Fictional history of Deadpool

This article is about the fictional history of Marvel Comics' character Deadpool.

Early Years and Weapon X
Wade Winston Wilson was born to an army general father and terminally ill mother. After Mrs. Wilson's death to incurable cancer, Mr. Wilson began to abuse Wade and turned to alcoholism. The influence of his violent father turned Wade into a typical teenage delinquent. Around age seventeen, Mr. Wilson was killed by one of Wade's drunken friends in a bar fight and Wade soon dropped out of High School to enroll in the United States Army Special Forces. He was kicked out of the army after a short tenure and then turned to mercenary work, soon establishing a formidable reputation. Unbeknownst to Wade, around this period, the interdimensional law firm and Lequare (not long after, just Landau, Luckman & Lake after Lequare's apparent death) had discovered from their precognitive department that he was destined to play a significant role in a future golden age for humanity and started to monitor him via their agent, Zoe Culloden a.k.a. the Expediter, while their principal precognitive, Montgomery, researched Wade's whole life. During visits to Boston, he developed a relationship with then-runaway and prostitute and future fellow mercenary Vanessa Carlyle, later known as the mutant shape-shifter Copycat. However, he developed terminal cancer within the few following years and having, perhaps deliberately, botched a mission that was meant to end in the murder of his future prisoner/roommate Blind Al (although he killed every other individual at the army base in which she had been stationed and Zoe intervened to protect Vanessa from a revenge attack by his former employers), he indifferently broke up with Vanessa, whose love he genuinely returned, in order to spare her the burden of his illness.

Dying and desperate for a cure, Wade volunteered for the second Weapon X program, where his body and mind were altered on a genetic level. The genetic manipulation was initially supposed to grant him a superhuman regenerative healing factor (based on the DNA of former Weapon X experiment Wolverine), stopping the progression of his cancer and greatly enhancing his physique. However, the cancer interacted with the genetic process in unanticipated ways; the process (initially) failed, disfiguring him horribly and making him significantly mentally unstable. He was initially assigned to a field team alongside Garrison Kane, Sluggo, and Terraerton a.k.a. Slayback, who were all deemed to be successful subjects at the time. Despite outwardly appearing as a man with a good background (a wife, children, and a home - all things that Wade lacked), Terraerton proved to be completely psychotic, and Wade killed him via explosives (although Slayback proved to be the first among various resurrected adversaries). Wade quickly washed out of Weapon X and was sent to Doctor Killebrew's "Workshop" at The Hospice, a place for failed experiments, where he was tortured and experimented upon among other washouts. In the Workshop, he became part of a game called "the Dead Pool", where inmates bet on which one of them will die next. As Wade had been chosen as a "special project" by Dr. Killebrew, his odds of dying were very low, making him the leader of the Dead Pool with over one thousand-to-one odds. During near-fatal experiments, Wade started to see visions of Death and fell in love with her, while she became interested in him as it was unheard of for a mortal to perceive her ahead of death. He decided to break the Dead Pool by doing anything to get himself killed so he could be with Death, attempts which were repeatedly thwarted by his rival and Killebrew's enforcer, Ajax, then named The Attending. Showing no fear due to his desire for Death, he continually baited and pranked The Attending, taking particular delight in mocking his true name, Francis, who retaliated by sending him to Killebrew for further experiments. His erratic behavior inspired the other inmates of the Workshop to rebel; he was seen as a threat to the order in the Hospice but Dr. Killebrew refused to let anyone die or be killed, unless one inmate was to murder another. It is only after Deadpool killed his friend Worm out of mercy after The Attending intentionally lobotomized him in order to escalate the hostilities between them that Killebrew ordered his death as The Attending had expected. It is this attempted execution that finally activates Deadpool's healing factor, much to the chagrin of himself and Death. The kick-start of the regenerative process accompanied by the culmination of his disfigurement (which should have theoretically reversed itself but for the now perpetual regeneration of his epidermal layers and cellular structure) and the accumulation of the various traumatic events he had undergone to this point caused him to finally snap completely and having returned to life so completely, Death rejected him. He managed to escape, (temporarily) killing The Attending and freeing many other Workshop experiments, taking on the name "Deadpool" and returned to mercenary-for-hire work.

