The Strangest Parts Of Deadpool And Wolverine’s Lives In Marvel Comics

Not many comic book characters hit the ground running when they were initially introduced. Even popular X-Men characters like Deadpool and Wolverine had to bide their time before becoming the fan-favorite icons they are now. Both men have largely similar origins and powers. Exploited and experimented on by the government, they have fought for their place in the world. However, while Wolverine is a warrior and teacher with the X-Men, Deadpool still struggles to heal his fractured self. With Deadpool and Wolverine reaching worldwide fame, Marvel Comics has found two bankable characters who can spearhead their own franchises.

Wolverine and Deadpool both made their debuts as antagonists. Wolverine first appeared in 1974’s The Incredible Hulk #180 (by Len Wein, Herb Trimpe, Christie Scheele and Artie Simek), followed almost twenty years later by the Merc with a Mouth in an issue of The New Mutants. Since their first appearances, readers have kept a close eye on their adventures. With so many signature traits, from Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton and Deadpool’s freaky regenerative abilities to their faulty memories, the characters are unforgettable, and similar but distinct. However, there are some facts about them so obscure that even longtime fans may find them hard to believe.

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The Many Loves And Hates Of Deadpool

As a perpetual motor mouth, Deadpool likes the sound of his own voice. When he’s not blabbering, he is usually stuffing himself with food. Apart from his fondness for pancakes and pizza and hatred for pickles on hamburgers, Deadpool loves Mexican food. Most of all, he is obsessed with chimichangas. He likes eating them while on the job, loves saying ‘chimichanga’ as a catchphrase, and even jokes about how they pass through his digestive system. However, ironically, didn’t start out as his favorite food. In Cable and Deadpool #13 (by Fabian Nicieza, Patrick Zircher, Gotham, and Cory Petit), Deadpool orders an enchilada while taking a break and confesses that he just loves saying the word “chimichanga” rather than the food itself. Co-creator Fabian Nicieza once explained that the joke came from an SNL skit where they kept overenunciating Spanish words, eventually giving the character a new catchphrase.

Despite his reckless spirit, Deadpool is also notable for his fears. For example, he is afraid of regaining his memories and hates himself for his ugly visage and he has some particular phobias too. Wade Wilson detests clowns and considers them the greatest threat to public safety, right after the planet-devouring Galactus. He apparently shares a fear of chickens with Domino. However, above everything else, Wade suffers from his bovinophobia. In Deadpool #17 (by Daniel Way, Paco Medina, Juan Vlasco, Marte Gracia, and Joe Sabino ), he admitted that cows “scare the #$% outta” him. That said, he kept his cool in his later team-up with Bessie the Hellcow, so Deadpool could have been lying or gotten over his fears when no one was looking.

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Wolverine Has A Super Secret Origin Story

By the time Logan came to the X-Men mansion, he was already suffering from memory problems, and Professor X made them much worse. The Weapon X scientists had put him through grueling brainwashing sessions to make him more obedient, fracturing his already dysfunctional mind. Strangely, according to the Original Sin storyline, Logan was sent to the mansion to kill the professor but Xavier telepathically intercepted him and co-opted the psychically damaged warrior. Wolverine Origins #29 (by Daniel Way, Mike Deodato, Rain Beredo, and Cory Petit) makes the most damning revelation that Professor X, despite knowing about Wolverine’s condition, delved deeper into his mind to erase his memories entirely. Xavier was the only person who could have helped Logan heal, but he turned him into a loyal weapon instead. While Xavier’s gotten much less trustworthy in recent years, this retcon revealed that he’d been a monster for decades.

While Wolverine’s adamantium claws are his most potent weapon, his inhuman regeneration ability allows him to take on severe physical punishment. Even death seems temporary for the mutant berserker. However, something far more sinister happens behind the scenes while his body heals and his soul remains stranded in limbo. Wolverine #58 (by Marc Guggenheim, Howard Chaykin, Edgar Delgado, and Cory Petit) explained that every time Wolverine dies, he has to fight a man named Lazaer to the death. When he kills his adversary, he returns to the land of the living. This development radically changed how Logan’s healing factor worked and added a bit of mysticism to his lore. Doctor Strange later revealed that this man is none other than the Angel of Death, Azrael, and their fight has been ongoing for at least a century.

