and take care of the situation is to bring in a hired gun to take Deadpool down, which would be Tiger-Shark. That would be the standard thing to do, but of course everything about Deadpool is non-standard. So it goes completely awry and Norman has to get more serious about things." The story also sees the return of Bob, Agent of HYDRA; "I don't want the book to become 'Deadpool and Friends' so characters will drift in and out, but Bob was someone I definitely wanted to bring in. It just had to be at the perfect moment and when I was putting this storyline together that moment presented itself." This all led directly to a confrontation with the new Thunderbolts in "Magnum Opus" which crossed over between Deadpool vol. 2 #8–9 and Thunderbolts #130–131. Thunderbolts writer Andy Diggle said, "it's a natural progression for Deadpool to go after Norman, and for Norman to send his personal hit-squad after Deadpool." In Deadpool #15, Deadpool decides to become a hero resulting in conflicts with proper heroes like Spider-Man (who he had recently encountered in The Amazing Spider-Man #611 as part of "The Gauntlet") and leading to a 3-issue arc where he takes on Hit-Monkey, a character who debuted in the same month in a digital, then print, one-shot.

Another ongoing Deadpool series, Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth launched in July 2009, written by Victor Gischler, with art by Bong Dazo. In it Deadpool teams with Headpool from Marvel Zombies 3 and 4.

A special anniversary issue titled Deadpool #900 was released in October 2009. It features stories written by several authors, with the main feature written by the original Deadpool series writer Joe Kelly and drawn by Deadpool's creator Rob Liefeld. A third Deadpool ongoing series, Deadpool Team-Up, launched in November 2009 (with issue numbers counting in reverse starting with issue #899), written by Fred Van Lente, with art by Dalibor Talajic. This series features Deadpool teaming up with different heroes from the Marvel Universe in each issue, such as Hercules. Deadpool also joined the cast of the new Uncanny X-Force team.

2010s

Another Deadpool series by Gischler titled Deadpool Corps was released in April 2010. Besides Deadpool himself, this series featured alternate versions of Deadpool, including Lady Deadpool (who debuted in Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth #7), Headpool (the Marvel Zombies universe incarnation, now reduced to a severed head), and two new characters; Kidpool, a child, and Dogpool, a dog. The series lasted twelve issues.

Marvel also published Deadpool titles through the Marvel Knights and MAX imprints: Deadpool: Wade Wilson's War, by Duane Swierczynski and Jason Pearson, and Deadpool MAX by David Lapham and Kyle Baker.

Deadpool (vol. 2) was written by Daniel Way and drawn by Alé Garza. In the story arc "DEAD", Wade is "cured" of his healing ability and becomes mortal. As a side effect, he also has his old, unscarred face once again. Although he spent the majority of the story arc looking forward to dying, he suppresses his desires in order to protect his friend and sidekick Hydra Bob.

After he loses his healing factor, Wilson claims he felt "more alive than ever." However, after a harsh beating from Intelligencia, Wade realized that he had let his ability to heal compensate for skill so he decided to ask for help from Taskmaster in training. Taskmaster asked Wilson to help him steal Pym Particles from S.H.I.E.L.D., but actually, he allowed Black Box to study Wade in order to prepare his vengeance against Wilson, even letting him know Deadpool lost his healing factor.

Wade managed to defeat Black Box, Black Tom and Black Swan, but in the process, his face was burned and disfigured again. Former FBI agent Allison Kemp wanted to get revenge on Deadpool because of his involvement in an accident which left her in a wheelchair, and she called other enemies of Deadpool such as T-Ray and Slayback and trained them to kill Deadpool. Deadpool infiltrated their base and managed to get T-Ray and Slayback killed when Kemp was about to kill herself in an explosion which would kill Wade in the process, he convinced her not to attack him. In that moment, he was surprised by the returned Evil Deadpool, who informed Wade that the serum they took was not permanent, reasons why Wade's face didn't heal or a finger he lost grew back, so Wade would return after Evil Deadpool shot him. Daniel Way's Deadpool series concluded with issue 63.

As part of Marvel's Marvel NOW! initiative a new Deadpool ongoing series was launched, written by Brian Posehn and Gerry Duggan and illustrated by Tony Moore. He is also a member of the Thunderbolts. In the 27th issue of his new series, as part of "All-New Marvel NOW!", Deadpool was married for the third time. Initially a secret, his bride was revealed in the webcomic Deadpool: The Gauntlet to be Shiklah, Queen of the Undead. Deadpool also discovers that he has a daughter by the name of Eleanor from a former flame of Deadpool named Carmelita.