Early Appearances and X-Force


Not long after leaving Canada, Deadpool met Weasel, whom he employed as an information broker and technology specialist and developed an abusive best friendship (on Deadpool's side) with him. Deadpool began work for villains such as the mysterious Mr. Tolliver, Wilson Fisk, and as a stand-in for the first Hobgoblin. His work for Mr. Tolliver initially made him an adversary of Cable and his team of the New Mutants (later and better known as X-Force). In Deadpool's first fight with the New Mutants, he defeated most of them using a combination of hand-to-hand combat and gadgetry but was shot in the back by Copycat, who was masquerading on Tolliver's orders as Cable's old partner and confidante, Domino. His experiences with X-Force would ultimately cause him to meet and develop a crush on Siryn, the daughter of the X-Man Banshee (although on their first meeting when he infiltrated X-Force's Adirondacks base to intimidate Copycat/Domino, he easily knocked her unconscious).

After the apparent "death" of Mr. Tolliver at Cable's hand, Deadpool and Weasel traveled through Sarajevo and the Middle East to claim the (hitherto-unrevealed) spoils of Tolliver's will, "the most powerful weapon in the world". This quest lead Deadpool to fight Siryn's uncle Black Tom Cassidy and Juggernaut, and in one of his more creative victories, he dangled Black Tom out of a plane in order to gain an information disk from their possession and when Juggernaut surrendered the disk, he let Black Tom fall as Juggernaut leaped out after him, hijacking the plane to Sarajevo. Also involved in the chase were former Weapon X experiments/teammates Garrison Kane, Sluggo, and Slayback, who, being totally cybernetic in nature by then, had reconstituted himself from Deadpool's attack. At the same time, Deadpool sought to protect his former girlfriend Copycat - who had also joined the hunt and had arranged for Sluggo's arrest after he killed her best friend - from his Weapon X enemies. Kane sought to protect her (or possibly use her as leverage) since the will made her a prime target for other mercenaries and opportunists looking to gain information on the mysterious prize. For his part, Slayback merely desired to use her against Deadpool. In a climactic battle at a Far East temple where Tolliver had hidden a cache of ordnance and the true prize - Zero, an ADAM-Unit from Cable and Tolliver's future time period designed to nullify weapons of war - all parties were thrown together and Copycat attempted to sacrifice herself to save Deadpool from the vengeful Slayback. Having been activated by the use of weaponry by the 3 main combatants, Zero activated and discorporated Slayback (while deeming Weasel as harmless and Kane as primarily benevolent) and would have done the same to Deadpool until the mercenary chose to save Copycat's life by causing her to duplicate his regenerative powers at speed to partially restore herself from her wound. Deeming Deadpool a conundrum, Zero teleported away, Kane took Vanessa (who had fallen in love with Cable during her time with X-Force and ultimately rejected Wade in spite of her gratitude) away for medical attention and Deadpool, musing on whether he was more multifaceted than he realized, looted the temple.

During or after her convalescence Vanessa and Kane became lovers as she accepted that Cable - who had felt manipulated by her as she had posed as Domino during their relationship, with whom he was never physically intimate with beforehand - would never forgive her or return her affection. When he discovered this new development, an incensed Deadpool obsessively chased after them, eventually leading to his first run in with Wolverine. Deadpool and Wolverine fought, Wade managed to defeat Wolverine by puncturing his lungs and slicing his face, as Wolverine's healing factor had been pushed to its absolute maximum by the near death experience of having the adamantium forcibly removed from his body at the hands of Magneto on Asteroid M. Obviously not thinking clearly (even for him), Deadpool then fought both Kane and Copycat at once to "reclaim" her and Wolverine saved Copycat's life from Wade's violent "passion", forcing the Merc With A Mouth to teleport away.

Deadpool would later encounter Dr. Killebrew, Black Tom, and Juggernaut again when a dying Tom, being operated on by Killebrew to stem the growth of a plant virus in and around his body, was rescued by Juggernaut and the doctor then indicated Deadpool's regenerative powers as a potential source of Tom's salvation. In New York, the two villains sent groups of mercenaries after Deadpool, leading him to partner with Tom's relatives, Banshee and Siryn, while discovering that his cellular regeneration was mysteriously failing. Black Tom was imbued with part of Wilson's regenerative abilities (ultimately taken from Deadpool's severed hand) to counteract the growth, although he rushed the process and was driven to extremes by the ensuing pain. Successful in saving Banshee's life, defeating Tom, negotiating with the Juggernaut for his friend's life once more, stopping terrorist Daniel Peyer, and acquiring Killebrew to fix his powers, Deadpool formed a friendship with Siryn, made more intimate by the reveals of each other's various vulnerabilities, including Deadpool's disfigurement.

