Deadpool may be known as one of Marvel’s most trigger-happy (and stab-happy, and punch-happy, etc.) characters, but even he has limits that he won’t cross in his most violent misadventures. When forced to kill all the other heroes in the Marvel Universe, there was one he refused to take out.
Wade Wilson, better known as Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth, has had a long a bloody career since his introduction in the pages of New Mutants #98 by Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld more than three decades ago. Originally a relatively generic ’90s villain who was visually a pastiche of Deathstroke and Spider-Man, Wade has since grown as a person and has tried to be at least somewhat heroic. Deadpool has had recent stints in X-Force, he fought alongside Captain America, and even joined the Avengers Unity Squad when it was led by Rogue. Despite this moral growth, however, Deadpool continues to be a lethal character, and he’s not particularly concerned with protecting the lives of those he fights.
Deadpool’s trademark deadly approach has its limits, and Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again, by Cullen Bunn and Dalibor Talajic, shows readers one they may not have expected. In the storyline, Deadpool is subjected to advanced brainwashing techniques by a cabal of supervillains, and tricked into killing off the entire superhero community, one by one. Over the course of the miniseries, Deadpool takes out his love interest Rogue, his teammates in the Uncanny Avengers and his friends, the Mercs for Money, along with most other major heroes, anti-heroes, mutants and gods. The villains’ brainwashing makes Wade none the wiser until the very end, with the confused Deadpool seeing a variety of harmless hallucinations instead of the horror he is inflicting. But despite the mental fog, Wade insists on leaving Gorilla-Man alive, even as he kills the other Mercs.
Killing Gorilla-Man Comes With A Terrible Curse
The mauled Gorilla-Man explains the situations to the heroes who found him and his dead teammates, stating that this wasn’t because of compassion on Deadpool’s part, but because of Gorilla-Man’s powers. The ape hero was once a man known as Kenneth Hale, a soldier of fortune who heard of a local legend stating, “If you kill the magical Gorilla-Man, you become immortal.” In his pursuit of immortality, Hale did just that before realizing that the legend has an unspoken curse aspect: the murderer becomes an immortal gorilla, not an immortal human. If Deadpool had killed Hale, the curse would simply transfer over to him, turning him into Gorillapool. Wade might have been brainwashed enough to slaughter kid heroes like Power Pack and Moon Girl, but he is still too clever to doom himself like that.
This grim story does not have a happy ending for the heroes of that world, but this brief subplot reminds the readers that Wade is more than a comedic fool. He’s a brilliant fighter, an excellent combat tactician and a master of a number of armed and unarmed approaches. Despite his bluster and irreverence, Deadpool is a major threat to anyone who crosses his path. This story shows that if he decides to, Deadpool could kill most of Marvel’s heroes - except one.
Next: Deadpool’s One Weakness Is the Only Reason He’s Not a Perfect Fighter