During the events of "Original Sin", it was revealed that Deadpool was tricked into killing his parents by a scientist known as Butler (who abducted Eleanor and gave her to his brother), however Deadpool does not know about it.

Much later, he clashed with Carnage, believing the universe was telling to defeat him. After several fights and getting torn to pieces, Deadpool bonds with the Mercury Team's four symbiotes Phage, Riot, Lasher, and Agony. Playing mind games, Deadpool tricked Shriek by using his shapeshifting abilities to make her disorient and having her flee. After the symbiotic Deadpool and Carnage fought again, Deadpool captures Shriek and forces her to impersonate himself, making it trick Carnage into almost killing her in the process. Feeling broken after a mental breakdown, Carnage allowed himself to be arrested and was placed in an unlocked cell. While sitting in the cell until he was his own self, Carnage swore vengeance on Deadpool. Deadpool, after defeating Carnage, gives the Mercury Team's symbiotes to Lasher (a war dog who helped Deadpool fight Carnage while also bonded with a symbiote) to deliver to them to the government.

During the "AXIS" storyline, Deadpool appears as a member of Magneto's unnamed supervillain group during the fight against Red Skull's Red Onslaught form. The group of villains becomes inverted to heroes, after a spell cast by Scarlet Witch and Doctor Doom. This group was later named the Astonishing Avengers. This Deadpool, referred to as "Zenpool" was pivotal in turning Apocalypse to fighting the Inverted Avengers.

Deadpool's death occurs in Deadpool #250, involving story ideas that cowriters Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn have had in mind since the beginning of the NOW series. Issue #250 was technically issue #45, but was so named as it was the cumulative 250th issue of the character's solo series. Deadpool faces off in a final showdown with ULTIMATUM and Flag-Smasher, killing all of them, and gives up the "Deadpool" identity, wishing to have a better life. He, along with his family and friends, (and presumably everyone on Earth) are all killed when the Earth collides with an alternate universe's Earth. Deadpool laments that the Secret Wars should have stayed an Avengers event, but then dies at peace, content that everybody else is dying with him.

All New, All Different Marvel

Eight months after the events of Secret Wars and the restoration of Earth, Deadpool is seen working for Steve Rogers. After stealing some potentially life-saving chemicals needed by an ailing Rogue, he is offered membership in the Avengers Unity Squad.

In the course of the following months, Deadpool's popularity skyrocketed after the mercenary Solo impersonated him to piggyback on Deadpool's reputation and take jobs at a higher pay rate. One of Solo's jobs in Washington, D.C. had Deadpool's public opinion drastically change for the better when he saved an ambassador from his telepathically-manipulated agents. After learning of Solo's impersonation, Deadpool came up with the idea to form a group of mercenaries called the Mercs for Money to extend his reach across the globe. However, Deadpool's newfound popularity forced him to leave his family behind, fearing his enemies could endanger them. Deadpool additionally joined the Avengers Unity Division and used his popularity as a means of funding the team, with the profit from merchandise.

Madcap additionally returned to Deadpool's life, though Wade was unaware his experience inside his mind left Madcap emotionally damaged and vengeful. Madcap initially posed as an ally, joining the Mercs for Money, but eventually showed his true intentions after he was discovered impersonating Deadpool to defame and threaten his loved onces. Seeing as he had had enough fun, Madcap used an alien weapon to molecularly disintegrate himself. For his second coming, the villain had Deadpool unwittingly become the carrier of a deadly airborne virus with which he infected his family. Wade found a cure, though had to resort to Cable's evil clone Stryfe to find it. Around this time, tensions between Shiklah's domain and the surface word sparked an invasion of Manhattan from Monster Metropolis, which in turn led to Shiklah divorcing Deadpool, opting to return to Dracula instead.

Not long after Wade joined the Avengers Unity Division, the real Steve Rogers was secretly supplanted by an evil fascist counterpart from another timeline that operated as a Hydra sleeper agent within the superhero community. When Phil Coulson became suspicious of Steve, Rogers convinced Deadpool to kill him, claiming that Coulson had gone rogue. A short time afterwards, Captain America's machinations resulted in Hydra rising to power, taking over the United States of America. When Hydra's conquest had barely begun, Preston found out about Coulson's death, and confronted Deadpool about it. The fight ended in Preston's death. As Hydra's empire grew stronger, Wade joined its own version of the Avengers out of blind loyalty for Captain America. Plagued by guilt, Wade held back when tasked with hunting down the rebel alliance known as the Underground, and eventually helped, behind the scenes, to lay part of the foundation of Hydra's eventual defeat. With his mistakes costing the lives of two of his friends, the love of his daughter, and any respect the world had for him, Deadpool turned his back on what little remained of the life he had built.

