Summary
Deadpoolis a lot of things in the Marvel Comics. He’s a mercenary, a menace, a weirdo with a lot of problems. He’s got poor hygiene, a strange interest in Bea Arthur, and by his own admission, looks like Ryan Reynolds crossed with a shar-pei. In other words, he’s not the kind of guy most people would want to know whether they knew he was one of the strongest figures in Marvel or not.
Individually, he’s no match for Thor or the Hulk in a one-on-one contest, as he has no super strength or lightning powers. But his madness hides his methodical mind, and his will is more tenacious than his healing factor, which is already so good it makes him practically immortal. Deadpool isn’t unstoppable, yet his most impressive feats prove it would take a Thor or Hulk-level figure to stop him.
9Outsmarting Black Tom and the Juggernaut
Deadpool: The Circle Chase #2
The second issue in The Circle Chase saw Deadpool compete with other mercenaries over a briefcase. It contained a disc that would give its owner access to the most powerful weapon on the planet. Ordinary goons are no match for Deadpool, but Black Tom Cassidy and his plant-controlling powers are pushing it, let alone the Juggernaut. He was forced to flee, leaving the case behind for them to pick up. But thanks toa little help from Weasel, he got aboard their plane home, blasted through the floor, andmanaged to outsmart them.
He opened the emergency exit, which sent Black Tom flying out, hanging for dear life onto a cable Deadpool was holding. He told Juggernaut he’d pull him back in if he put the case right where he told him to. Juggernaut did so, only for Deadpool to reveal he was lying. He lets go of the cable, sending Black Tom out into the wild blue yonder. Juggernaut leaped out after him, and then Deadpool closed the door. Easy win.
8Beating the Infamous Taskmaster Simply by Confusing Him
Deadpool #2 1997
Deadpool and Taskmaster have an interesting relationship. In a way, they’re kindred spirits, as they’re both mercenaries with memory issues who aren’t above taking cash for dirty work. It’s just that Taskmaster’s mind is a result of his abilities, where he can learn how to do someone else’s moves perfectly on sight in exchange for his memories. Deadpool’s mind is a chaotic mess of multiple voices, conflicting feelings, and contradictions. Which made their first encounter back inDeadpool #2 (1997)intriguing.
In search of his buddy Weasel, Deadpool went toe to toe with Taskmaster, where he used the Merc with a Mouth’s own moves against him. He might’ve won if Deadpool hadn’t figured out Taskmaster’s abilities and fought back with randomness. Instead of striking back, he’d burst into a dance number while babbling nonsense, moving in a waytoo erratic for Taskmaster to predictor use against him. They’d go on to become allies, but the issue ended with Taskmaster bowing to find a way to make sense of Deadpool’s chaos.
7Saving Copycat, AKA, Vanessa
Deadpool: The Circle Chase #4
Deadpool is famous for being zany and crazy now, but his early appearances were more likeThe Cable GuythanAce Ventura, so to speak. Vanessa, his love interest in his movies, was originally Copycat, a shapeshifter who could also copy powers from touching the subject. She went out with Deadpool too, except their relationship was more abusive, wherehe skewered Wolverinejust to get to her and her new boyfriend, Weapon X.
Yet inThe Circle Chase #4, she saved Deadpool from a lethal stabbing by Slayback because of her old feelings for him. In turn, the ultimate weapon turned out to be a strong android called Adam Unit-Zero. It obliterated Slayback and was going to do the same to Deadpool until he proved he was more than a weapon. He made the dying Copycat touch his skin, thus copying his healing factorto save her life. While it didn’t make up for their past, it proved what Copycat said: “Even a bad seed that turns into a rotten tree can still have a good leaf or two”.
6He Worked On Improving Himself
Deadpool #33 1999
On paper, Deadpool’s real name is Wade Wilson, and he was always a piece of work with a messy history. However, it wasn’t always that way. By the end of Joe Kelly’s run with the character, he revealed the villain T-Ray was the real Wade Wilson, and that Deadpool was some merc called Jack who went crazy after he tried to kill Wade, only to murder his wife Mercedes in the process. With his powers, he shows Deadpool all the people he killed in the comics up to that point, showing how much of a monster he truly was.
Yet instead of being crushed, he laughs. He explains himself with an analogy involving a cartoon squirrel and a coconut. In that, no matter what they do to crack it, there’s just another one to crack. He knowshe’s done bad things, and only regrets Mercedes' death out of his many kills up to that point. Nonetheless, no matter how many nuts he has to crack,he’ll keep trying to do better. As opposed to T-Ray, who brought his wife back from the dead just to use her to torture someone (“Ask the lady which was worse: death, or this. Checkmate, jerk!”).