Misadventures and Freelance Mercenary Work
Eventually, Deadpool became less of a villain and more of a reluctant hero, though the element of his moral ambiguity remained. Although careful to project the guise of an invincible, merciless gun-for-hire, he often showed himself to be an insecure and severely scarred man, emotionally and physically, who used his sardonic, off-the-wall wit to cope with reality and deal with relationships. At some point, he had reacquired Blind Al, and installed her as his prisoner, roommate, and den mother in his permanent base in San Francisco, aptly titled "the Deadhut", a rotting house in disrepair that he disguised as outwardly normal via holographic projection (the house serving as something of a metaphor for him as he would do the same for his own appearance). Besides Siryn, Al and Weasel are the two people that he is most loyal to and cares about (although he would often mistreat them at times, such as stabbing Weasel in the leg over the last cheese puff, or confining Blind Al in a room filled with sharp objects in his San Francisco home known as "The Box"). The final resident of the Deadhut was Deuce the Devil Dog, supposedly Al's seeing eye dog, who originally belonged to Franklin "Foggy" Nelson, best pal and partner of the Marvel superhero Daredevil, and who lost the dog to Weasel in a drunken poker game in New York while Deadpool was teamed-up with Daredevil. Wade also once sent some of his own blood to the X-Men when it was thought the cure for the Legacy Virus could be found in it somehow. Sadly, this was not the case.

Wade also eventually developed friendships with some of the staff at the interdimensional firm known as Landau, Luckman, & Lake - in particular, Zoe Culloden and Montgomery after Zoe and Noah DuBois approached him in person for the first time to inform him of his "great destiny". They had noted his recent string of more merciful and "pro-bono" acts and having engineered a scenario in which Deadpool nearly caused a meltdown at a gamma facility headed by his former psychiatrist Sasquatch that would have harmfully irradiated the entire Southern Hemisphere, they felt vindicated when Wade chose to risk his life to set things right. Rejecting their initial offer as nonsense based on their assertion that he was ready to become a "hero", events would ultimately lead him back to them as Zoe refused to give up on him. At this point, Deadpool had begun frequenting a hang-out spot for mercenaries called the "Hell House" with its own odd cast of characters, such as Patch, the short-statured, short tempered handler of each regular's mercenary assignments and the odd pair of baseball-obsessed Fenway and super-malleable, obese C.F., who was often the target of Deadpool's job-related frustrations. The only significant challenger to Deadpool's "top dog" status was T-Ray, a mysterious, humorless, and sadistically efficient assassin, with whom Deadpool shared a rivalry based on mutual loathing and mockery. Deadpool often ran into other high-profile mercenaries such as the Taskmaster and Bullseye, the latter of whom was a long-standing associate during his adventures. In his first encounter with the former, they clashed over the retention of Weasel's abilities and Deadpool was finally victorious at the cost of his left middle finger, which mysteriously did not regenerate.

At this point, Dr. Killebrew returned to Deadpool's life once again to try and restore his regenerative powers, now suffering from a guilt complex brought on by his bloody actions at Weapon X. He baited Deadpool into trailing him to his home in the Alps by mailing a copy of Deadpool's glove to Hell House attaching a mocking note "signed" by Black Tom. On Blind Al's advice, Deadpool recruited Siryn into his revenge mission and after finding Killebrew, both were shocked by the revelation that Deadpool's cellular structure was breaking down and that Wade was in fact dying - he had actually absconded after rescuing Killebrew before, refusing to trust his former experimenter and torturer with his life, even though he was aware the loss of the regenerative abilities would result in a cancer relapse. When Killebrew determined that his encounter with Sasquatch's gamma core weeks earlier had retarded the cellular degeneration, Deadpool was forced to attack the gamma-spawned Hulk for a sample of his blood. Killebrew was able to bring Deadpool's healing factor back up to most of its operating capacity but aside from re-growing the recently severed finger, his full range of healing powers were lost for the time being, specifically his appendage re-growth. Still (understandably) harboring a grudge, he would have executed Killebrew but Siryn's belief in him encouraged Deadpool to try to be a better person and he set Killebrew free to assist the other survivors of the Hospice. Siryn later promised Wade that she would remain his friend and would explore their relationship further when she had less responsibilities and he subsequently began to refrain even more from murder-for-hire jobs and killing in combat.