Marvel Legacy and Fresh Start

As many heroes and villains alike are now hunting for Deadpool's head, Deadpool must accomplish his atonement he can still recover, such as humiliating Hydra Supreme Rogers in his prison, and asking the now returned real Captain America to revive Preston. Once his atonements were done, Deadpool began to erase every good memory that he unintentionally made worse, restarted his new life and had his criminal records aligned with Hydra made clear. Although Deadpool erased his memories, the real Captain America managed to recover the photo of him, Deadpool and Wolverine from Deadpool's pocket, the only good piece left which Deadpool will be able to remember.

Fictional character biography

The character's back-story has been presented as vague and subject to change, and within the narrative he is unable to remember his personal history due to a mental condition. Whether or not his name was even Wade Wilson is subject to speculation since one of his nemeses, T-Ray, claims in Deadpool #33 that he is the real Wade Wilson and that Deadpool is a vicious murderer who stole his identity. There have been other dubious stories about his history—at one point the supervillain Loki claimed to be his father. Frequently, revelations are later retconned or ignored altogether, and in one issue, Deadpool himself joked that whether or not he is actually Wade Wilson depends on which writer the reader prefers.

He has professed to be Canadian. The original story had him joining the Weapon X program after being kicked out of the U.S. Army Special Forces and given an artificial healing factor based on Wolverine's thanks to Dr. Emrys Killebrew, one of the head scientists.

Characterization

Personality

Deadpool is aware that he is a fictional comic book character. He commonly breaks the fourth wall, which is done by few other characters in the Marvel Universe, and this is used to humorous effect. He often has conversations with his two internal monologues, which are shown as caption boxes in his panels; in Deadpool Annual #1 (2014) it is revealed that Madcap, a foe of Captain America, is the psychotic voice appearing in white captions with a typewriter serif; the other voice is unidentified and often mistakenly attributed to Dr. Bong, Deadpool's former psychiatrist.

Deadpool is depicted as having a regenerative healing factor, which not only prevents him from being permanently injured through enhanced cell regeneration throughout his body, but also causes psychosis and mental instability, as his neurons are also affected by the accelerated regeneration. It is thought that while his psychosis is a handicap, it is also one of his assets as they make him an extremely unpredictable opponent. Taskmaster, who has photo-reflexive memory which allows him to copy anyone's fighting skills by observation, was unable to defeat Deadpool due to his chaotic and improvised fighting style. Taskmaster has also stated that Deadpool is an expert at distracting his opponents.

The character, known for his talkative nature, has been nicknamed the "Merc with a Mouth".

Deadpool has sometimes been portrayed to have a strong sense of core morality. In Uncanny X-Force, he storms out after Wolverine tries to rationalize Fantomex killing Apocalypse, who was at the time in a child form. After Wolverine argues that Deadpool is motivated solely by money, Archangel reveals that Deadpool never cashed any of his checks.

Sexual orientation

In December 2013, Deadpool was confirmed as being pansexual by Deadpool writer Gerry Duggan via Twitter. When asked about Deadpool's sexuality, co-creator Fabian Nicieza stated, "Deadpool is whatever sexual inclination his brain tells him he is in THAT moment. And then the moment passes." Nicieza has also stated,

Not trying to be dismissive, but readers always want to 'make a character their own' and often that is to the exclusion of what the character might mean to other fans. I've been dogged with the DP sexuality questions for YEARS. It is a bit tiring. He is NO sex and ALL sexes. He is yours and everyone else's. So not dismissive, but rather the epitome of inclusive.

Powers and abilities

Deadpool's primary power is an accelerated healing factor, depicted by various writers at differing levels of efficiency. The speed of his healing factor depends on the severity of the wound and Deadpool's mental state. It works most efficiently when he is awake, alert, and in good spirits. Deadpool's accelerated healing factor is strong enough that he has survived complete incineration and decapitation more than once. Although his head normally has to be reunited with his body to heal a decapitation wound, he was able to regrow his head after having it pulverized by the Hulk in the graphic novel Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe.

Deadpool's brain cells are similarly affected, with dying neurons being rejuvenated at a super accelerated rate. This allows Deadpool to recover from any head wounds, and it renders him nearly invulnerable to psychic and telepathic powers, although this ability is inconsistent. It has been revealed that at the time his healing ability was given to him, Deadpool suffered from some form of cancer; after the healing factor was given to him, it made his normal cells as well as his cancerous cells unable to die, giving him a heavily scarred appearance beneath his suit.

