He’s known as the Merc with the Mouth. The irritant breaker of Fourth Walls and the most darn annoying person in the Marvel universe. But how much do we really know about Deadpool AKA Wade Wilson?
We’ve looked into his long(ish) career to uncover facts and trivia about the katana-wielding, wisecracking hired killer of Weapon X.
Get ready to unleash the crazy as we uncover 32 fun Deadpool facts…
1. He’s “Related” to Deathstroke
DC and Marvel have several differences, but one similarity is this! You might have noticed a closeness between DC’s Deathstroke and Deadpool despite these two characters being as different as night and day. Well, this was deliberate on Marvel’s part.
The idea of Deadpool came about after his artist, Rob Liefeld read DC’s “Teen Titans” comics and was inspired by Deathstroke. Similar costume and characteristics, DC and Marvel then openly acknowledged their mirroring heroes. That’s how the name “Wade Wilson” (like Slade Wilson) came about.
2. Deadpool is Pansexual
Wade will pretty much flirt with anything that moves. Marvel NOW’s writer, Gerry Duggan even confirmed that he’ll do “anything with a pulse.” Not just men and women, but he’s been turned on by androids, aliens and demons, too!
3. He has Killed Everyone
In the appropriately named “Deadpool kills the Marvel Universe”, Deadpool goes on a killing spree after going even more insane. His rampage sees him pretty much kill Marvel’s entire roster. He finishes up by escaping the comic book world and killing his writers as they plot how he’ll kill them, then threatens that he’s coming for the reader next.
4. Wade has a Soft Spot for Kids
Wade has some of the most flexible morals around – he’s a big softie around children. Maybe he had a rough childhood, maybe he misses that time of innocence. Or maybe it’s a side effect of having the mental maturity of a twelve year-old. The comics are vague, but it’s a very heartwarming side of him.
5. Deadpool and Spider-Man have a Child
This may sound crazy, but this fact is totally true! Deadpool and Spider-Man have a lot of obvious things in common – similar suits, humor and one-liners (Peter is more likely to wish Wade would shut up) – but there’s a whole lot more to their unique relationship!
Itsy Bitsy (yes, like the nursery rhyme) was created by villain, Patient Zero by injecting a patient with Spidey’s and D-Pool’s genes. Only this character was nothing like her parents – Itsy Bitsy turned out murderous with a nasty sense of humor and deadly web-shooting powers.
6. Deadpool Inspired Ryan Reynolds to Play Him
Back in 2004, when Ryan Reynolds was mostly known for crazy comedies and the terrible DC movie, The Green Lantern, Wade named-dropped the actor in Deadpool and Cable #2. Deadpool described himself as “Ryan Reynolds crossed with a Shar-Pei.” That certainly sparked something as several years on, it’s almost like Deadpool was a role Ryan Reynolds was born to play.
7. He Has an Unconventional Taste in Girls
As we’ve learned, Wade has a pretty open taste in partners. In terms of long-term girlfriends though, they’re certainly not the kind of sweethearts you’d bring home to your parents. Most notably, Mistress Death and the demon queen, Shiklah. After all, not many in the Marvel universe have girlfriends who eat people.
8. He Breaks the Fourth Wall
This is a must-know for most of us, but if you’re just getting into the character, Deadpool is very much aware that he’s in a comic book, video game or movie. Most characters however, will simply think he’s outright bonkers. We contemplated something similar for the Joker, to which we call “super-sanity” but Wade might be just too random to be super-sane.
9. Deadpool Named Himself
Deadpool has at times been vague about his backstory. Sometimes even using backstories that are not his. But the real source of his name is from Weapon X. When he was being experimented on, he and his fellow test subjects took bets on who would survive the next round which they called the ‘Dead Pool’. Turns out, Wade was able to survive all the way to escaping. A grand 1000-to-one odds.
10. He’s Killed Popular Fictional Characters
Hot off Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, the next step was for Wade to go around killing well-known fictional characters. This is the premise of 2013’s Deadpool Killustrated, and has seen Deadpool murder everyone from Moby Dick and Sherlock Holmes to Huckleberry Finn. Now that’s something we’d secretly like to see in a Deadpool movie!