However, a brief and disturbing relationship with Typhoid Mary, who played a dramatic foil to Siryn, occurred almost immediately afterwards after he was tricked into rescuing her from a mental institute. At the Hell House, T-Ray and Typhoid acknowledged each other in front of Deadpool as former partners and now rivals, and T-Ray upped the ante against Deadpool by magically burning off his mask in front of the assembled crowd. When Typhoid then escaped to New York from Hell House to begin a killing spree against her former criminal associates, Deadpool followed her, determining to deal with T-Ray later, and planning to rehabilitate Mary by trying to get her to come to terms with her past as Siryn had done for him but when events spiraled out of his control as her killings escalated, Deadpool joined with her frequent enemy and former emotional victim Daredevil to stop her and he then imprisoned her in San Francisco. In return, Mary went on another murder spree, plunging Deadpool deeper into his own dark side as she mocked his attempts to become a hero by pointing out he had no true conception of how to achieve it. As Wade tried to keep the body count down, Mary goaded him into delivering her a vicious beating to prove that they were two of a kind. Mary also knew full well of the attraction to Siryn and her inspirational role, using this knowledge in her manipulations. As events brought Deadpool to a dark point, T-Ray then openly challenged him to a fight at Golden Gate Park, not far from Deadpool's home, while Wade desperately searched for Siryn to validate his attempts to be a better man now that Typhoid had shown him how far he was from his goal. Although he successfully tracked her down, Deadpool instead alienated Siryn, first fighting with her best friend, Warpath, and then mishandling her while trying to force her to help him. Typhoid then slept with a drunken Deadpool when she used an image inducer stolen from Zoe Culloden to masquerade as Siryn later that night. She dropped the disguise the following morning and the further unbalanced and disheartened Deadpool, initially deciding against accepting T-Ray's challenge, changed his mind on discovering Weasel had broken an unspoken rule and entered his home more than once to meet with Blind Al. Punishing the pair by throwing them into his torture room, The Box, he met with T-Ray and though he easily outmaneuvered the assassin blade to blade, he was unprepared to discover the extent of T-Ray's sorcerer, voodoo, and zombie-like abilities and, although he kept fighting, was defeated and frozen in a block of ice as T-Ray revealed himself as the source of the deconstruction of Deadpool's life (and later that he had arranged for his old ally Typhoid's involvement).

Deadpool's Destiny
After recovering from his battle with T-Ray, Deadpool finally accepted Landau, Luckman and Lakes' offer of employment. It was revealed to him that Zoe Culloden had been tracking his life for years, after the precognitive Montgomery named Wilson the "Mithras", a being destined to be of great importance to the world. An alien being of great power, dubbed "The Messiah" was to come to earth and bring with it an unprecedented period of peace and harmony. However, another being called "Tiamat" would destroy the Messiah unless prevented to do so by the Mithras. It was Deadpool's function to kill Tiamat and see to it that the Messiah arrived safely.

Wilson was initially reluctant to accept the assignment, even though as first presented to him by Zoe, Noah and Overboss Dixon, the head of the "Mithras Directive", he was to simply protect the ascension of the Messiah and would be hailed as a hero. He initially panicked at the idea and was feeling more inadequate as usual after his alienation of his friends caused Weasel to end their friendship and Blind Al to act towards him in consummate and humorless subservience. Even Bullseye, a longtime "friend" and occasional missions-partner, took the high ground against Deadpool, pointing out how his recent failures and non-killing stance were damaging his edge and his professional reputation. However, when Montgomery made an accurate series of predictions to Wilson that culminated in Wade setting Al free and regaining her friendship, although she refused to leave him, witnessing the death of Dr. Killebrew and forced to confront and kill the returned Ajax, Deadpool declared himself on board.

