Who Is Deadpool?
Thanks to the lengthy and enjoyable marketing campaign, everyone knows by now that Deadpool is Ryan Reynolds in a figure-hugging, all-over red and black suit. But, he is so much more than that. Deadpool is, in essence, a parody of ‘serious’ comic book fare. He is a self-aware comic character, in that he knows, absolutely, that he is a work of fiction. He is completely in on the joke.
This means that he continually engages directly with the audience (an action commonly referred to as ‘breaking the fourth wall’), and while this creates scope for great comedy, it has also given rise to an enormous amount of vagueness regarding his origin, throughout his history.
While his alter-ego is widely accepted as being Wade Winston Wilson, even this fact has been used in comic book storylines as a means of speculation – with at least one supporting character suggesting that the Wilson identity is simply one he stole from one his previous victims.
This ever-shifting backstory hinges on the fact that Deadpool is mentally unstable, and is unable to remember his own story himself. His fourth-wall-breaking tendencies even lead to him telling the readers, on occasion, that their perception of him is dependent upon which writer they prefer.
Though many different claims have been made within the comic books as to his origin, the most consistent story is that Deadpool is former United States Army Special Forces operative, Wade Wilson, who entered the Weapon X program as a volunteer after being diagnosed with cancer. Within Marvel, this program is a secret endeavour by the government to create living weapons by experimenting on mutants – to enhance their innate powers – and on humans, to create mutation.
Wolverine was an early product of the program, and Deadpool (it is suggested) is the result of a second phase of Weapon X, which saw subjects receive the DNA of Wolverine, creating superhuman healing abilities. It is this accelerated cell regeneration, coupled with his cancer, that lead to Deadpool’s distinctive scarred appearance under his mask.
As a character, Deadpool has evolved significantly over time. He was created by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld, and first appeared as a villain in The New Mutants #98 in 1991. His guest slots grew in popularity until he earned his own limited miniseries in 1993, with a second following in 1994. His ongoing title launched in 1997, and Deadpool was seen to subtly change from being a supervillain to being a morally ambiguous anti-hero.
His exploits have seen him cross paths with many iconic Marvel characters, including Spider-Man, Scarlet Witch, Norman Osborn, Doctor Doom, Nick Fury, Captain America and, of course, The X-Men – and there is even a comic book storyline (Deadpool Kills The Marvel Universe), in which he rampages through the various Marvel series, killing all the heroes and ultimately confronting the writers and readers themselves.
