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The Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to... Deadpool

By Gus

Here to be a load-bearing column to the fourth wall (since he breaks it regularly enough), it’s the Wellington Comic Lover’s Guide to The Merc with a Mouth, The Regeneratin’ Degenerate, Deadpool!

comic covers on a black background

Video via the Marvel Entertainment Youtube channel

Who is Deadpool?

Seeking a cure for his terminal cancer, Wade Wilson was experimented on by Weapon X, the same clandestine government agency that worked with Wolverine. As a result, Wade gained the ability to heal from any injury, but at the cost of his appearance and his sanity. Utilising his newfound powers to become a mercenary-for-hire, Wade was reborn as Deadpool!

Rob Liefeld series

Deadpool was co-created by artist Rob Liefeld, who has recently returned to drawing his signature character with the ‘Bad Blood’ series.

Deadpool Now!

Co-written by Gerry Duggan and comedian Brian Posehn (Mr Show, Master of None), the Marvel NOW! reboot of Deadpool was one of the longest-running and popular runs on the character. Here, Deadpool fights a legion of zombie presidents, marries the queen of the vampires, becomes the peaceful ‘Zenpool’ during the mind-altering AXIS crossover, and discovers his long-lost daughter.

Marvel NOW! Deadpool Reading Order

Portions of this run are also collected as:

Deadpool : world’s greatest

After Secret Wars, Deadpool goes legit and becomes the world’s most beloved superhero overnight. Here, he founds his own mercenary team, fights villains like Sabretooth and Madcap, and gets trapped inside the works of William Shakespeare.

Deadpool and the Merc$ for Money

During this period of legitimacy, Deadpool leads a team called the Mercs for Money, made up of the teleporting Solo (who got his own spinoff series), the punishing psychologist Foolkiller, and Mexico’s own Deadpool, Masacre.

Deadpool comic covers on a black background

The Despicable Deadpool

In this series, Deadpool becomes a wanted man and goes on the run. With a bounty on his head and the entire Marvel Universe after him, Wade tries to get his affairs in order before he’s captured... or worse.

Deadpool: Merc Once More

In this series relaunch, Deadpool returns to being a mercenary for hire. Here, Wade must perform a hit on Santa Claus, has his heart stolen (literally), and travels to Australia to fight in the War of the Realms.

King Deadpool

All hail His Majesty! Deadpool becomes the King of the Monsters in this series and strikes up a relationship with monster hunter Elsa Bloodstone.

This series is also collected in one volume as Deadpool [2023]

Deadpool in Krakoa

Recently, Wade became a member of the X-Force operating out of the mutant nation Krakoa (see our blog about the Krakoa era of the X-Men here!), while also auditioning to join a top assassin guild and dealing with an alien lifeform growing inside him.

Deadpool Vs ...

Deadpool has made a lot of friends in his career, but mostly a lot of enemies. These are all the series with heroes and villains that Deadpool has ‘versed’ over the years, including the likes of Wolverine, Punisher, Dracula, Black Panther, and even Thanos.

Deadpool comic covers on a black background

Spider-Man/Deadpool

The Merc with the Mouth and the Wisecracking Web-crawler, together at last! Join the new dynamic duo on such adventures as meeting their monstrous ‘daughter’, fighting the living cartoon Slapstick, and taking a road trip to the Negative Zone.

You are Deadpool

Deadpool may know that he’s in a comic book, but did you know you could be Deadpool?

You are Deadpool is a role-playing graphic novel, where you determine the path of the story by dice rolls.

More Deadpool series

Deadpool’s Teams

In addition to leading the Mercs for Money, Deadpool has been a member of the Uncanny X-Force and the Uncanny Avengers. He also gate-crashes Secret Avengers at one point to explain metafiction to Hawkeye – it involves horses, exploding arrows, and Jorge Luis Borges references.

Gwenpool comic covers on a black background

Gwenpool

Originally created as a mash-up of Spider-Gwen and Deadpool for a comic cover, ‘Gwenpool’ became her own character after she proved to be a hit with fans and cosplayers. Appropriately, Gwendolyn Poole is a comic book fan from the ‘real’ world who gets transported into the Marvel Universe and becomes a superhero. Using her knowledge of lore and tropes, Gwenpool tries to make ends meet as both a mercenary and a new addition to the Marvel canon, as she grows slowly more aware of her fading relevancy.

Gwenpool has also been a member of the West Coast Avengers.