Even so, LL&L's manipulative streak started to emerge in force, primarily in the form of Dixon, who believed him to be nothing more than a psychotic buffoon, that Monty had predicted wrongly, and the "Second String" (later revealed to be none other than Captain America) was the true Mithras. On his return, Deadpool abducted Montgomery to Monte Carlo in order to thank him for his predictions and the pair ultimately bonded. Though even more disfigured than Deadpool, Wilson encouraged Montgomery's crush on Zoe, only for Dixon to mind-wipe Monty of the trip's events after he returned to his station a happier man. Zoe then revealed the involvement of Tiamat and when revealing Deadpool's true function in the events - killing Tiamat - to him, made a remark that it was exactly what Deadpool should have expected. Believing that he had come too far ethically to return to killing, Deadpool became despondent and retreated home once more, only to teleport in search of Siryn when Zoe and Monty teleported into his San Francisco home. After "speaking" with a sleeping Siryn and a subsequent conflict with and talking to from old enemy Cable, he eventually decided to do what was required of him. As this occurred, Dixon forced the events leading up to the Messiah's arrival by arranging for Noah and a survey/assault team's death by Tiamat in his organic starship in Egypt in order to preserve his true intentions to replace Deadpool with the Second String. Concurrently, Montgomery and Blind Al forced Zoe to face up to her Dixon-like behavior - she was becoming similarly removed from humanity, having developed a blind spot for the feelings of others, including Deadpool's as she had completely misunderstood his response to her revelation, and for trying to mind-wipe Al after Zoe herself had come to Monty's support over his own mind-wipe by Dixon. Although Deadpool, Zoe and Monty were now more aware of Dixon's ruthlessness, their confrontation with him was postponed by discovering Noah's death and they placed it aside to battle the apparent threat - Tiamat.

Deadpool and a holographic projection of Zoe, whose body remained at LL&L's interdimensional head office, traveled to Egypt as Dixon's manipulations began to play out. Deadpool eventually confronted Tiamat and gained the upper hand but during the fight Zoe discovered wall paintings displaying the exact occurrence of Deapool's entry into his lair and their subsequent fight and realized Tiamat was setting Deadpool up. Before she could warn him, Dixon cut off her connection, having already taken out Monty. Tiamat then turned the tables on Deadpool and disabled his equipment - the wounded mercenary escaped using Noah's teleportation belt. Zoe escaped to San Francisco to find a yet again demoralized and upset Deadpool being comforted by Al, before spotting Dixon's attempt to have Deadpool killed by planting a bomb in his house. Thinking all three dead, Dixon then summoned the Second String, Captain America, to face Tiamat in Wilson's place. Deadpool and the others survived the attempt on their lives when they were rescued by Gerry, the homeless hippie he had befriended. Gerry revealed himself as Gerald Lequare, the "Fourth L" of LL&L, who had faked his own death years ago to see to it that the Mithras Directive was successful. He had discovered a terrible truth about the Messiah and believed Deadpool was necessary to his plans. However, Deadpool had separated from the others and using Noah's belt, returned to the events of his conflict with Sasquatch in issue #1. Effectively a ghost there, he instead regained some measure of his self esteem when he heard the past Noah support Zoe's assertion that Deadpool possessed some capacity for heroism. Returning to the present, he then listened as Gerry explained events.

It turned out that the Messiah truly would bring peace and happiness as predicted...by robbing the entire population of earth of free will. Humankind would exist as blissfully happy mindless slaves. Tiamat had been sent to destroy the Messiah and prevent this from happening. Deadpool was still hesitant until Blind Al effectively communicated to him that even the heroes whom Deadpool had held up as achieving an impossible standard of nobility and success were also plagued by fears and self doubts and were ultimately just people driven to do the right thing. He then returned to save Captain America and complete the mission but when Tiamat became too obsessed with destroying the Mithras to accomplish his goal, and Captain America fell under the influence of the Messiah, it fell to Deadpool to take up Tiamat's mind-shielding armor and destroy the Messiah himself. Although he agonized over the decision, knowing he would be responsible for mankind's continuing suffering if they kept their free will, he made the right decision and slew the Messiah.

In the aftermath, Tiamat was left broken, Dixon was institutionalized, Montgomery lost his powers and was "decommissioned" after he kissed Zoe (a display of "unauthorized emotion") and Zoe was promoted to Overboss status. Deadpool was once again angered by his existence, feeling he had nevertheless foiled a chance for world peace and allowed the world to remain the same in his nihilistic view. Feeling manipulated, he also savagely beat Gerry for leading him on and withholding vital information, Blind Al left him, leaving the question of why she felt so indebted to him unresolved and Wilson instead acquired the now alone Montgomery as his new "roommate."

