10 Best Wolverine & Deadpool Crossovers, Ranked

Deadpool and Wolverine have had many crossovers over the years. The two superheroes are a great combination for engaging and often humorous adventures. In many ways, they are the odd couple of the Marvel Universe — Deadpool is humorous, while Wolverine is serious. Deadpool’s antics and personality irritate Wolverine to no end. Plus, they both have accelerated healing factors, making their recurring battles even more engaging for the reader. Neither of them ever really wins a fight.

But while there are numerous Deadpool and Wolverine crossovers, some stand out more than others. In some instances, they team up for an entire series, yet some one-shots capture their dynamic perfectly. Regardless, these stories are why readers are always delighted to see the two heroes together.

10 Cranky Old Man vs Despicable Merc

Deadpool Vs. Old Man Logan

For a few years, the Logan of Earth-616 was dead. Fortunately, thanks to one of Marvel’s biggest crossovers, Secret Wars, Deadpool got to antagonize a multiversal Wolverine: Old Man Logan. At the same time, Wade Wilson was sick of trying to be a superhero and returned to being the “Despicable Deadpool.” This is where Deadpool Vs Old Man Logan shone: Deadpool was at his worst behavior while an even grumpier Logan had to deal with him.

But why were they fighting? Old Man Logan wanted to help a new mutant whose teleporting powers put her and others in danger, and Deadpool wanted to help her more than Logan. The plot didn’t really make sense, but that’s the beauty of Deadpool stories: they don’t have to make sense; they just happen. The story didn’t need a big catalyst to deliver a fun miniseries.

9 Deadpool Crashes a Crossover

Wolverine #13, “What They Did in the Shadows”

While Deadpool and Wolverine have had many crossovers, some of those collisions were during bigger crossovers. That’s exactly what happened in Wolverine #13, a Hellfire Gala crossover issue. While most of the X-Men were having a good time, mixing it up with celebrities or terraforming Mars, as people do, X-Force was running security for the event. And Deadpool wasn’t invited.

However, though he intended to cause chaos during the gala, Wade arrived just in time to save Domino from a monster of Beast’s making. To reward Deadpool, Domino invited him to the Hellfire Gala, where he and Wolverine shared drinks. The issue ended with a letter from Deadpool to X-Force asking them to let him join. But Wolverine and the members of X-Force weren’t ready to bring in such a wildcard… yet.

8 Deadpool and Wolverine and… Werewolves?

Wolverine Annual 1999, “Crying Wolf”

Superheroes are no strangers to bizarre and unusual situations, but occasionally, they get into something weird even for them. This crossover started with Wolverine catching Deadpool as he was stalking a novelist whom Kitty Pryde liked. Wolverine barely gave Deadpool a moment to breathe before he attacked him. But what was Deadpool doing trying to kill the author? Well, the popular werewolf novelist was actually a werewolf himself. Not only that, but the Council of Werewolves hired Deadpool to kill him.

While Deadpool was worried about his contract, Wolverine seemed to enjoy the entire situation, cracking more jokes than he usually would in any of his books. Penciler Walter McDaniel and writer Marc Andreyko never took the story too seriously. As a result, they delivered a fun annual with great action scenes.

7 Deadpool and Wolverine Debate

Wolverine Origins: The Deep End

While most Deadpool and Wolverine crossovers can be fun, sometimes they get a bit more serious. That’s exactly what happened in Wolverine Origins: The Deep End. For most of the 5-issue story arc, Deadpool was trying to kill Wolverine for unclear reasons. In fact, issues #21-23 were just Deadpool trying to kill Wolverine. While Steve Dillon’s art was great, and the fights were entertaining, as a Wolverine story, readers needed at least some explanation.

Though Daniel Way never provided a good answer for why they were fighting, in the fourth part of the crossover, Wolverine Origins #24, Deadpool turned serious and called out Wolverine for his revenge spree. Deadpool stopped joking, and while he had Wolverine hanging over a tank of water, the two had a serious debate about Wolverine’s ethics regarding killing. Maybe it was because Way spent so much of the arc on the fighting, but the sudden shift in tone and action made the story more memorable.

6 Deadpool to the Rescue!

Wolverine/Deadpool: The Decoy

Soon after Jean Grey died… again… a rogue Shi’ar sentry crashed into the earth, targeting the deceased founding X-Man. Wolverine took this a bit personally. After all, he did love Jean. But how did Deadpool get involved? As the title suggests, Wolverine needed a decoy. He couldn’t defeat the killer robot on his own, so he enlisted Deadpool to help him. Deadpool only agreed to help when Wolverine promised him that it would be very painful.

The entire issue is silly, from Stuart Moore’s writing to Shawn Crystal’s exaggerated pencils. The one-shot never got more serious than it needed to. In fact, as if to prove how not serious the story was, Deadpool eventually put on one of Jean Grey’s classic costumes to trick the robot into targeting him. It mostly worked. The sentry was 91% sure Deadpool was the real Jean.