Deadpool's body is highly resistant to most drugs and toxins, due to his accelerated healing factor. For example, it is extremely difficult for him to become intoxicated. He can be affected by certain drugs, such as tranquilizers if he is exposed to a large enough dosage. Unlike Wolverine, whose wounds sometimes cause excruciating pain as they heal depending on the severity, Deadpool has some degree of pain insensitivity.

Deadpool is effectively immortal, although he has died several times. He is still alive 800 years in the future when the new X-Force encounters him. In addition, Thanos once declared that Deadpool should "consider yourself cursed ... with life!" out of jealousy over Deadpool's status as Death's love interest. His enemy T-Ray later resurrected him, under Thanos' instruction, using an artifact he had given him. Later, Deadpool was informed that Thanos had placed a curse on him, and tracked Thanos down. He revealed that the only thing keeping Wade alive was his "spell of darkest necromancy". Although Thanos removed this curse in order to kill Deadpool, he felt forced to immediately bring him back using "a fusion of necromancy and science" in order to request his aid in tracking down Mistress Death, who had gone missing.

Deadpool is a highly trained assassin and mercenary, adept in multiple forms of martial arts, an extraordinary athlete, and an expert swordsman and marksman. His accelerated healing factor may contribute to his abilities, allowing him to perform intense exercise for extended periods of time with minimal aches and fatigue. Although in earlier years he was originally portrayed as having superhuman strength, he is no longer depicted as having this ability.

Over the years, Deadpool has owned a number of personal teleportation devices. Also, during Deadpool's first ongoing comic, he possesses a device which projected holographic disguises, allowing him to go undercover or conceal his appearance. Deadpool is multilingual, with the ability to speak fluently in German, Spanish, ASL, and Japanese, in addition to his native English.

Since Deadpool is aware that he is a fictional character, he uses this knowledge to his advantage to deal with opponents or gain knowledge to which he should not normally have access, such as reading past issues of his and others' comics. For example, Deadpool knows he has a Wikipedia article and hopes his fans keep his page updated.

Other versions

Age of Apocalypse

In the Age of Apocalypse timeline, Deadpool was redubbed Dead Man Wade and reimagined as a bitter, humorless member of Apocalypse's Pale Riders, having received his flawed healing factor from Apocalypse's eugenics program. Sent with his team to invade the Savage Land, he attempted to unleash chaos upon the sanctuary but was killed by Nightcrawler, who teleported his head off his body and hid it in a crater. Later, Dead Man Wade was revealed to be resurrected like many of the other Alpha mutants.

Captain America: Who Won't Wield the Shield

The World War II-era version of Deadpool is introduced in the one-shot parody issue Captain America: Who Won't Wield the Shield. Frederick "Wheezy" Wilson, the nephew of President Woodrow Wilson, is a soldier who is experimented on by the Nazis to become 'Veapon X'. Despite the nature of the story as a period piece, Wilson peppers his speech with anachronistic slang from the 1990s.

Deadpool 2099

In a potential future taking place in 2099, Deadpool is Warda Wilson, the daughter of Wade and Shiklah. She collaborates with a gang inspired by Hydra Agent Bob and is wanted by the police. She has taken an older Wade prisoner and forces him to watch political debates while chained up, angered that he's ruined her life and hopes she can use him to find her mother. Wade reveals he and Shiklah had a falling out after the death of Ellie, which led to a battle between the two former lovers in Hell. The new Deadpool is also being pursued by a woman who wears a costume that looks like Wade's "Zenpool" identity from Axis. The mysterious woman rescues Wade and gives him access to her bike to a hologram Preston. She then battles Warda and is revealed to be an alive Ellie, who plans to reclaim the Deadpool name. Wade and Preston break into the old hideout for the Uncanny Avengers for Wade to gear up. Warda and Ellie continue fighting until Warda reveals she will unleash a demonic monster unless Ellie does not get Wade to confess where Shiklah is. After Wade and Preston reunite with Ellie, Wade tells Ellie to search for Shiklah's casket at Doc Samson's grave while he and Preston then go to the Little Italy of 2099 to seek the help of one of the few heroes alive in this time period: Iron Fist.

The heroes and Danny's Iron Fists confront Warda in Madison Star Garden, where the Iron Fists fend off the giant monster while Wade tries to prevent his daughters from fighting by promising to tell Warda where Shiklah is. Despite his plea, Warda murders Ellie with liquid napalm and takes Wade to the sewer to interrogate him, where Wade reveals that Ellie's mutant ability is to regenerate all at once into her teenage body, allowing her to survive Warda's attack. After Wade, Preston, and Ellie defeat Warda, Wade tells her that he and Shiklah had an on and off again relationship, but were always on the path for war which eventually resulted in her death, as on Earth, those who refuse to co-exist cease to exist (with Wade bringing up the Skrulls to support his point). He implants Preston into Warda's head so she can aid Warda in clearing her conscious and becoming a better person and tells his daughters that they can both be Deadpool. He later tells Ellie that he now plans to travel the world and rid the planet of his old enemies and that Shiklah's resting place is in a shrunken glass coffin located on top of his heart.