Death and Rebirth
Deadpool has died three times in the past. First was the aforementioned event at the Workshop that kick started his healing factor. Later, Wade had decided to rejoin the Weapon X program to regain his good looks. However, after witnessing his girlfriend, Copycat (Vanessa Carlyle) slaughtered by the program, he was heavily gunned down, while trying to get revenge on his former employers. Luckily, Thanos resurrected him because he was envious that Death was already in love with Deadpool. In what may be billed as a parody of The Death of Superman, four false Deadpools appeared upon Wade's death, each personifying a different aspect of his personality. The first was an idealistic superhero with traditional ideals reminiscent of Superman's. The second was a Punisher-esque figure crime fighter and mercenary who took pleasure in killing his targets. The third was an absurdist pop culture star along the lines of Tom Green or Bam Margera. The final Deadpool was completely insane, and throughout the arc, spoke only the words "No Pickles." These four, as well as Deadpool's inner child, his feminine side, his inner geek, and his inner stand-up comedian (sharing the appearance and catch phrase of Rodney Dangerfield) were absorbed accidentally into T-Ray, wiping the villain's mind clean.

Lastly, it appeared that Deadpool was killed in an explosion fighting the aristocratic (and telepathic) villain known as the Black Swan. Swan had infected Deadpool with a virus that would erase his memory in retaliation for several of his successful mercenary hits which had been erroneously attributed to Deadpool. This led to an escalation of events in which Swan murdered a man known as Nijo (who initially had thought Deadpool responsible for his brother's death only to discover that it was Swan who had killed his brother) and a duel with Deadpool. Deadpool and Swan fought, but as result of a miscalculation on Deadpool's part, all parties were seemingly obliterated.

Weeks later, a mysterious figure showed up at the apartment of Deadpool's manager, Sandi Brandenburg. 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. In fact, the truth was more complicated, as shown when the Black Swan showed up with a "tabula rasa" Deadpool in tow (whom Hayden immediately shot in the head). It was revealed that "Hayden" was really Nijo's corpse, which had been revived and given Deadpool's healing factor by Swan's out-of-control mental powers (Swan had also received a copy of the healing factor) and whose mind was created from an amalgam of Deadpool and the Swan. Deadpool's own personality was slowly growing back (unwittingly accelerated by Hayden's bullet to his head).



In an attempt to regain the parts of his mind he had lost, as well as remove the pieces of their minds he wanted to get rid of ("You and Wilson have my skills, Mr. Hayden. In return, I received a taste for Radiohead and an encyclopedic knowledge of pornographic knock-knock jokes.  Yes, I'd like to switch back if possible"), including Nijo's sense of honor, Swan proposed a three-way mind meld. Hayden agreed. However, the Swan, being an evil cad, attempted to double cross the other two and kill them as soon as the process was complete, but while he concentrated on Hayden, Deadpool immediately stabbed the Swan in the back. Deadpool, Hayden, and Hayden's allies Outlaw and Taskmaster eventually defeated and killed the Swan and had him stuffed so that the healing factor couldn't resurrect him (Hayden would later be shown using the corpse as a surfboard). Shortly after, Deadpool became one of the villains to find the Identity Disc.

Pairing with Cable
Deadpool is currently partnered with his former enemy, Cable. The pair would meet again during separate involvement with a terrorist plot aimed at unleashing the shape-shifting "Façade Virus" upon the world. After both were infected with the virus and their powers having become uncontrollable, Cable deemed it necessary to merge their DNA structure. This left Deadpool with a portion of Cable's DNA and vice versa. Deadpool can now make use of Cable's teleporting ability (called a "bodyslide"), and Cable can heal more efficiently thanks to Deadpool's healing factor DNA. As a result of the Façade in his system, Deadpool's face was temporarily cured of the hideous scarring. However, once Cable shut down all infections of the virus worldwide, Deadpool was returned to his usual scarred and disfigured self.

With Cable's powers nearing extremely powerful levels, the Astonishing X-Men (including Cable's father Cyclops) then hired Deadpool to put together the pieces of a mini-teleporter they could use to stop Cable, who was causing a worldwide political ruckus in attempting to unite the world's populace with the use of his growing abilities.

After Cable then delivered a stark message to the world's leaders - deliberately setting them all against him by threatening to throw all their missiles into the sun - Deadpool and the X-Men mounted an attack on Cable's artificial island Providence, whereupon Deadpool promptly turned on the X-Men, shooting Wolverine and Bishop to prevent them from attacking Cable. Cable then confessed to Deadpool that he'd wanted him to kill him, to show the governments that they could achieve something by working together. Cable was then attacked by the Silver Surfer and burnt out his powers in the ensuing battle, and Deadpool saved his life by removing the telepathic and telekinetic parts of his brain with the mini-teleporter, and then recovering non-viral techno-organic matter to replace the damage it had caused to Cable's body. The aftermath of this betrayal of his employers, however, left Deadpool publicly unemployable - whereupon Cable began to covertly hire him to run missions for him, without revealing that he was the one doing so (in a similar manner to his future son).