11. Wade’s Regeneration is Healing and Killing Him
Weapon X gave Wade a ridiculously powerful regenerative ability that prevents him from being killed. It’s greater than Wolverine’s, and in some cases has saved him from decapitation. However, this regeneration is so aggressive that it ended up supercharging a case of cancer he was diagnosed with.
At this point, Wade is by all definitions a walking tumor, which is why he’s so famously ugly under that suit. In fact, if the tumor were ever to be removed, it would absolutely kill him.
12. He’s a Pop Culture Nerd
It’s only natural that if you have an innate ability to break The Fourth Wall, you have an intimate knowledge of pop and nerd culture. If you can recall it, Wade has probably made a reference to it, from World of Warcraft to Star Wars, old Marvel movies and even timeless classics like Basic Instinct and The Terminator.
13. He Has a Partner in Crime
Deadpool is not entirely a lone wolf. After their first meeting, Jack Hammer (no relation to second-rate Stark wannabe, Justin Hammer) became Wade’s personal arms dealer and an informant for the Merc. It’s mostly professional – he doesn’t get his codename “Weasel” for nothing.
14. He’s a Proud Canadian
Wade’s two biggest (non-sexual…although we wouldn’t be surprised) loves are chimichangas and his home nation of Canada. He loves his homeland to a fault as it seems to be one of the few things his brain is consistent about. Which is saying something.
15. Deadpool is a Dad
It’s kind of expected that for someone who sleeps around as much as Wade does, he’d have at least one kid come out of it. We’re not talking about Itsy Bitsy here, Deadpool’s actual daughter is a Latina girl named Ellie. He feels responsible for getting the mother killed and went as far as to move in over the road from her handler just to be with her.
16. His Dialogue Colors Have Meaning
Like several characters, Wade has a distinct look to his dialogue in the comics. His speech bubbles are yellow, but he also has two personalities inside his head that are represented by one yellow and one white speech box. Although he talks to them like they are separate personalities, it’s mostly a conversation between himself, his subconscious and his less immature subconscious.
17. Deadpool has Bovinophobia
Can we blame him for this one? Those vacant stares, the way they stand there, judging you. Yeah they look all harmless in their pastures, mindlessly eating grass – but Wade sees through their game! When you’re completely disarmed by their innocent act, that’s when the cows hit you! Yeah, Deadpool has a fear of cows – oh and clowns. They’re like the second biggest threat to Earth after Galactus, right?
18. He’s Talked Enemies into Submission
After giving us the funniest movie quotes in history and with a moniker like “the Merc with a Mouth,” it’s not surprising that Deadpool’s known to defeat enemies just by talking. This has actually worked on Galactus of all people. Wade achieved this by flying around Galactus’s head, cutting down aliens and saying whatever random things came into his head until the Devourer of Worlds snapped.
19. Captain America is his Hero
It sounds really weird considering just how unstable and immoral he can be, but Wade idolizes Captain America to the point he wishes he was the man of Red White and Blue. Cap appears to notice, and is one of the few people in the universe who tolerates Wade’s behavior – probably because they were both part of government experiments?
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20. He’s Totally Handsome Without the Cancer
In the times before he found himself part of Weapon X and the odd occasion when his face is restored, the comic Wade Wilson is pretty drop-dead gorgeous. He has a chiseled jaw, high cheekbones and trimmed blonde hair. Imagine a statuesque John Constantine or Ryan Reynolds with golden hair and you’re pretty close.
21. Deadpool was an Avenger and Part of X-Force
X-Force was more than a team Wade created. In fact despite Deadpool 2 using most of the original roster, comic Deadpool didn’t join the team until 2010 when it reformed as the Uncanny X-Force. He’s also been a candidate for the Avengers, which was a little awkward because a couple of years later, he ended up helping a HYDRA version of Steve Rogers posing as the real one. In fairness, he didn’t know. His loyalty to Cap got the better of him.
