With Deadpool 2 upon us, the Merc with a Mouth is once again invading our homes with his savage quips and heroic acts of violence. Already the sequel to the 2016 superhero flick is on track to become the highest grossing R-rated picture in movie-making history, with presales crossing some serious thresholds.
Created by the wonderfully twisted minds of Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool debuted in 1991. His popularity didn’t hit its peak until just a couple years ago when Ryan Reynolds made the bold decision to fit into some uncomfortable spandex and take his signature wit to the streets. As a rebel who’s unwilling to play by the rules of conventional comic book standards, Deadpool has literally leapt off the pages to defy all the heroes that have preceded him.
Atypically violent, mentally unstable, and purposefully irrational, Wade Wilson’s graphic, troublesome history has become the antithesis of everything a proper superhero should be, which is why he’s become a favorite for so many Marvel fans. Given his unique set of character traits, we’re taking a look at all those things that make Deadpool better than the rest.
Take a seat and get comfortable as we unveil the 15 Things That Deadpool Can Do (That No One Else Can).
Exist in Multiple Universes and Timelines
With superhero movies flooding the market, Hollywood continues to rake in heaps of cash flowing from the MCU and DCEU, but with so many films to keep track of, producers are now being forced to face the problem of oversaturation.
Although the general consensus among the biggest money-makers is that there can never be too much of a good thing, audiences are forced to split their attentions between multiple universes, across both film and television. It can all be a bit dizzying at times to keep up with, but luckily for Wade Wilson, he has an advantage which makes everything a bit easier.
Thanks to his perception of reality, Deadpool is able to distinguish between multiple timelines and universes.
In the latest trailer for Deadpool 2, the Merc asks Cable if he is from the DCEU after the foe delivers a rather dark remark. According to early reports, the new film will be riddled with references to both DC and Marvel’s cinematic universe while also making jokes about the X-Men films.
These signs may be a hint that Deadpool exists outside the cannon of all this movies, but could equally be interpreted as him existing within the cannon of all these franchises at once. He could very well be a part of multiple universes and timelines. It’s all up to interpretation really, but we’d like to think the latter theory is true.
Speak Multiple Languages Without Trying
By simply taking a look at Wade Wilson, it’s easy to see that he has it all - superstar good looks, a beautiful woman by his side, and a rockstar lifestyle that consists of kicking some serious butt - but don’t let his A-list movie star status fool you. Underneath it all, he’s secretly a multi-talented genius too.
On top of being a full-time jokester who’s funnier than you can ever imagine, Wilson also has the ability to speak multiple languages without even trying. Being an international and intergalactic superstar, he’s had his fair share of travel, which means he’s picked up a few words here and there.
Alongside his fluency in pop culture references and his semi-effective use of the English language, Deadpool used American Sign Language when he teamed up with a deaf Hawkeye.
His love for chimichangas has also led him to pick up a tad of Spanish which he used in “Deadpool and the Mercs for Money” when he spoke to his Mexican teammate Massacre. To top it all off, in Deadpool Team-Up #1, he also spoke Japanese during his mission to infiltrate the Temple of a Thousand Buddhas.
Next time you think Deadpool is just another big, dumb, violent mercenary without a brain, remember he can speak every language in the book, which makes him better than all of us.
Live Forever (And Avoid Unnecessary Reboots)
Compare Fox’s X-Men movie universe to the MCU, and you’ll see the two are on completely different planes. While Phase 3 of the MCU is approaching its end, culminating in a grandiose finale which will finally see the universe’s many pieces come together, the X-Men movie universe has become one big head-trip that gets wrapped up in its own confusing timeline.
Luckily, Deadpool manages to avoid all the excruciating unnecessary plot holes by doing his own thing, which makes it easy for him to go on for as long as Ryan Reynolds sees fit.
Cursed by his accelerated self-healing properties endowed by the Weapon X Program, Deadpool is incapable of losing his life, both in the comics and on the big screen.
Although such a quality could make it extra difficult for writers to write out the character in future installments, the fluid nature of Wade Wilson makes its possible for him to transform his character, fitting into any genre he happens to be in the mood for.
Reynolds has said he could see himself continuing Wilson’s story in a future, Sundance-style indie picture just to mix things up. The upside is even if Reynolds does decide to leave the character behind, the Merc could always be recast without much more explanation than a joking throwaway line, giving Fox the option of pushing on with the franchise without having to start over from scratch.