Shortly afterward, Deadpool would rescue Cable from death again, teleporting through several alternate worlds with the help of X-Men Forge, Siryn, and Cannonball to retrieve him, with Cable later returning the favor by repairing Deadpool's brain damage before his powers inevitably burnt out once more, though Deadpool's personality remained wholly unchanged.

Deadpool would be at the secret employ of Cable until Cable's takeover of Rumekistan following the assassination of the dictator, Flag-Smasher, with assistance from Domino and Citizen V.

Civil War and The Initiative
Deadpool acted as one of the first "hero hunters" when the Superhuman Registration Act (SHRA) was put into place. He would primarily engage the Great Lakes Avengers on a patrol for "anti-reggers", though he would ignore (with his own narration) the fact they had already registered, and was summarily defeated by Squirrel Girl. Wade would also later fight Captain America and the Secret Avengers, handily besting Iron Fist (as Daredevil), the Falcon, Goliath, and Hercules in a matter of moments before being tranquilized by Cable (who was, at the time, against registration). The Secret Avengers would incapacitate him by keeping him in a cocoon made of several rolls of duct tape, ultimately preventing him from fighting at the chemical plant (though he had already predicted Goliath's death).

Deadpool has been identified as one of the 142 registered superheroes who appear on the cover of the comic book Avengers: The Initiative #1.

Recent Adventures
After Cable's acquisition of Rumekistan, Deadpool is hired to sabotage a portion of Cable's island paradise in an attempt by the United States Government to discredit him worldwide. Deadpool then maneuvers Cable into position, until the pair comes face to face with the Six Pack, who are working to sabotage the infrastructure of the country of Rumekistan in the sewers. Suddenly, Deadpool is introduced as the newest member of the Six Pack, and shoots Cable in the back of the head. Cable recovers a short time later, confronting Deadpool and forgiving him for his actions, saying it was all a part of his "plan." Deadpool is stripped of his equipment, and Cable physically ejects Deadpool from Rumekistan and is told to never return. Deadpool is displeased with this turn of events, as he perceives his reputation as having been ruined in the process.

Cable then proceeds with connecting Deadpool's mind to the "infonet" in such a way that he begins seeing all the people he has killed and briefly becomes crazier (actually more introspective) than normal. Deadpool explores the morality of what he does, although he hates it with a passion. He finally convinces himself that the only solution is to take out Taskmaster and regain his self-respect.

Deadpool frees Taskmaster while he is being transferred to prison and schedules a fight, much to Taskmaster's own reluctance. Deadpool later defeats him all while manacled and carrying an overabundance of equipment. He then finds that the "malevolent" employers won't hire him because he is irresponsible, further evidenced by his destructive bout with Taskmaster. Taskmaster then explains that Deadpool was always a good mercenary, but will never be a professional until he becomes "serious". An interesting point is that. although the fight was originally intended to be rigged as payment for freeing Taskmaster, an off comment from Taskmaster reveals his victory was legitimate. Moreover, his (literally) captive audience never once questioned the validity of the match despite having more than a few scathing comments regarding his character.

Deadpool later decides that the only solution to become serious is to become a superhero, setting his sights on capturing the recently escaped Rhino. However, the Rhino discovers Deadpool wants to fight him to prove himself, and had Deadpool shrunk to diminutive size with Pym Particles. Deadpool, however, defeats Rhino and an entire bar of supervillains and mercenaries at a minuscule size. He lets Rhino go, but learns that Weasel, who had shrunk him, could not resize him without more Pym Particles.

While still small, Deadpool is approached by his former secretary Sandi Brandenburg and Outlaw with the news that Alex Hayden, more commonly known as Agent X, disappeared while fighting HYDRA. Hayden aimed to steal the "morphogenic actuator", a device which can be used to cure or cause diseases and other conditions within the human body. Deadpool, with Weasel, goes to the Hydra Headquarters in Pakistan where Agent X is being held. Using his small size to his advantage, Deadpool infiltrates the Headquarters and captures Bob, Agent of HYDRA, to help him get to Agent X. HYDRA has used the actuator to take away Agent X's healing factor, instead giving him debilitating arthritis and "the American Gene" (morbid obesity and laziness) by scientist. His condition irreversible, Agent X decides to have Deadpool take over Agency X while he deals with his serious weight problem. Deadpool is also restored to normal size by the HYDRA scientists.