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Wade Wilson’s Tragic Family Matters

Marvel has frequently changed Deadpool’s origin story, and it’s retconned his relationship with his parents significantly. In most accounts, Wade remembers being raised by a single parent who frequently abused him. However, during the Original Sin storyline, it turned out that Wade grew up in a typical household under the loving care of his parents, Thomas and Hailey Wilson. Deadpool’s faulty memories had tricked him into believing otherwise because of Bartol Utler’s aggressive mind control experiments on him, leaving him in a totally suggestible state. In Deadpool #34 (by Gerry Duggan, Brian Posehn, Scott Koblish, Val Staples, and Joe Sabino), Wade went to his childhood home under the influence of the memory-wiping drug and burned it down with his parents still inside. Deadpool never found out that he unwittingly committed parricide, and if he ever does, no one knows how much damage it will do to him psychologically.

In that same issue, Deadpool learned he had a daughter named Eleanor Camacho. However, between his past and his mercenary work, they never had a stable relationship. Ellie hated knowing that her father fought for money and often tried to dissuade him from killing. She hasn’t succeeded but she has had some effect on him since Wade’s occasionally joined the crime-fighting crusade alongside heroes like Spider-Man. A notable example was when the villainous Patient Zero unleashed Itsy Bitsy in Spider-Man/Deadpool #10 (by Joe Kelly, Ed McGuinness, Jason Keith, and Joe Sabino). Made from the DNA of both Deadpool and Spider-Man, Itsy Bitsy has Deadpool’s killer instincts and healing factor and an arachnid appearance from Spider-Man’s mutated genes. She’s basically the worst possible version of the pair’s genetic child, and has as little in common with Eleanor as chimichangas have with ice cream.

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Logan Has Always Been A Team Player

For a loner, Wolverine has been in dozens of crossovers and team-ups. He has gone on missions with Captain America, reformed the X-Force at the behest of Cyclops, and even joined the Avengers. But not many know that he was also a part of the Canadian superhero team Alpha Flight at its inception. However, when Wolverine left A-Flight for X-Men, Department H did not like knowing that their trained weapon was now Charles Xavier’s pawn. In Uncanny X-Men #109 (by Chris Claremont, John Byrne, Andy Yanchus, and Joe Rosen), Alpha Flight’s leader Guardian tried to retrieve him but quickly discovered he’d bitten off more than he could chew. Alpha Flight later made another attempt at recovering their living weapon but couldn’t keep Wolverine caged. The disparate teams of heroes managed to bury their respective hatchets when they teamed up against Wendigo, and Alpha Flight realized that Logan was their own government’s victim.

Wolverine is infamous for his animalistic berserker rage. However, over time, he has tamed that side of himself after training as a samurai under Master Ogun. Logan is as familiar with the ways of the blade as he is with unarmed (or clawed) combat. He passed this knowledge on to a young Natasha Romanov who later became the Black Widow. In Wolverine: Origins #9 (by Daniel Way, Steve Dillon, Dan Kemp, and Randy Gentile), Wolverine goes to Russia to learn espionage under a spy. At night he gave fighting lessons to Natasha to hone her skills in combat, seeing that she was a natural fighter. Logan saw Natasha as a surrogate daughter as he strove to teach her as much as he could so that she could fend for herself. Black Widow never forgot Wolverine’s kindness, even when she became a SHIELD agent.

Wolverine’s long history is not only a testament to the character’s relevance but also Marvel’s desire to reboot and update him in every era. Meanwhile, Deadpool is a relatively new character who seems to be reveling in his own popularity. Together, they have a lot deep lore and interesting tidbits that always bring back fans to their titles. With the upcoming Deadpool 3 movie finally giving fans the Deadpool and Wolverine crossover they’ve always wanted, there’s hope that their on-page chemistry will be reflected on the screen, as the movies are inspired by their colorful pasts.