Eat As Much As He Wants (And Still Keep His Physique)
Try as hard as you want, there’s just no sugarcoating it. We can never reach the meteoric superstardom of Deadpool. The mighty Merc with a Mouth stands above and beyond all other heroes in a league of his own, but if you follow
his strict dietary regimen, then one day you too can look like the time-wasting, Deathstroke-ripoff we’ve all aspired to become.
In order to achieve the stellar Ryan Reynolds-esque six pack of Wade Wilson, you must first have your genetic make-up highjacked by the Weapon X Program, giving you high speed regenerative abilities.
With this newly added superpower, you’ll be able to inhale chimichangas at an inhuman rate as your metabolism is given a dangerously insane upgrade.
Take a peep into Deadpool’s comic book history and you’ll see just how much the Merc has become fond of food since becoming everybody’s favorite, fun-loving madman. Whether he’s surrounded by half-eaten pizzas or cooking up a house full of pancakes out of pure boredom, he’s capable of eating his way through Julia Child’s cookbook without even the slightest amount of baby fat ruining his awesome body shape. Not even a ripped celebrity like Hugh Jackman can do that.
Produce an Army of Deadpools
When you’re a charming go-getter with a can-do attitude and the whimsy to share the most creative memes in internet history, of course you’re bound to run into a parade of mentally unstable fanatics somewhere down the line. For Deadpool, this kind of superfandom is an everyday occurrence, but one example in particular brought the anti-hero more than he could have ever bargained for.
Brought on by his crazy amount of fame, Wade Wilson’s former therapist turned biggest fan, Ella Whitby, began collecting the Merc’s dismembered body parts in Deadpool Vol. 2 #44. As a result, Evil Deadpool was born, thanks to Wilson’s incredible (and not at all disgusting) ability to heal chopped off body parts back together.
Fitting together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, Evil Deadpool was a strikingly handsome and surprisingly formidable opponent who eventually joined forces with the Evil Deadpool Corps to eliminate all the Deadpools across the Marvel multiverse.
While his evil counterpart has yet to exterminate the real Wade Wilson, he’s provided fans with an interesting bit of information about the Merc. If he ever felt so inclined, Wilson could reproduce a whole army of Deadpools from nothing more than spare parts, which could come in handy so long as he could make them fall in line and follow his orders.
Smell Extremely Bad (And Get Away With)
Exposed to a series of experimental serum injections and agonizing techniques during his time in the Weapon X Program, Wade Wilson walked away from the maniacal Dr. Killebrew’s nightmarish procedures with a whole new look.
Already battling a life-threatening form of cancer, his newly restructured, self-regenerating cells kept his passing at bay while making sure that his cancer never fully disappeared. As a result, the severe body scarring left over from the experiments was also left fully intact, assuring Wade would forever be deformed.
It’s been rumored that Wilson’s skin is so putrid that he can knock a man out with his scent alone.
Fighting bad guys for weeks on end without so much as a shower only adds to his bad hygiene, intensifying his smell to a whole new level.
Believed to smell like a combination of gunpowder, sadness, and sriracha, Daredevil described Wilson’s body odor in great detail in the Temporary Insanitation series, saying his flatulence smelled like a husk pulled from the Hudson River while his breath smelled of cheap Mexican leftovers. He did compliment his cleanliness when it came to his weapons however, making note that his guns were well taken care of and smelled of nothing but gun oil.
Resist Telepathic Powers and Chemicals
Sometimes it pays to be certifiably insane. Above and beyond his ability to heal faster than any other Marvel superhero (we’re talking about you Wolverine), Deadpool’s biggest strength is his broken psyche, which has left him so far gone that even the strongest telepaths of the Marvel universe can’t touch him.
Anyone stupid enough to enter the seriously twisted turmoil lurking in Wade Wilson’s mind will immediately regret taking a trip down memory lane with the mercenary.
In addition to being seriously deranged upstairs, Deadpool’s ever-evolving biology grants him immunity from most telepaths, shielding his thoughts from weaker mind-readers.
On top of his inability to be mentally played with by telepaths, Deadpool also has a strong immunity to foreign chemicals, including most toxins and drugs. Due to his perpetual healing factor, his body constantly fights off any foreign substances that could alter his normal psychotic state, which means any kind of medication is rendered useless against him. Luckily, he never gets sick so he doesn’t have to take many trips to the doctor’s office.