5 The First Deadpool and Wolverine Team-Up

Wolverine Annual 1995; “What the Cat Dragged In”

Wolverine has a soft spot for Deadpool, even if he also wants to kill him in most of their crossovers. This time, however, Wolverine saved the Merc with the Mouth. It started when a nefarious organization looking to capitalize on the legacy virus abducted Deadpool to perform experiments on him. They also tried to kidnap Maverick, another healer, but only managed to wound him. Maverick went to Wolverine to help put down the organization and help free Deadpool.

One of the joys of reading this now is Ben Herrera’s ’90s pencil work. Characters’ limbs and muscles make no anatomical sense, but the exaggerations work for Chris Golden’s story. What is odd about the story, however, is that, despite being such a monumental first team-up of two fan favorites, it’s the backup story in the annual. Still, it’s a fun story and showed why Deadpool and Wolverine make for one of Marvel’s best team-ups. It’s also one of the best stories featuring the criminally underused Maverick.

4 Deadpool and Wolverine’s Very First Fight

Wolverine #88, “It’s D-D-Deadpol, Folks!”

Despite debuting in 1990, it took four years for Deadpool to cross over with Wolverine. Wolverine (1988) #88 isn’t a perfect issue. Though Larry Hamma’s run on Wolverine is beloved, some issues, including this one, were way too heavy on the dialogue. Yes, Deadpool is talkative, but Wolverine and the supporting cast didn’t need as much to say. Besides, what made this issue special wasn’t the ludicrous reason behind their fight — Deadpool’s attempt to kill his ex-girlfriend and her new love interest (who just so happens to be Wolverine’s friend Garrison Kane). Instead, it was the art.

This issue showcased some of Adam Kubert’s best work in comics (along with Fabio Laguna). The action was intense and explosive, even before Deadpool used a grenade to escape Wolverine. Even on the opening page, with Wolverine about to face Deadpool for the first time, Kubert’s work was epic. On the following page, where Wolverine encountered Deadpool in Kane’s apartment, readers were treated to a memorable double-page spread of the two violent characters right about to clash. And the art in the rest of the issue just kept getting better.

3 Deadpool and Wolverine Cross Over with Captain America

Deadpool: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

What can make Deadpool and Wolverine crossovers even better? More superheroes! The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly might be the best story out of Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn’s run on Deadpool. Wade, after escaping abduction, not only found that North Korea was trying to make super soldiers with the X-Men’s powers, but also discovered that the organization North Korea employed also got their hands on Wolverine and Captain America. Both of them told Wade earlier in the story that he was being paranoid when he told them he thought all three of them were being watched.

This story had its fun moments, but it also took Deadpool seriously. Readers learned that his ex, Carmelita, was killed by the same group. Not only that, but Deadpool was led to believe that they also killed his daughter. Duggan and Posehn added much more nuance to Deadpool than readers had seen in years and offered a deeper connection between Wolverine, Deadpool, and Captain America. The story arc showed readers why Deadpool is a great character for other heroes to team up with.

2 Wolverine and Deadpool Star in a gritty Team Book

Uncanny X-Force

Out of all of Deadpool and Wolverine’s crossovers, Rick Remender’s Uncanny X-Force is the darkest and most serious. After Cyclops disbanded X-Force in the wake of X-Men: Second Coming, Wolverine recreated the team behind Cyclops’ back. He brought in Archangel, Psylocke, Fantomex, and, of course, Deadpool. What the team went through from the very first issue of Uncanny X-Force is a testament to how much Wade really does trust Logan. The first story arc, The Apocalypse Solution, ended with Fantomex killing a child clone of the villain Apocalypse, much to Deadpool’s horror. Yet, as mortified as he was, he stayed on the team.

The series just kept getting darker. Wolverine assembled a team of killers, and that’s what they did. However, Remender gave readers some glimmers of hope, having Fantomex make a new clone of Apocalypse who would become a student at the Jean Grey School and take on the name “Genesis.” Deadpool even had a hand in raising the new hero.

1 What All the Deadpool and Wolverine Crossovers Have Been Leading To

Wolverine #20-23

As he showed during the first Hellfire Gala, Deadpool really wanted to join Krakoa’s X-Force. To show just how dedicated he was to join the team, he took down a government exchange for cyborg versions of the X-Men. He and Wolverine then investigated where these knockoff X-Men were coming from, only to find that it was the X-Men’s villain-turned-ally-turned-villain-again, Danger, a cybernetic character herself.

What made this such a good Wolverine and Deadpool crossover wasn’t just the story itself, but the very last page of Wolverine (2020) #23, when Logan — and the entirety of X-Force — invited Wade to join the team. They didn’t just accept him, though. Wolverine went as far as saying, “We need your help.” It took nearly thirty years, but Wolverine and Deadpool finally came to understand and accept each other.