The 15 Worst Things Deadpool Has Ever Done

Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool, is one of Marvel’s golden geese at the moment. His combination of profane, fourth-wall-breaking jokes and hyper violence has gone a long way in making him a success in comics and film. He’s so far the only X-Men character to have a solo trilogy that’s solid all the way through, and even if he’s not reinventing the wheel, his self-awareness makes him a breath of fresh air, as superhero stories continue to dominate the culture (even if they’re at a bit of a low point). 

Even if he’s funny, Deadpool remains an anti-hero for a reason. He’s not above killing his enemies, but we could look past that seeing as how even Steve Rogers has a mighty high kill count. Sometimes, Deadpool takes things a step too far, whether it’s in the specific person he decides to kill or a joke that’s way too off-color for even our sensibilities. 

Merc with a Mouth? More like Jerk with a Mouth when you consider these 15 moments across comics and film. 

If you only know Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Blind Al (Leslie Uggams) from the movies, the pair probably seem like two peas in a pod. But in the comics, they’re more like one pea in a pod and the other pea inside a room filled with broken glass and booby traps. 

It was most prominent in ’90s “Deadpool” stories for him to trap Blind Al, who was a mentor and one of the few people trying to make him better, in the Box. This was basically a torture room that Wade Wilson wouldn’t even bother locking because he knew Al would be too afraid to try to walk around to escape. Even when she wasn’t in the Box, Deadpool would regularly insult, trick, and force her into cooking and cleaning after him. Oddly enough, Al never really seemed to mind any of this, seemingly understanding that Deadpool was sick in the head. Still, such scenes are hard to read now. It’s a far cry from the two joyfully exchanging euphemisms for cocaine in “Deadpool & Wolverine.” 

Despite his psychopathic tendencies, Deadpool’s quite the ladies’ man in the comics (he dated X-Men’s Rogue for a bit even!). Another one of his partners is Ananastasia Rinaldi, a former FBI trainee turned exotic dancer. With a sketchy past, maybe it’s no wonder she took a liking to Deadpool although no good thing could last. 

Despite legitimately developing feelings for the mercenary, she double-crosses him for her other lover. She then goes back to dig Deadpool out of the dirt, seeing as his regenerative healing factor prevents him from actually dying, and Deadpool wastes no time shooting her point-blank in “Deadpool” Vol. 3 #48 from Jimmy Palmiotti, Paul Chadwick, and Ron Randall. 

Deadpool has killed a lot of people over the years, but they’re usually bad guys who typically have it coming. Anastasia could fall under the category of “bad guy” as well, but at the end of the day, she was a woman with a tough background put in a tight spot between two men she had feelings for. Deadpool shooting her with the gun she gave him to prove how committed she was to him shows just how cold-blooded he can be. 

Getting lied to is better than getting murdered, but the version of Deadpool we see on the big screen is definitely meant to be a more sympathetic character compared to the comics. As such, lying to Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) definitely feels like a big deal that shows what a selfish fool he can be. 

Wade and Vanessa have a whirlwind romance in the first “Deadpool” movie that’s crude yet oddly sweet. But then he hears about an experimental treatment that could that could cure his cancer that Vanessa is against. Instead of involving Vanessa more in the decision, Wade just leaves in the middle of the night. Even when the surgery saves yet disfigures him, he doesn’t go to Vanessa right away to tell her the good news, fearing she won’t be attracted to him any longer. Deadpool’s self-consciousness does make relatable to a degree, but deceiving Vanessa that way makes it so that you don’t necessarily want to see them back together. All we know is that Baccarin is a champ for making out with Ryan Reynolds while he wore latex makeup. That’s dedication to the craft. 

In 2016, a new Captain America storyline revealed him to be a HYDRA agent that instantly angered fans. You most certainly remember the panel going viral of Cap saying “Hail Hydra,” but while that news cycle came and went, a whole other storyline played out that involved Cap recruiting Deadpool to kill Phil Coulson. 

While it’s a shocking moment, “Deadpool” Vol. 6 #31 from Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli, and Christian Dalla Vecchia does a solid job of giving Wade more pathos than usual. The Merc wants to impress Captain America because, naturally, he’s looked up to the red, white, and blue icon his entire life. If Cap says to kill Coulson, Deadpool’s going to do it. It’s tragic as Wade has put all of his true implicitly in Steve Rogers; he’s a version of a superhero Deadpool always probably wished he could be. It’s just a shame the version of Cap that wanted him happened to also be a HYDRA agent. 

It probably goes without saying that Deadpool isn’t going to win any Father of the Year awards anytime soon. Still, that doesn’t really excuse his actions in 2016’s “Deadpool” #5 from Gerry Duggan, Mike Hawthorne, and Terry Pallot. 

Deadpool needs to lure one of his enemies out of hiding who’s going around impersonating Wade so that the public turns against him. It seems like overkill when he could’ve just reminded them about all of the terrible things the real Deadpool has done on this list. Regardless, Deadpool figures he can get his foe, aka Madcap, out of hiding by bringing his seldom-seen daughter, Ellie, into the limelight. Madcap does take the bait, with bullets flying toward the little girl. She’s only saved because the lightning-fast Quicksilver gets her out of there just in time. It’s the kind of plan only the zany Deadpool would think of … and that’s for good reason. 

Deadpool making crude, offensive jokes is kind of his whole deal. He’s not above making fun of how ridiculous some other heroes’ powers can be, and his fourth-wall awareness of how played out superhero stories have become can be charming to a degree. But he can also take certain jokes too far, as evidenced in 2013’s “Deadpool” #7 from Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, Scott Koblish, and Val Staples. It’s a throwback issue that envisions what it would be like if the Merc had been around in the ’70s when a demon tries to convince Deadpool to get Tony Stark addicted to alcohol once more. Deadpool (thankfully) doesn’t go through with it, but he does steal Stark’s armor while chugging a bottle of alcohol and proclaiming, “Here comes the armored Avenger’s most intoxicating adventure!”

While Deadpool poking fun at Stark’s alcoholism is within character for him, that doesn’t make it in better taste. Addiction is a disease, but we suppose we should just be grateful Wade Wilson didn’t go through with the demon’s plan to get Stark off the wagon. 

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

That 2013 “Deadpool” run from Jerry Duggan and Brian Posehn would consistently throw in a “lost” Deadpool issue to envision what it would be like if Wade had been around decades previously, interacting with older versions of beloved Marvel characters. In addition to seeing Tony Stark at his low point, he also teams up with Iron Fist and Power Man in Issue #13. 

A widow gets the Heroes for Hire to investigate her husband’s murder, and Deadpool wants in on the action. The only problem is he makes things worse at every turn, including bursting into a bodega speaking jive and dressed like a pimp. All of this is Deadpool’s attempt to go undercover, which only brings more attention to the Heroes for Hire, which are temporarily a threesome. It may be unfair to expect Deadpool to be woke, especially in a ’70s-set story where comics did plenty of things in bad taste. We suppose it’s still better than the time Lois Lane turns into a Black woman so that she can get a story. 

The 2013 run of “Deadpool” from writers Gerry Duggan and Brian Posehn and artist Tony Moore gets into presidential mayhem as it’s up to the Merc with a Mouth to track down all of the resurrected presidents. In Issue #2, he finds the reanimated corpse of Teddy Roosevelt at the Los Angeles Zoo, but it’s not just the former president he has to contend with. He also finds himself on the wrong end of an elephant’s tusk. It’s one of the more graphic moments in a Deadpool comic, but Wade gets his revenge by electrocuting both Roosevelt and the elephant, setting the latter on fire. 

Killing a former president on a rampage is one thing. An elephant is an innocent creature even if it did impale Deadpool (not that it would’ve known any better). Besides, Deadpool can heal; an elephant can’t. More than anything, burning an elephant alive really seems to be an excuse for Wade to say, “Should we talk about the elephant in the room? ‘Cause it’s on fire.” Solid pun all the way through. 

Arguably, one of the most devastating Deadpool moments ever comes in “Deadpool” Vol. 5 #34 from a team that’s come up frequently on this list — Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, Scott Koblish, and Val Staples. In it, Deadpool succumbs to brainwashing from Butler, an antagonist part of the Weapon Plus program who wants to be certain his brainwashing works on the mercenary. To test this, he sends Deadpool into his parents’ home to set it on fire, which he does. 

The fact he’s not doing this of his own free will does ease the bleakness a bit. But it’s a haunting few pages, as Deadpool, who’s normally all jokes, doesn’t say a word. He sees pictures of his parents and old mementos from his childhood, but he pours alcohol all over the place and walks out silently, killing his parents inside. He may not be himself, but this is a type of Deadpool we never want to see again. 

After slicing and dicing his way through the Marvel universe, Deadpool sets his sights on the multiverse and killing every major literary character ever. That’s the multiversal madness at the heart of the “Deadpool Killustrated” arc from Cullen Bunn, Matteo Lolli, and Sean Parsons. He travels through every novel you never bothered to read in high school, like “Moby Dick,” “Don Quixote,” and “Little Women,” slaughtering everyone he comes across. 

On the one hand, this does lead to some pretty rad moments, like Deadpool going up against Dracula and a horde of vampires. Then, there are the more innocent casualties of Deadpool’s rampage like Wade blowing up the March sisters from “Little Women.” And upon entering “The Jungle Book,” he slices Bagheera the panther’s throat. Like the elephant before, Deadpool killing animals is a step too far, even if it is talking cat that attacked him first. 

As an antihero, Deadpool gets away with operating in murky gray areas straightforward heroes wouldn’t dare cross. That becomes apparent in “Deadpool” Vol. 5 #11 from Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, and Mike Hawthorne. Deadpool’s trying to track down a shapeshifter, but he gets stopped part of the way through by Daredevil. The assailant’s getting away, and Daredevil doesn’t believe anything Wade Wilson says, which you can’t really blame him for. To get away, Deadpool shoots an innocent bystander so that Daredevil has to let him go to tend to the injured party.

Deadpool was caught between a rock and a hard place. Daredevil had him all tied up and would’ve prevented him from catching up to his adversary. We suppose there could’ve been other ways for Deadpool to convince Matt Murdock to let him go, but shooting a random guy was probably the most fun option for Wade. Besides, he did shoot a man in an area where he could’ve been treated, which is more than most can say who have wound up on the wrong end of Deadpool’s guns. 

Call him the Merc with No Mouth. A lot went wrong with “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” chiefly among them the depiction of Deadpool, which even director Gavin Hood is aware of. Ryan Reynolds plays the character in the beginning as a sassy-mouthed assassin, which is somewhat in line with the character’s comic book counterpart, but he doesn’t get the iconic red and black suit. Wade Wilson reappears in the film’s climax, who no longer has a mouth but does have some odd tattoos and the ability to teleport. 

This is one of the worst things to happen to the character because he’s not even really Deadpool at this point. We can only assume the latter depiction was done to make him more grounded and realistic. Seeing as how everything else in the film tries to tie it to the rest of the “X-Men” franchise, it wouldn’t really make sense for Wade to break the fourth wall left and right. What’s even more egregious is when after Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) decapitates the character, we get a shot later of Deadpool’s head opening its eyes in dramatic fashion. It’s the kind of cliche the true Deadpool would make fun of, and we’re just thankful Reynolds had a chance to have a more accurate depiction later on. 

After seeing how Deadpool treats his enemies, you have to wonder how he acts toward his friends. The answer isn’t very positive if Hydra Bob is any indication. Sure, it may not be easy to have any sympathy for someone who worked with Hydra at one point, but Bob’s pretty pitiful. He didn’t even really believe in Hydra’s mission and only wanted a solid dental plan. During his introduction in “Cable & Deadpool” #38 from Fabian Nicieza and Reilly Brown, Bob betrays Hydra to assist Deadpool, but things between them don’t get much better from there. 

Hydra Bob pops up periodically in future Deadpool stories to pretty much function as his pathetic sidekick any time the Merc needs a hand. Wade frequently hits Bob, even shooting him on one occasion. But Bob putting his life on the line for Deadpool is admirable, considering he doesn’t have a healing factor or any superpowers to call his own. That’s what we call a true friend, but Wade doesn’t usually care in the slightest. 

In “Deadpool” Vol. 3 #27 from writer Joe Kelly and artist Walter McDaniel, Deadpool thinks that he can rid himself of hallucinations if he can get into a really good fight with someone, and the only hero he assumes can last in a fight with him is Wolverine. Suffice it to say, Logan wants nothing to do with the oddball assassin, especially as he’s out and about in Japan with Kitty Pryde. To get Wolverine mad enough to want to fight him, Deadpool punches Kitty out of nowhere, which admittedly does get Wolverine to fly into a rage. 

When Deadpool’s around, you really don’t want to be a bystander. It’s yet another example of how the character is chiefly concerned about what he wants most, others be damned. If Deadpool wants to fight Wolverine, he’ll do whatever it takes even though we assume he could’ve just punched his fellow Canadian to get him into a fight if he really wanted to.

One of the most famous Deadpool comic storylines really lives up to its title — “Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe” from writer Cullen Bunn and artist Dalibor Talajic. It’s a story way too messed up for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but it has ample gore as another universe’s Deadpool, known as Dreadpool, undergoes a procedure that accidentally makes him even more bloodthirsty. He’s now on a mission to kill every hero in his universe, which he carries out with aplomb. The Fantastic Four, X-Men, Spider-Man, and anyone else in his way is no match for an out-of-control Deadpool. 

None of it may be canon, but anyone picking up an issue should be prepared to see their favorite heroes meet bloody demises. He shoots Spider-Man directly in the head and plants bombs in Luke Cage’s coffee to blow him up on the inside (to circumvent his indestructible skin). Each issue somehow gets more violent than the last, and it’s handily the worst thing Deadpool has ever done. Let’s just hope Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool entering the MCU stays relatively sane.