Deadpool Corps

In the 12-issue series Deadpool Corps and prequel series Prelude to Deadpool Corps, Deadpool is joined by several alternate versions of himself from different universes to create a super-group. Lady Deadpool and Headpool return from their previous appearances in Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth, joined by newcomers Kidpool, a child version of Deadpool who attends Professor X's school, and Dogpool, a dog endowed with Deadpool's familiar healing factor. They are later joined by The Champion, going by the name Championpool. The group was brought together by the Elder of the Universe known as the Contemplator. He brought them together to stop the powerful cosmic being known as the Awerness. The Awerness absorbed entire worlds, devouring the people's consciousnesses.

Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe

In the storyline Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, the X-Men send Deadpool to a mental hospital for therapy. The doctor treating him is actually Psycho-Man in disguise, who attempts to torture and brainwash Deadpool into becoming his personal minion. The procedure fails, but leaves Deadpool even more mentally unhinged, erasing the "serious" and "Screwball" voices in his head and replacing them with a voice that only wants destruction. Under "Evil Voice's" influence, Deadpool develops a more nihilistic world view and as a result, after killing Psycho-Man by repeatedly smashing him against a desk, he begins assassinating every superhero and supervillain on Earth, starting with the Fantastic Four, in an apparent attempt to rebel against his comic book creators. The book ends with him breaking into the "real" world and confronting the Marvel writers and artists who are writing the book. He says to the reader that once he's done with this universe, "I'll find you soon enough."

Deadpool Killustrated

After the events of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, Deadpool has killed many versions of Marvel superheroes and villains across the multiverse to no effect and comes to a conclusion that infinite alternate versions of the heroes and villains he killed exist. In the series, Deadpool hires a team of scientists to help him get rid of all Marvel characters. The Mad Thinker gives the Merc with a Mouth a device that transports him to the "Ideaverse", a universe that contains the classic characters that inspired Marvel characters. In each book, he hunts down and murders characters such as the Headless Horseman (who inspired the Green Goblin and Ghost Rider), the characters of Little Women (Black Widow, She-Hulk), the Little Mermaid (Namor), Mowgli (Ka-Zar), Count Dracula (Morbius, Blade) and more. He also installs his own brain into Frankenstein's monster, giving his dark inner voice a body to help him with. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson enlist Beowulf, Hua Mulan and Natty Bumppo to stop him.

Deadpool Kills Deadpool

On April 4, 2013, Cullen Bunn revealed that, after the events of Deadpool Killustrated, the next and last part of the "Deadpool Killology" will be Deadpool Kills Deadpool and that the murderous, nihilistic Deadpool that appeared in Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe and Killustrated is called "Dreadpool" and, in the series, he is hunting down all versions of Deadpool while "our" Deadpool, the light-hearted Merc With A Mouth, is hunting down Dreadpool. Bunn stated that the Deadpool Corps will appear along with many other versions of Deadpool and new versions. The first book was released in July 2013. The first issue opens with Deadpool dealing with yet another attack by ULTIMATUM, after which the Deadpool Corps quickly ropes the titular character into the crisis. Over the course the storyline, The Deadpool Corps is killed (not including Headpool, who was already killed prior to the events of the storyline), and it concludes in Issue #4, where Deadpool clashes with Dreadpool, who is eventually shown the error of his ways and killed by Deadpool in vengeance for causing the death of his friends. Somehow, our Deadpool finds his way back, but not before the reader is aware that Evil Deadpool is still alive and scheming.

Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth

Several alternate incarnations of Deadpool are introduced in the series Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth. Attempting to return Headpool to the Marvel Zombies universe, Deadpool encounters multiple versions of himself as they exist in other universes, including a female version of himself named Lady Deadpool, Major Wade Wilson, a militant but sane version of Deadpool, and The Deadpool Kid (KiddyPool), a cowboy version of Deadpool who exists within a universe resembling the Wild West.

Deadpool Pulp

Deadpool Pulp is a four-issue limited series from writers Mike Benson and Adam Glass and artist Laurence Campbell, with Deadpool set in the 1950s drawing on pulp fiction (similar to the Marvel Noir fictional universe).

