Deadpool | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Marvel Comics |
First appearance | New Mutants #98 (February 1991) |
Created by | Fabian Nicieza Rob Liefeld |
In-story information | |
Alter ego | Wade Winston Wilson[1] |
Species | Human Mutate[2] |
Team affiliations | Agency X Code Red[3] Deadpool Corps Frightful Four Great Lakes Initiative Heroes for Hire Landau, Luckman, and Lake Maggia Secret Defenders S.H.I.E.L.D. Six Pack Thunderbolts Weapon X X-Force X-Men |
Partnerships | |
Notable aliases | Merc with a Mouth, Jack, Wade T. Wilson, Mithras, Johnny Silvini, Thom Cruz, Hulkpool, Wildcard |
Abilities |
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Deadpool (Wade Winston Wilson) is a fictional character, a mercenary and anti-hero appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool first appeared in New Mutants #98 (Feb. 1991).
A disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary, Deadpool originally appeared as a villain in an issue of New Mutants, and later in issues of X-Force. The character has since starred in several ongoing series, and shares titles with other characters such as Cable. Also known as the "Merc with a Mouth," Deadpool is famous for his talkative nature and his tendency to break the fourth wall, which is used by writers to humorous effect.
He was portrayed by Ryan Reynolds in the 2009 film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and will appear in his own feature film set to be released on February 12, 2016.[4]
Further information: List of Deadpool titles |
Created by artist Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool made his first appearance in the pages of New Mutants #98 published in February 1991. Rob 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.[5] In his first appearance, Deadpool was 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."[6]
In 1997, Deadpool was given his own ongoing title, initially written by Joe Kelly, with then-newcomer Ed McGuinness as an artist. The series firmly established his supporting cast, including his prisoner/den mother Blind Al and his best friend Weasel. Deadpool became an action comedy parody of the cosmic drama, antihero-heavy comics of the time. 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."[7]
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".[8]
Deadpool lasted until issue #69, at which point it was relaunched as a new title by Gail Simone 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'.[9] It appeared that Deadpool was killed in an explosion fighting the aristocratic (and telepathic) villain known as the Black Swan. Weeks later, a mysterious figure showed up at the apartment of Deadpool's manager, Sandi Brandenberg. The man took the name Alex Hayden and together they started "Agency X," with Hayden dubbed Agent X after the company. Most believed that Hayden was Deadpool suffering from amnesia. The title character of Agent X was eventually revealed not to be Deadpool and the climax of that series saw the original character restored. Simone left the title after seven issues due to creative differences with the series editor, but then returned to conclude with issues 13-15.[10]
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.[11] 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.[12] Medina was the main series artist, with Carlo Barberi filling in on the first issue after the Secret Invasion tie-in.[13]
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.[14][15] 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."[16] 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.".[16] 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.[16] 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."[17] In Deadpool #15, Deadpool decides to become a hero resulting in conflicts with proper heroes like Spider-Man[18] (who he had recently encountered in The Amazing Spider-Man #611 as part of "The Gauntlet"[19]) and leading to a 3-issue arc where he takes on Hit-Monkey,[20] a character who debuted in the same month in a digital, then print, one-shot.[21][22]
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 up with Headpool from Marvel Zombies 3 and 4.[23][24][25]
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.[26] Deadpool also joined the cast of the new X-Force team.[27]
Another Deadpool series, titled Deadpool Corps also by Gischler, 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.[28][29] 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,[30][31][32] and Deadpool MAX by David Lapham and Kyle Baker.[33]
Deadpool (vol. 2) is 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 back. Although he spent the majority of the story arc looking forward to dying, he steps up and puts his desires on the back burner to protect his friend and lackey Hydra Bob.[citation needed]
After he lost his healing factor, Wilson claimed he felt "more alive than ever."[volume & issue needed] 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 with Taskmaster in training.[volume & issue needed] 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.[volume & issue needed]
Wade managed to defeat Black Box, Black Tom and Black Swan, but in the process his face was burned and disfigured again.[volume & issue needed] 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.[volume & issue needed] 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.[volume & issue needed] 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.[volume & issue needed]
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.[34] He is also a member of the Thunderbolts.[35] In the 27th issue of his new series, as part of "All-New Marvel NOW!", Deadpool will be getting married for the third time. Initially a secret, his bride was revealed in the web comic Deadpool: The Gauntlet to be Shiklah, Queen of the Undead.[citation needed]
Much later, he clashed with Carnage,[36] and Carnage vowed revenge on Deadpool for tricking him into wounding Shriek.[37]
Deadpool's primary power is an accelerated healing factor, depicted by various writers at differing levels of efficiency. Artificially endowed by the Weapon X program, this enables him to regenerate any destroyed tissue at a super-human rate as well as making him immune to all known diseases. An unanticipated side effect was an acceleration of the cancerous tumors he was suffering from at the time, causing them to quickly spread across his entire body. Because of this, his healing factor supercharged his cancer, resulting in massive scar tissue causing his appearance to be severely deformed.