22. Deadpool is a Merchandising Giant
We’re not talking about real world merchandise here, as pretty much every popular hero has a vast array of dedicated Marvel merch. Nope, Deadpool has all kinds of fans and merchandise within the Marvel universe as it’s not uncommon to see people in the background wearing Deadpool t-shirts.
23. Deadpool has Annoyed Everyone
No-brainer on this piece of trivia! Being the wacky, random, nonsense dope that he is, Deadpool has managed to infuriate pretty much every person he’s ever met at least once. Even Steve Rogers, his idol and one of the few people who is genuinely nice to him gets ticked off occasionally.
24. Vanessa has a Different Fate in the Comics
Here’s a fun fact some of you may not know. Vanessa’s luck isn’t so bad in the comics as it was in the movies. She’s actually a shape-shifting Mutant who would become a mercenary under the alias of “Copycat”. In the comics, she also fell in love with Cable despite being hired to kill him.
25. He Formed the Deadpool Corps
One of Deadpool’s grandest killing sprees was an extra-dimensional adventure to thin the multiverse of a number of Deadpools. To achieve this monumental task, he formed a team called the Deadpool Corps. Consisting of a female version, a child version, a dog version and a zombified dismembered head version of himself. Again – something else we’d love to see in a movie!
26. Brad Pitt Had a Cameo in ‘Deadpool 2’
We only got one brief look at Vanisher’s true face in Deadpool 2, which was when he died. As a fun Easter Egg in the movie, the X-Force’s version of the Invisible Man is played by none other than Hollywood megastar Brad Pitt. Keep an eagle eye during the film and you might spot him!
27. ‘Deadpool’ Hijacked the ‘Endgame’ Hype
Shortly after the launch of the official trailer for Avengers: Endgame, it was discovered that the website, AvengersEndgame.com, wasn’t about Endgame but redirected to Once Upon a Deadpool. Three hours later, Twitter user @AGuyintChair declined that he was Ryan Reynolds, the most likely suspect for the incident. He asked for tickets in exchange or handing over the domain name.
28. He is Taskmaster’s Kryptonite
The supervillain Taskmaster can replicate the moves of even superhumans thanks to a supernatural muscle memory. But Deadpool happens to be so fundamentally unstable and unpredictable that this trick just doesn’t work with him – making him one of the only opponents Taskmaster can’t overcome in a straight fight.
29. Ryan Reynolds Cracked Jokes About the Disney-Fox Merger
In the months after news broke that a merger between Disney and Fox was a possibility, Ryan Reynolds took the opportunity to make several very Deadpool-ish comments about the whole thing. This included asking if D-Pool was Disney-safe and teasing just what could happen if Wade Wilson ever made it inside the Mouse House.
30. He’s Also Mocked His Previous Roles
This definitely goes down as one of our favorite Marvel post-credit scenes! Among the time-travel escapades Deadpool deals with during the Deadpool 2 end-credits sequence are shooting his Weapon Eleven self in Origins: Wolverine, and shooting Ryan Reynolds just after the guy’s finished reading the script for the infamous Green Lantern movie. Just another fun little Easter Egg in the superhero movie…
31. Deadpool Started off as a Villain
Deadpool wasn’t always the anti-heroic Merc the world knows and loves. He was actually an opponent of the X-Men originally. Apparently, he was sent by the supervillian, Genesis to kill Cable. This version of Deadpool was a more generic one-shot character initially, but he was so popular that Marvel brought him back with a much more distinct personality.
32. He’s an Organ Donor
Deadpool has the gift of regrowing any organ in his body even after completely removing it. One of the things Wade did with this superpower was give away a few of his organs. It’s probably not medically sound to share the organs of someone who has cancer throughout their bodies, but let’s cut him some slack. He’s trying to be nice.
Still in one piece? I hope so. Although Wade’s more dangerous for your sanity than your physical health, it always pays to be cautious.
Are there any facts about Deadpool we might have missed? It would be fun to hear yours!
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