Gwenpool

Main article: Gwenpool

Gwen Poole, or "Gwenpool", is amalgam of Deadpool and Gwen Stacy. She started as one of 20 variant covers released in June 2015 for then-current series, which following the popularity of Spider-Gwen saw Gwen Stacy reimagined as other Marvel characters, such as Doctor Strange, Groot and Wolverine. Gwenpool, featured on the variant cover for "Deadpool's Secret Secret Wars #2", which turned out to be especially popular with the fans. After seeing how many fans were cosplaying as a character that wasn't even featured in any comic, Marvel editor Jordan White approached writer Christopher Hastings with a task to create a story around her. Initially the plan was to do one-shot comic "Gwenpool Special #1", which was then followed by a three-page backup story in the ongoing volume of "Howard the Duck", and eventually an ongoing series, starting in April 2016.

Marvel 2997

In Messiah War Deadpool is locked in a freezer for eight hundred years. When he escapes he is captured by the armed forces of the few surviving humans left. He helps Cable to get Hope Summers back from Stryfe who is later revealed to be inside this version of Deadpool's head. After seemingly defeating Stryfe, this version of Deadpool is quickly ripped in half and appears to die shortly after, his last words being a joke on "severance" pay.

House of M

In the House of M reality, Wade Wilson was a field commander and active agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. During one of his missions, Agent Wilson contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. They had to patch him through the TB-Link satellite to communicate with him.

Hulked-Out Heroes

Main article: Hulked Out Heroes

Appearing first in Hulk #21, Deadpool is "hulked-out" near the end of the Fall of the Hulks storyline. A two part mini-series called, World War Hulks: Hulked Out Heroes will follow Hulkpool as he travels back in time to kill himself, disrupting the origin stories of many heroes as he goes.

Marvel Zombies

In the first Marvel Zombies limited series, a zombie version of Deadpool is seen fighting the Silver Surfer. The zombie Deadpool eventually loses his body and appears as a disembodied head beginning in Marvel Zombies 3. This incarnation of Deadpool, frequently referred to as Headpool, entered the mainstream Marvel continuity when he is encountered and captured by the original Deadpool in Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth. Along with several other alternate versions of Deadpool, Headpool went on to appear in Deadpool Corps with a propeller beanie mounted to his head, allowing him flight.

Ultimate Marvel

The Ultimate Marvel version of Deadpool is Sergeant "Wadey" Wilson, a Gulf War veteran. Depicted as an anti-mutant extremist, he is a cyborg and leader of the Reavers who hunt mutants for sport on a reality TV show. Beneath the mask, Deadpool appears to be a skull with an exposed brain, his skin formed by a transparent shell. He also has the ability to mimic an individual's appearance and voice, though not their powers. Wadey reappears in Deadpool Kills Deadpool (written by Cullen Bunn and released in 2013) as a member of Evil Deadpool Corps, led by Dreadpool, whose aim was to exterminate alternate versions of Deadpool across the multiverse, including regular Deadpool Corps. In issue #4, he is killed by the mainstream Deadpool.

Weapon X: Days of Future Now

In the alternate Earth ending of the Weapon X comic, Deadpool is recruited by Wolverine to be part of a new team of X-Men after the old team is killed. He joins, claiming Wolverine only wants him as the "token human". This version of Deadpool is killed by Agent Zero's Anti-Healing Factor corrosive acid. This version of Deadpool speaks in white text boxes.

X-Men '92

In the Secret Wars Battleworld based on the 90s X-Men animated series, Deadpool is a member of X-Force with Cable, Bishop, Archangel, Psylocke, and Domino.

Apocalypse Wars

In the Extraordinary X-Men Apocalypse Wars crossover, Deadpool is a Horsemen of Apocalypse.

Reception

Deadpool was ranked 182nd on Wizard magazine's list of the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time, ranked 45th on Empire magazine's list of The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters, and placed 31st on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes. DC Rebirth has given Harley Quinn a stalker/friend named Wayne Wilkins AKA "Red Tool", who is a direct parody of Deadpool.

In other media

Television

• Deadpool had made several non-voiced cameo appearances in the X-Men animated series. A flashback alongside Wolverine in one of Sabretooth's mental sessions with Professor Xavier in the episode "Deadly Reunions", Morph shape-shifts into Deadpool's form in the episode "Whatever It Takes", and Xavier's dark side projects the character's image to attack Wolverine in the episode "The Phoenix Saga: Part 2: The Dark Shroud".
• Deadpool has a brief cameo appearance in Marvel Anime: X-Men. He is seen in the episode "Destiny".
• Deadpool appears in the Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon series, voiced by Will Friedle. This version was a former S.H.I.E.L.D. trainee before dropping out to be a mercenary. Deadpool personally appears in the episode "Ultimate Deadpool". Despite (and because of) Spider-Man's growing dislike for Deadpool's antics, attitude and willingness to kill (or as Deadpool puts it, "un-alive"/"K-word"), they both end up fighting Taskmaster and each other for critical S.H.I.E.L.D. data about the secret identities of America's superheroes. He is shown capable of negating Taskmaster's ability to copy someone's fighting style, utilizing an unpredictable fighting style that parodies various dance moves, rendering Taskmaster's ability to predict attacks useless. After giving a few false origin stories (as well as mocking Wolverine), Deadpool finally reveals that he had been a street kid taken in by Nick Fury to be a hero, though he later decided being a mercenary was easier than carrying morals and a conscience. Ultimately, Spider-Man acknowledges that the web-slinger himself could have turned out like Deadpool had circumstances in his own life been different.
• Deadpool appeared in Marvel Disk Wars: The Avengers, voiced by Takehito Koyasu. He appears in the episodes "The Forbidden Hero Appears?" and "Chris and the Moment of Truth!".
• In May 2017, FXX placed a series order for an animated series based on Deadpool, to be co-produced by Marvel Television, FX Productions and ABC Signature Studios. Donald Glover and his brother Stephen Glover were announced as showrunners, executive producers and writers for the series. In late March 2018, it was announced that FXX would not move forward with the series due to creative differences. Stephen Glover later admitted that the "creative difference" in question involved an episode revolving around Taylor Swift which FXX stated was the "last straw" and that they wanted to give Rick and Morty "a run for its money".
• Deadpool appears in Marvel Future Avengers, with Takehito Koyasu reprising his role as Deadpool.

Film

Top to bottom: Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), and as Wade Wilson / Deadpool in a promotional image for Deadpool (2016).

Hulk Vs Wolverine

Deadpool appears in the animated film Hulk Vs Wolverine, voiced by Nolan North. Deadpool acts as one of Professor Thorton's military strike team Team X (Lady Deathstrike, Omega Red, and Sabretooth) in the Weapon X program, seeking to capture Wolverine and the Hulk in order to brainwash them and convert them into the ultimate weapons. He frequently annoys his teammates with his wisecracks.

Live action

Main article: X-Men (film series)

• Wade Wilson / Deadpool makes his first feature film appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, portrayed by Ryan Reynolds. He is a highly skilled, wisecracking, and amoral mercenary who wields a pair of katanas with superhuman athleticism and skill sufficient to deflect fully automatic weapons fire. He is supposedly killed by Victor Creed, but is later revealed to have been transformed by Colonel William Stryker into mutant killer "Weapon XI" (stunts performed by Scott Adkins) who possesses other mutants' powers, including Scott Summers' optic blasts, John Wraith's teleportation, Wolverine's healing factor, and a pair of extendable blades resembling the character's prized swords; Stryker is able to completely control him thanks to Chris Bradley's technopathy. He is referred to by Stryker as "the Deadpool" because the compatible powers of the other mutants have been 'pooled' together into one being. Wolverine and Victor fight Deadpool in the film's climax and manage to defeat him by decapitating him and sending him falling into a cooling tower of a nuclear power plant, although a post-credits scene appearing in DVD releases and some theatrical presentations of the film implies Deadpool is still alive, as his hand is shown reaching out for his still-living head amid the rubble of the destroyed tower.

Comics writer Gerry Duggan and Deadpool film co-writer Rhett Reese autographing a Funko Pop figure of the character during a signing for Deadpool #300 at Midtown Comics in Manhattan, a week before the release of Deadpool 2

