Thanks to his sarcasm, his habit of breaking the fourth wall, and his deeply inappropriate one-liners, Deadpool has easily established himself as one of Hollywood's most exciting new superheroes. The character actually made its debut back in 1997, but 11 years later, Ryan Reynolds [1] brought the antihero to life on the big screen in 2016's Deadpool [2] and its highly-anticipated sequel, and his deep love for Vanessa [3], there are still a few tidbits about Deadpool you might want to brush up on. For those who aren't avid followers of the comics or whoever just needs a refresher ahead of the sequel [4], we're diving deep into the back story of how Deadpool actually came to be.
How Does He Get His Powers?
Wade Wilson is a dishonourably discharged special forces operative who ends up working as a mercenary and assassin, and later he receives a terminal cancer diagnosis that sparks his journey into becoming Deadpool. Wilson is approached to take part in an experiment that is supposedly going to cure his cancer with a mysterious serum, which is made from Wolverine's genes and aims to awaken other dormant mutant genes in the body. Thanks to the serum he gains a superhuman healing ability just like Wolverine. Unfortunately there are some rough side-effects from the procedure: his body is left covered in burn scars, and he becomes emotionally unstable.
What Abilities Does He Have?
Due to his extraordinary healing powers, Wilson can "regenerate damaged or destroyed areas of his cellular structure at a rate far greater than that of an ordinary human," according to his Marvel character bio [6]. "As such, he can regrow severed limbs or vital organs." With these new abilities, Wilson becomes a masked vigilante and adopts the name Deadpool. On top of his ability to regenerate, Deadpool also possesses "superhuman levels of stamina." His strength, agility and reflexes are also beyond "the natural limits of the human body."
What Else Can He Do?
Because of his background as a special forces operative, Deadpool has serious skills in hand-to-hand combat and assassination techniques. Some of them include being an amazing marksman and skills with bladed weapons, which makes sense since he's usually seen carrying two swords. He is also fluent in German, Spanish, Japanese, and other languages. No wonder he's called the "Merc with a Mouth," right?