1990s Created by artist/writer
Rob Liefeld and writer
Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool made his first appearance on the pages of
The New Mutants #98
cover-dated Feb. 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'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. Because of this, he also decided to give weapons to his new characters. 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. Liefeld spoke on how the character was influenced by Spider-Man: "The simplicity of the mask was my absolute jealousy over Spider-Man and the fact that both of my buddies, [fellow Marvel artists]
Erik Larsen and
Todd McFarlane, would tell me, 'I love drawing Spider-Man. You just do an oval and two big eyes. You’re in, you’re out.' ... The Spider-Man I grew up with would make fun of you or punch you in the face and make small cracks. That was the entire intent with Deadpool. ... I specifically told Marvel, 'He's
Spider-Man, except with guns and swords.' The idea was, he's a jackass." Other inspirations were
Wolverine and
Snake Eyes. 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." "
G.I. Joe was my first obsession. Those were the toys in the sandbox with me, kung fu grip, eagle eye, I had them all.
G.I. Joe is a world of characters that I have always aspired to participate in. Snake Eyes was a profound influence on my creating Deadpool." 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." Like Wolverine, Deadpool is (or is thought 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. , 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, the first volume of
Deadpool, written by sequentially
Joe Kelly,
Christopher Priest and
Gail Simone.
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, its balance of angst and pop culture
slapstick and the character became less of a villain, though the element of his moral ambiguity remained.
2000s 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. 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, which would 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 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. The story also sees the return of
Bob, Agent of Hydra. 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. 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. 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 a female version of himself named
Wanda Wilson / 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 to protect his friend and
sidekick Hydra Bob. 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. At that moment, he was surprised by the returned Evil Deadpool, who informed Wade that the serum they took was not permanent, which was why Wade's face did not 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. 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, Eleanor, from a former flame 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 the latter to defeat him. After several fights and getting torn to pieces, Deadpool bonds with four
symbiotes:
Riot,
Phage,
Lasher and
Agony. Playing mind games, Deadpool tricked
Shriek by using his shapeshifting abilities to make her disoriented 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 four symbiotes to a war dog who helped Deadpool fight Carnage to deliver 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. 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, 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.
Deadpool Vol. 4 began in 2016. 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 the 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 ones. 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 world 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 afterward, 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. In
Deadpool (vol. 9), Deadpool adopts Princess, a symbiote and clone of Carnage who takes a hyena-like form. ==Characterization==