• Following the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, which reset the X-Men film series timeline, Ryan Reynolds reprised his role in Deadpool, which premiered in February 2016. This version depicted Wade as a mercenary who after being diagnosed with late stage cancer turns to Ajax who has offered a cure. Ajax tortures Wade in order to catalyse the treatment, which eventually results in regressive mutant genes activating, causing his disfigurement and healing factor. Wade goes on a vendetta to force Ajax to fix his disfigurement, and eventually kills him on Ajax's admission that this was impossible. This film also introduces to Reynolds's incarnation his most famous weakness from the comics: his Truman Syndrome that adds to the comedic effect by giving him the ability to reference not just X-Men movies and casts, but also Ryan Reynolds and his filmography.
  • Before screenings of the film Logan in U.S. territories a pre-film sequence, that was later titled Deadpool: No Good Deed and released online, was shown serving as a teaser of sorts for Deadpool 2. Rhett Reese, the writer, confirmed that the film was a short and "not a teaser or a trailer". The plot of the short revolves around Deadpool attempting to change into his costume in a phone booth fast enough to stop a nearby mugging. The man is shot before Deadpool can finish putting on his costume. Deadpool apologizes as he could have just called the police since he was already inside a phone booth. He then lies down and initiates a one-sided conversation with the dead man.
  • Deadpool 2, announced to be in development shortly after the first film's release, is directed by David Leitch and premiered in 2018. After the death of his girlfriend Vanessa, Deadpool ended up in the series of events to protect an angst boy named Russell Collins (Julian Dennison) from Nathan Summers / Cable (Josh Brolin). Reynolds also plays himself and reprises the Weapon XI version of Wade from X-Man Origins, both killed by Deadpool in the mid-credits.
  • In December 2013, Rob Liefeld confirmed that Cable and Deadpool would be appearing in an X-Force spin-off to the X-Men film series, with Ryan Reynolds returning as the latter. After the release of Deadpool, Reynolds felt that Deadpool would soon be in an X-Force film. In February 2017, Joe Carnahan had signed on as director, as well as co-writer with Ryan Reynolds. By September of the same year the studio parted ways with Carnahan, while Drew Goddard replaced him on as writer/director after previously working as a co-writer on the script for the Deadpool sequel. The following month, Josh Brolin stated that production will begin some time during 2018.

Video games

• Deadpool appears in X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse, voiced by John Kassir.
• Deadpool appears as playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, with John Kassir reprising his speaking role.
• Wade Wilson appears in the video game adaptation of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, voiced by Steven Blum. His Deadpool/Weapon XI transformation is the final boss.
• Deadpool appears as a playable character in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, again voiced by John Kassir. He first appears in the Washington D.C. level, having arrived for the cherry blossom festival only to get caught up in a terrorist attack on the capital. He attacks the heroes out of frustration over his vacation being ruined, but after he's beaten he decides to help them fight off the terrorists, becoming playable after rescuing some senators. Also during the credits, Deadpool confronts one of the writers with a complaint about the game not starring him. In the Wii, PSP and PS2 versions, he is playable from the start and appears during the credit sequence and load screens watching television while sitting in a recliner.
• The Ultimate version of Deadpool appears as a villain in Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, with Nolan North reprising his speaking role. He hosts the survival show Pain Factor, and challenges Spider-Man to compete for a fragment of the Tablet.
• Deadpool appears as a playable fighter in Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds voiced again by Nolan North. He is frequently featured opposite of Capcom's Dante from the Devil May Cry series.
• Deadpool is a playable character in Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, voiced by Tom Kenny.
• Deadpool appears as an unlockable character in Marvel: Avengers Alliance.
• Deadpool's costume is available as downloadable content for the game LittleBigPlanet, as part of "Marvel Costume Kit 6".
• Deadpool is a playable character in the MMORPG Marvel Heroes, again voiced by Nolan North.
• Deadpool, an action game based on the character, was developed by High Moon Studios and published by Activision in 2013, with Nolan North reprising his voice role once again. Deadpool, keeping with his fourth wall-breaking, constantly has to call the creators of the game to fix problems with the graphics.
• Deadpool is a playable character in Lego Marvel Super Heroes, once again voiced by Nolan North.
• Deadpool has his own table in Marvel Pinball. Nolan North reprised his role as the voice actor.
• Deadpool is featured in Marvel Puzzle Quest on a limited storyline where he attacks all the heroes and villains in a quest for Iso-8 and chimichangas.
• Deadpool is a character featured in Marvel Powers United VR, voiced by Jason Spisak.
• Deadpool is a playable character in the current update of Marvel: Future Fight.
• Deadpool is a playable character in Marvel Strike Force.

Web

Animation

• Deadpool appears in several episodes of the stop-motion animated web series Marvel Superheroes: What the--?!. Including self-titled episodes such as "DEADPOOL - For Your Consideration", "Mean Deadpool Big Game Ad", "Holiday Special with Iron Man & Deadpool" and "Deadpool Vs. The Punisher".

Live action

• Reynolds filmed footage of himself seated in the Deadpool costume as a trailer for the Deadpool movie trailer and at the end of an extended trailer for the 2015 film Fantastic Four.
• Reynolds reprised his role as Deadpool in short film released on his YouTube channel for Halloween 2015, titled "How Deadpool Spent Halloween".
• Reynolds appeared as Deadpool in two episodes of Screen Junkies' "Honest Trailers" series for the "Deadpool" and "Logan" episodes.

External links

• Deadpool at Marvel.com
• Deadpool at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
• Deadpool on IMDb