5Forced to Kill Francis, the Man Who Made Him What He is
Deadpool #19 1998
Francis was the enforcer overseeing the Weapon X program, where he tortured Wade Wilson regularly. He killed his friends and nearly killed him until he became the Deadpool fans know and killed Francis in revenge. Or so he thought. Francis survived as Ajax and went on a killing spree of the program’s survivors and key staff, be they Deadpool’s friends or enemies, in order to lure him out. With their deaths on his head, Deadpool had to come up witha way to stop Ajax.
Ajax dodged what he thought were Deadpool’s traps, only to slip into his real trap: a slippery slope and a big rock to break his power suit. Then he forced the big lug into the lake, where the suit’s shorting circuits electrocuted them both. He didn’t want to kill Ajax. He wanted to do the usual superhero thing by apprehending him, making his peace, and heading off. But he was just handed another coconut to crack in Ajax, and he had to crack it to save other people’s lives. Even when he doesn’t want to kill, Deadpool is often left having to spill blood.
4He Stole Death’s Heart and Left Thanos Out to Dry
Deadpool and Death Annual ‘98, Deadpool #61-64
The originalInfinity Gauntletstoryline saw Thanos snap away half of all life in the universe not to restore balance like in the MCU, but instead towoo Death herself. No matter what Thanos did withthe Gauntlet and its Power Gems, it never seemed to sway her favor. What did charm her was Deadpool’s literal death wish during his time as a Weapon X test subject. The two had more in common than they thought, yet he had to die to be with her.
He tried to die by goading Francis into killing him, but his healing factor saved him, even when his heart got ripped out. Even after he got revenge on Francis, Deadpool was kept away from Death’s clutches by a jealous Thanos. Through T-Ray, he cursed Deadpool with immortality to forever keep the two apart. Their relationship has been on & off since, with Deadpool having more mortal partners in the interim, but she’s arguably the closest lover Deadpool ever had.
3He Gave Up His Shot at Sanity to Help Someone Else
Deadpool #69 (2002)
Gail Simone’s run with Deadpool saw him run Deadpool Inc. with Ratbag, a homeless man who’d yammer on in gibberish (“Cheese in my shoe!”). He was mostly played for laughs until the final issue. Deadpool took on Black Swan, a villain with mental powers, first as a contract, then to make him cure the ‘mental virus’ he left in his head. Or so it seems. He makes Ratbag come in with a suitcase bomb, threatening to blow them all up if Swan does anything funny.
Except, Deadpool changes his mind andmakes Swan cure Ratbag instead. He succeeds, but Ratbag doesn’t have time to dwell on his recovered sanity. Deadpool tells him to run, which he does so as he and Swan fight until the suitcase bomb goes off. In his early comics, Deadpool only cared about himself. Here, he learned to help others just because it was the right thing to do.
Deadpool #27 (2012)
Deadpool has a checkered history with women. He was a creep with Copycat, got barred from seeing Death by Thanos, and others often ended up dead or pushed away by his eccentricities. Still, after decades of getting the thick end of the wedge from life, he was given a relationship so successful it culminated inthe biggest wedding in comic book history. Well, one of them at least. It received an entry inthe Guinness World Records, but some contend aG.I. Joecomic had a bigger wedding.
Regardless, the cover forDeadpool #27saw 236 people in the congregation, from Doctor Strange and the Guardians of the Galaxy to Luke Cage and Jessica Jones. Frenemies Cable and Wolverine served as best man and groomsman respectively, while old acquaintances like Domino and Siryn were bridesmaids. Even Evil Deadpool, a being made from his lopped-off body parts, turned up. It was a sweet moment even if the marriage ultimately didn’t last.
1He Saved the World by Kicking Captain America in the Jewels
Deadpool #25 (1999)
Some heroes save the world by diverting asteroids or stopping some weapons of mass destruction. Deadpool did it bykicking Captain America below the belt. The Mithras Directive hired Deadpool to stop a monster called Tiamat, because their visions said it would be how Deadpool would bring peace and enlightenment to the world. His first bout with the creature saw him get beat hard. Then he managed to win the second, mortally wounding Tiamat.
But when he learned that Tiamat was trying to stop Mithras and their alien savior from turning humanity into their drones, he switched tactics. He fights his way towards Mithras’ alien savior, only to come across a brainwashed Captain America. Caught between letting humanity live peacefully without free will, or in strife with it, Deadpool chooses to kick Cap in the nethers and destroy the alien. Humans would still struggle to solve their issues, but they’d have the freedom to do so themselves, all thanks to Deadpool.