Deadpool's former arch-rival, T-Ray returned next to lure him into a trap, kidnapping Sandi and Outlaw, knocking Deadpool out and tying him up to continue to boast evidence that he is the real Wade Wilson. T-Ray even consciously breaks the fourth wall by addressing the audience and knowing about Deadpool's yellow thought boxes, proposing that this is even further proof of his identity. He also points out that despite the fact that Deadpool could just as well be the life-stealing murderer T-Ray claims he is, the readers themselves didn't care. Deadpool frees himself, slicing into T-Ray's throat and goading him, claiming that if he were the real Wade Wilson, he would have his healing factor from Weapon X. When the wound does not heal, T-Ray attacks Deadpool with magic, challenging Wade with a choice: fight him and save the girls, or run like the coward he knows him to be. Should he run, he claims it would prove that Deadpool is not Wade Wilson. Deadpool sees only one choice: he casually flicks his sword into T-Ray's head, making him disappear in a burst of magical light. Deadpool then reveals that when he and T-Ray shared memories during their earlier showdown, but Cable cleared all of Deadpool's own memory black spots after that event, reasoning that he is certainly the real Wade Wilson.

Hecatomb & Cable's Death
Deadpool, seeing on the news that Providence was under attack by the alien entity Hecatomb, attempted to fly to the island to assist Cable and the X-Men in battling it. He arrived too late to help fight, but when Sabretooth fled the custody of the X-Men (he had been forced to join their team), Deadpool went after the psychopath himself, allowing Cable and the others to evacuate the damaged island. Wade held Sabretooth at bay for some time, allowing Irene Merriweather to escape from him. He riddled Sabretooth with bullets and saying that he didn't mind that he'd eventually run out of ammunition. When he did, however, Cable came to help him, using the last of his fading telekinesis to launch Creed miles out into the ocean.

After they finished the evacuation, Irene being the last passenger to board, Cable stays behind with his shattered and sinking island, Deadpool his only companion. It's soon revealed to Cable that there are other people on the island as well, and Cable realizes that they are after the stored knowledge of the future that he has amassed. He sends Deadpool to obtain a backup of the information, while he goes to destroy the primary source, where Deadpool fights the former Acolyte, Senyaka. He goes back and forth with the mutant, attempting to get a hold of the statue Cable said the information was stored within. He then realizes that Nate wouldn't trust him with such a task, just as Cable reveals (not to Deadpool, but rather to the reader), that it was his intention to destroy the information, himself, his opponents (former X-men Gambit & Sunfire), and the island all along - he had sent Wade on a fool's errand, where the object he obtained was a teleportation device. The device takes an unwilling Deadpool off the island and into his New York apartment. Cable speaks a codeword to his computer, and detonates the island, possibly killing himself and preventing his knowledge from falling into the wrong hands. Deadpool looks out the window of his apartment and says aloud that he wasn't worth it, but he won't let Cable down.

After meeting Cyclops at a memorial statue of Cable, Deadpool goes to the Hydra base to finally save Weasel because if he doesn't, Wolverine will kill him and everyone else in the base. He almost succeeds but after trying to reason with Wolverine, Deadpool is decapitated. However Bob finally proves his worth by placing Deadpool's head back on his shoulders while Wolverine deals with the offending Hydra agents. Deadpool, Weasel, and Bob leave the Hydra base after Weasel's sabotage imprisons the remaining Hydra soldiers; however, the same device malfunctions as they head home, teleporting Deadpool and Bob to World War II Germany.

Having found themselves alongside Captain America and a foul-mouthed Bucky, Deadpool and Bob join in on the fight against the Nazis. All goes well but due to 'temporal hiccups', Captain America and Bucky seem to continue to forget who Deadpool and Bob are. The group heads off to find Doctor Zola and do battle with a Frankenstein Monster of his, but seem to be trapped in the past. Meanwhile in the present time, Weasel has convinced the Fantastic Four to let him use their time machine, pointing out how bad an idea it is to have Deadpool and a rogue Hydra agent remain lost in time. He is unsuccessful however, and the Fantastic Four offer to help bring Deadpool home instead.