If you ask the average moviegoer who Deadpool is, they will likely describe Ryan Reynolds: a witty, fourth-wall-breaking, chimichanga-loving anti-hero who looks like a relentless red avenger. While the movies capture the spirit of the character perfectly, the “Merc with a Mouth” has a comic book history that is far darker, weirder, and more tragic than his cinematic outings suggest.

Wade Wilson is a walking paradox. He is a clown who is deeply depressed, a monster who wants to be a hero, and a fictional character who knows he is in a comic book. His publication history is a rollercoaster of shifting tones, ranging from gritty 90s action to slapstick comedy and existential horror. He has been an Avenger, a villain, a father, and a puddle of goo.

Whether you are a longtime fan or someone who just loves the movies, the comic archives hold secrets about Wade that often get overlooked. From his shameless origins as a copycat to his bizarre love triangles with cosmic entities, here are 10 things you didn’t know about the comic book history of Deadpool.

1. He Was Created as a Blatant Rip-Off of Deathstroke

The Origin Story: Wade Wilson vs. Slade Wilson

In the comic book industry, “homage” is often a polite word for theft. When artist Rob Liefeld sketched a new character for The New Mutants #98 in 1991, he showed it to writer Fabian Nicieza. Nicieza famously looked at the design—an assassin with swords, guns, and a tactical suit—and said, “This is Deathstroke from Teen Titans.”

Deathstroke, a DC Comics villain, was named Slade Wilson. He was a serious, tactical mercenary. Liefeld and Nicieza leaned into the joke rather than hiding it. They named their new character Wade Wilson as an inside joke, acknowledging that he was “related” to Slade. However, while Deathstroke is a grim, calculating soldier, Deadpool was designed to be his chaotic, annoying opposite. What started as a lazy design copy eventually evolved into one of the most unique personalities in fiction, proving that execution matters more than the original idea.

2. He Wasn’t Originally Funny

The Personality Shift: The Silent Killer

It is hard to imagine a Deadpool who shuts up, but in his first appearance in New Mutants #98, he wasn’t the “Merc with a Mouth”—he was just a merc. He was hired by a villain named Tolliver to kill Cable and the New Mutants. He was professional, menacing, and barely cracked a joke.

The comedic personality we know today didn’t fully form until writer Joe Kelly took over the character in his first solo ongoing series in 1997. Kelly gave Wade his tragic backstory, his supporting cast (like Blind Al and Weasel), and most importantly, his manic, pop-culture-referencing sense of humor. Before Joe Kelly, Deadpool was essentially a generic 90s ninja with a cool costume. It was the decision to make him a parody of the grim-dark genre that saved him from the bargain bin of history.

3. Thanos Cursed Him With Immortality

The Love Triangle: Jealousy of a Titan

One of the strangest aspects of Deadpool’s lore is his love life, specifically his romance with the literal abstract concept of Death. In the Marvel Universe, Death is a sentient entity (often appearing as a woman or a skeleton in a robe). Wade, due to his near-death experiences, flirted with her frequently in the afterlife.

This enraged the Mad Titan, Thanos, who has been obsessed with courting Death for decades. Jealous that Death found the deformed, annoying mercenary more charming than him, Thanos decided to separate them permanently. He cursed Deadpool with immortality—specifically, “life eternal.” This meant Deadpool could never die, and therefore, could never be with Death. This curse has since been removed in the comics, but for a long time, Deadpool’s inability to die wasn’t just a mutant power; it was a cosmic curse born of romantic spite.

4. He Wore the Venom Symbiote Before Spider-Man

The Retcon: Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars

Comic history tells us that Spider-Man first bonded with the alien Venom symbiote during the 1984 Secret Wars event. However, a 2015 miniseries titled Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars retconned Wade Wilson into that classic event, revealing he was there the whole time (and we just didn’t see him).

According to this story, Deadpool found the alien machine that dispensed the black suit before Peter Parker did. Wade tried on the living slime, decided it was a fashion disaster and that the suit was “crazy” (which is saying something coming from him), and put it back. This implies that the Venom symbiote’s insanity and murderous tendencies might not be natural—it might have picked up its chaotic personality by briefly bonding with Deadpool’s broken psyche before it ever touched Spider-Man.

5. His “White Caption” Voice Was a Supervillain

The Mental Health Twist: Madcap

For years, comic readers were used to Deadpool having two internal monologues: one in yellow caption boxes and one in white caption boxes. Fans assumed this was just a visual representation of his fractured mind. However, in the 2014 run by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn, it was revealed that the “white voice” wasn’t Wade at all.

It was actually a minor Captain America villain named Madcap. Madcap has the power to induce insanity and is also indestructible. Years prior, during an encounter on a rooftop, Deadpool and Madcap were both disintegrated by a lightning bolt from Thor. When they regenerated, their dust mixed, and Madcap was accidentally absorbed into Deadpool’s body. He had been living in Wade’s head for years, providing the snarky white commentary. The eventual separation was violent and messy, leaving Deadpool “alone” in his head for the first time in a decade.

6. His Relationship with Blind Al Was incredibly Dark

The Prisoner Dynamic: The Deconstructive Box

In the movies, Blind Al is Deadpool’s sassy, tough-as-nails roommate. They bicker, but there is genuine affection. The comic book origin of their relationship, specifically in the Joe Kelly run, is much more disturbing.

Originally, Al wasn’t a roommate; she was a hostage. Deadpool kidnapped her and kept her locked in his house, known as “The Deconstruction Box.” He would torment her, play cruel pranks, and prevent her from leaving. It was a dark look at Wade’s psyche, showing him not as a lovable anti-hero, but as a deeply damaged abuser who desperately wanted a mother figure but only knew how to control people through fear. Over time, their relationship softened into a weird friendship, but the origin remains a grim reminder of Deadpool’s villainous roots.

7. His Healing Factor is Actually Constant Cancer

The Biology: A War of Attrition

Most people think Deadpool’s healing factor just fixes him when he gets hurt. The reality is more horrifying. Wade Wilson had terminal cancer before he was given the healing factor by the Weapon X program. The factor was specifically derived to supercharge his cellular regeneration to combat the disease.

The result is that his body is in a constant state of biological warfare. His cancer cells are aggressively killing him every second, and his healing factor is aggressively birthing new cells to replace them. His scarred, tumorous appearance isn’t a healed injury; it is the visual result of this stalemate. If you were to remove his cancer, his healing factor would overproduce cells and cause him to explode (which actually happened to a group of Skrulls who tried to copy his powers).

8. He Has a Daughter Named Ellie

The Emotional Anchor: Eleanor Camacho

Despite his chaotic lifestyle, Wade Wilson is a father. In a storyline titled “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” he discovers he has a daughter named Ellie with a woman named Carmelita Camacho, whom he had a brief fling with years prior.

For a long time, Wade watched Ellie from afar, terrified that his presence would ruin her life or put her in danger. Ellie is a mutant (with the power to resurrect after death, bypassing his scarring), and she eventually comes to live with him. The relationship fundamentally changed Wade, giving him something to fight for beyond money or chaos. It forces him to try—and often fail—to be a better man, adding a layer of genuine heartbreak to his clownish antics.

9. He Killed the Entire Literary Universe

The Meta Narrative: Deadpool Killogy

We know Deadpool breaks the fourth wall, but in the miniseries Deadpool: Killustrated, he decided to destroy the concept of fiction itself. After killing the entire Marvel Universe in a previous series, he realized that comic characters are just puppets trapped in endless cycles of suffering by writers.

To end the suffering, he decided to kill the “inspiration” for all superheroes. He used a dimension-hopping device to travel into classic literature. He murdered Moby Dick, slaughtered the Three Musketeers, and burned down the setting of Little Women. His logic was that if he destroyed the archetypes that inspired modern comics, the comics would cease to exist. It is a brilliant, absurdist, and surprisingly philosophical examination of storytelling, with Deadpool acting as the ultimate literary critic.

10. He Shared a Soul with Cable

The DNA Mix: Body Slide by Two

The “buddy cop” dynamic between Deadpool and Cable is legendary, but in the comic series Cable & Deadpool, they were literally inseparable. Due to a teleportation accident (a “body slide” gone wrong), their DNA was mixed on a molecular level.

This meant that whenever one of them teleported, the other was pulled along for the ride. More strangely, if one of them was injured, they would both dissolve into a pile of goo unless they merged together to heal. For 50 issues, the messianic, powerful soldier from the future was tethered to the idiotic mercenary. This forced proximity is what built their friendship, turning them from enemies into one of Marvel’s most enduring, if dysfunctional, bromances.

Further Reading

• “Deadpool by Joe Kelly Omnibus” – The definitive run that created the Deadpool personality we know today.
• “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly” (Deadpool Vol. 3 #15-19) by Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn – A modern classic that introduces his daughter and explores his trauma.
• “Cable & Deadpool: If Looks Could Kill” by Fabian Nicieza – The start of the best buddy-comedy duo in comics.
• “Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe” by Cullen Bunn – A dark, meta-horror story where Wade finally snaps.
• “Deadpool’s Secret Secret Wars” by Cullen Bunn – A hilarious retcon placing Wade in 1980s Marvel history.

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