Of course, there are downsides to such a power. As one might expect, no amount of alcohol can get him drunk, but when you’re as cool as Deadpool, you don’t need substances to have a party.
Self-Promote His Own Movies
In lieu of the first Deadpool movie’s theatrical release, Deadpool seemingly highjacked Ryan Reynolds’ body in a relentless marketing siege that attacked every media platform imaginable. Scrolled across every webpage and appearing on every late night talk show was the adorable mug of Wade Wilson hidden just underneath his signature red and black mask.
Bringing a remarkable level of sass and just the right amount of wit, a lot of thought went into the simple-minded marketing ploys of the first film. Large billboards were put up marketing the film as a romantic comedy or attracting audiences with images of the poop emoji. Meanwhile, Ryan Reynolds tweeted out pages of the script annotated by the Merc with a Mouth as well as images of the vigilante sprawled out on a bearskin rug. Then over on Conan, Deadpool mixed it up with the late night host as he gave him a massage with some tantalizing music playing in the background.
Everywhere you turned, Deadpool was taking over the world with his sparkling personality and oversized sense of self-worth.
With Deadpool 2 now upon us, the marketing has only amplified as the masked mercenary looks to once again hit a home run in week one at the box office.
Break Box Office Records With An R-Rating
It was a project ten years in the making. Ryan Reynolds was brought on board at New Line Cinema for the Deadpool film in February 2004 after working with the studio on Blade: Trinity. After the character was mangled by Fox in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, plans were made to return Deadpool back to his smart-mouth, chimichanga-eating ways. By 2011, first-time director Tim Miller was brought into the fold and leaked test footage online breathed life into a project that had long been a part of development hell.
Despite heavy skepticism, Fox granted a $58 million budget to the Deadpool film and on Valentine’s Day weekend of 2016, the Merc with a Mouth had romantic couples flocking to the cinema to catch a load of his bad boy ways and form-fitting tactical suit.
The gamble on the hard R-rated anti-hero finally paid off and the guy from Van Wilder finally got his chance to be in a superhero flick that wasn’t a total disaster.
The studio managed to bring in a total of $783 million (more than three times the revenue of the atrocious Green Lantern movie), showing sometimes things do work out for the best.
Hang Out with A-List Celebrities
Even celebrities are quick to jump on the Deadpool bandwagon. With everyone jumping at the bit to get a piece of Marvel’s rebel, Wade Wilson has to pick and choose who’s cool enough to be part of his entourage, which is why it makes sense that only Hollywood’s top notch talent would be spotted living it up with Marvel’s best creation.
As part of one of the greatest bromances in history, Deadpool recently crashed the hotel room of his best friend (and sometimes rival) Hugh Jackman as the Logan star was filming a private happy birthday message for a fan.
In the video, Wilson can be seen nagging Jackman in the background in a moment of promotional genius as he sings “Tomorrow” from the Broadway hit Annie.
In addition to Jackman, Celine Dion was also recently gifted with the Merc’s greatness when he joined the singer on stage for the “Ashes” music video (available on the Deadpool 2 soundtrack). In that video, Deadpool can be seen showing off his killer dance moves as he prances around with the Hall of Fame talent.
With so little Deadpool to go around, Wilson will have no choice but to fight off the rest of Hollywood with a stick. Luckily, they’ll get their share of his wisdom when he hits theaters for another round later this month.
Single-Handedly Reset All Marvel Timelines
When Deadpool debuted in theaters back in 2016, writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were questioned about the decision to ignore the continuity of the previous installments in the X-Men movie franchise.
Discussing the boldness of their choice to make fun of the poorly written incarnation of Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the duo stated that the prior version was so far from what “fans envisioned for that character” that they had no other option than to go completely overboard and correct all the mistakes made in the X-Men movies leading up to the making of Deadpool.
As someone who’s constantly going out of his way to break the rules, Deadpool is no stranger to shaking things up, so it makes since that he’d be the one to operate outside of the lines drawn up in the other entries of the X-Men franchise.
Having hit the reset button in Marvel comics when he went completely bananas and took out everyone in his sight, the Merc is capable of single-handedly restructuring any Marvel timeline moving forward if he so chooses.
That’s a lot of responsibility to put on the shoulders of someone who’s so eager to pull the trigger any chance he gets, but with just a few bullets, he can make sure all of Marvel’s mistakes are promptly corrected.
Reference Any Movie or TV Show (Even If He Hasn’t Seen It)
Full of in-jokes, Easter eggs and context clues, Deadpool is a walking cliche of pop culture references. As fans would expect, the Deadpool movie was loaded with the anti-hero’s self-indulgent sarcasm and over-the-top meta movie references, but with all his time spent on ass-kicking, there’s a question as to how Wade Wilson finds so much time to just Netflix and chill.
In the first film, the Merc with a Mouth rips his Ryan Reynolds alter ego with laughs about the Green Lantern movie as well as nods to the disastrous, mouthless look of the first Wade Wilson in X-Men Origin: Wolverine. There are also several references to the TV series Adventure Time and everyone’s favorite John Hughes flick Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
An early look at the sequel shows much of the same as Deadpool riffs on the DCEU’s overly dark tone. A congratulatory Ryan Reynolds has also recently reached out through social media to celebrate the recent success of Avengers: Infinity War by releasing his rejection letter from the super group.
Of course, all the pop culture jokes are just sad attempts to stroke the Merc’s ego. In reality, he has no such time to sit around and worry about the latest trends online when he has so much awesome to spread around. Luckily, his writers have more than enough time on their hands to make sure he keeps all the low quality humor rolling in.
Perceive and Understand Our Reality
In an off-canon, one-shot story, Deadpool goes on a crusade to exterminate his existence, effectively putting an end to his life as a comic book character. With some help from Man-Thing, he enters through a portal which spits him out at the center of the universe, which so happens to be the writers’ room where all of the anti-hero’s misadventures are being scripted. After taking out the writers, Deadpool turns his attention to the readers, informing them that they soon will become victims to his violent comic book history.
A master of fourth wall-breaking, Deadpool’s most unique character trait has always been his ability to perceive our reality as part of his own, making him a self-aware comic book protagonist.
Sparked by his own insanity, his status as a self-aware comic book character makes him one of the most lethal Marvel superheroes.
It gives him almost omnipotent power in the Marvel universe and makes capable of anything the writers will him to do.
Across every form of media, Wade Wilson’s self-aware status has remained a constant. Whether he’s addressing the audience in his own movie or talking about the disadvantages of being a playable video game character in the Deadpool video game, he’s had the distinct advantage of knowing he was the star of his own story.
Rip Off Other Superhero’s Powers
Just because he’s played by Ryan Reynolds doesn’t mean you should let the look of Deadpool fool you. There’s more to the Merc with a Mouth than meets the eye.
Sure, he’s an expert gun-toting marksman who also happens to be scary good with katanas, but he can also possess the powers of multiple other heroes and villains from around the Marvel universe by simply ripping them off.
Let’s not forget, he did steal his whole look from DC’s Deathstroke, after all.
With the Marvel multiverse providing various opportunities for Wade Wilson to run into other comic book characters, including alternate versions of himself, he’s had the chance to see what Deadpools from other universes have been doing with their time.
With so many variations on the character, Wilson has been a part of multiple Marvel mash-ups, including characters like Grootpool, D.E.A.D.P.O.O.L., and Galactipool. Although being an everyday hero like Deadpool is more than enough to go bragging to your friends, it’s even better when you can say you’ve possessed all the superhuman qualities of Wolverine, Venom, or even Howard the Duck at various points in your publication history.
Few heroes have had as many mash-ups with other Marvel characters as Wade Wilson which is just another reason why he’s one of the comic publisher’s greatest creations.
Predict and Alter His Own Future
In the comics, Wade Wilson learns of his ability to recreate and destroy the Marvel multiverse when a Watcher informs him that he is the progenitor of all the living Deadpools across multiple planes of existence and has the know-how to do pretty much anything he wants.
Due to his ability to recognize his own existence within a comic book, he’s able to go on a destructive spree capable of wiping out everyone within the Marvel cannon, thereby giving him inconceivable power.
Being a figure capable of omnipotence, he labels himself the creator of all things, able to dictate the outcome of his own story.
With insider knowledge granted to him by Marvel’s writing staff, Deadpool is able to walk into any situation without trepidation. Of course, this inside knowledge means Wilson has an even bigger boost in his ego, which is certain to irk any no-good villains he comes across. Such confidence gives him the know-how to tweak any part of his story and move forward how he sees fit.
For anyone who gets in his way, their fate lies solely in making sure Deadpool is properly satisfied. Otherwise they’re bound to meet a fittingly tragic end as consequence.
Did we miss any singular skill that Deadpool possesses? Let us know in the comments!