Deadpool's brain cells are similarly affected, with dying brain cells 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, as the altered or damaged brain cells quickly regenerate to their original state. It is also the cause of his psychosis and mental instability. It is sometimes implied that his healing factor merely bolstered and exacerbated an underlying mental issue, as a young Wade Wilson was shown as a withdrawn, disturbed young kid caught in his many daydreams, and when Deadpool at one point lost his healing factor, he did not regain his sanity.[38] Deadpool's healing factor is strong enough that he has previously survived complete incineration and decapitation more than once. Although his head normally has to be reunited with his body to heal the wound,[39][40][41] he was able to regrow his head after having it pulverized by the Hulk.[42] Unlike Wolverine's natural healing factor, Deadpool's is mentally driven. Similar to Wolverine, his healing factor also affects his physical attributes by increasing them to superhuman levels. Though in earlier years he also had super-human strength, that detail has apparently been forgotten.[43] Deadpool's body is highly resistant to most drugs and toxins. For example, it is extremely difficult for him to become intoxicated.[44] He can be affected by certain drugs such as tranquilizers, if he is exposed to a large enough dosage. Deadpool's healing factor also slows the aging process. He is still alive 800 years in the future when the new X-Force encounters him.[45]
Aside from his physical advantages, Deadpool is a superb assassin and mercenary, adept in multiple forms of martial arts, and an expert swordsman and marksman. It is thought that while his psychosis and dissociative identity disorder are a handicap, they are 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.[46] Taskmaster has also stated that Deadpool is an expert at distracting his opponents.[47] 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. He also has a magic satchel containing all of his unlimited weaponry and ammo, and has driven multiple vehicles including spaceships.[48] In addition, Deadpool is multilingual; in addition to English, he can speak German, Spanish, and Japanese.
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 his 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.[49] There have been other dubious stories about his history—at one point the supervillain Loki claimed to be his father.[50] Frequently, revelations are later retconned or ignored altogether, and in one issue, Deadpool himself joked that whether he is actually Wade Wilson depends on which writer the reader prefers.[51] In the 2011–2012 series, Deadpool is implied, in a flashback, to be the real Wade Wilson, the deranged and already partly insane son of a decorated war hero, often daydreaming childish and dangerous ideas, spurring him to the mercenary lifestyle.[38] He has professed to be Canadian,[52] even though the original story had him joining the Weapon X program after being kicked out of the United States Army Special Forces.[53]
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.[54] In Age of Apocalypse #3 Dead Man Wade was revealed to be resurrected like many of the other Alpha mutants.[volume & issue needed]
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, 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.[55][56]
In the twelve-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,[57] and Dogpool, a dog endowed with Deadpool's familiar healing factor.[58] They are later joined by the The Champion, going by the name Championpool.[59]
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; as a result, he kills Psycho-Man and begins assassinating every superhero and supervillain on Earth one by one in an attempt (apparently) 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 currently writing the book. Before he proceeds to enter he turns to the reader, promising that once he's done with this universe, "I'll find you soon enough."[60]
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.[volume & issue needed] In the series, Deadpool hires a team of scientists to help him get rid of all Marvel characters. One scientist gets the Merc With A Mouth a device that transports him to the "Ideaverse", a universe that contains the classic characters that inspired Marvel characters.[volume & issue needed] In each book, he confronts multiple enemies such as The Headless Horseman (who inspired Green Goblin and Ghost Rider), Little Women (Black Widow, She-Hulk) and more.[61]
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 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, his own murderous version. 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.
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.[62]
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).[63]
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.[64]
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.[65]
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.[66]
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.[67] 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.[68]
The Ultimate Marvel version of Deadpool appears in Ultimate Spider-Man. 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 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. His real name is Sergeant "Wadey" Wilson, and he's a Gulf War veteran.[69]
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.[70]
Deadpool was ranked 182nd on Wizard magazine's list of the Top 200 Comic Book Characters of All Time,[71] ranked 45th on Empire magazine's list of The 50 Greatest Comic Book Characters,[72] and placed 31st on IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.[73]
See also: Cable & Deadpool § Collected editions |
The stories have been collected in a number of trade paperbacks: