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This article is all about Deadpool’s Parents. Not because we think you need to know that The Merc with a Mouth doesn’t adhere to most parental guidelines. No, this article is because Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, has a complicated history with his parents.
Deadpool’s history is confusing for long-time readers as it has been changed more than once. There is a hint of continuity between all the tales. From Loki claiming to be Deadpool’s father once, to Wade beating up his mother after confronting her. It can be very convoluted.
I’ve been writing Deadpool articles quite frequently on this site, and he’s become one of my favorite characters to deep dive into. Um, phrasing aside, that means I’ve already crossed paths with his parents and their history multiple times.
After great consideration, I decided to take on the task of unraveling the web of lore that is Deadpool’s family history for our readers. I’m going to give you a clear(as possible) answer to the question; who are Deadpool’s parents?
Bottom Line Up Front
Deadpool has 3 different cannon plausible parents. The current most accepted form of cannon is his biological parents being murdered by himself under the influence of Butler.
I’m going to explore all the previous ones and the dark underbelly of who Butler is, and how he is the one most responsible for current Deadpool. I’m also going to talk about how all of the given history may be true without canceling each other out.
No, not the Loki one, though I’ll…let’s just jump into this.
Is Loki Deadpool’s Father?
No. There are many reasons why even when presented as possible, this could never be true. Yes, comics can decide to change backstories by restarting a character’s series and so on. In that scenario, you may think, “Well, they could make Loki his dad.”
Extremely unlikely. Why? Loki is an Asgardian…well, a Frost Giant at the very least. Deadpool’s only mutant power is the result of experimentation and hopes to make another Weapon X. Otherwise, Wade was completely human.
They gave him a bunch of new powers in that one movie. What movie? The one I don’t talk about. Fine. I’ll talk about the Wolverine movie with a great montage to open and a film following that montage that failed to capture any of its opening credit’s charisma.
Deadpool was muted in that, by the way. The Merc with a Mouth lost his mouth. But fine, I’ll talk about it.
All of those powers were also given via experimentation. Deadpool’s whole character is based on how he was utilized like a tool and suffers from it endlessly.
His villainous beginnings. His heroic anti-hero modern ways. They all build around a man who was dying and made a choice he can’t unmake. Loki being his father, while it is not impossible to write it interestingly, does not help Deadpool’s origin.
Deadpool being a father does. Deadpool being orphaned or tricked into killing his very normal parents does. Why? Because Deadpool is an imperfect man who can heal from any physical wound.
He does not possess superhuman abilities outside of his healing. He is not secretly part of a larger family tree like Odin and Thor. He is a human who makes crappy decisions very often and his origin is realistic. He’s one of us.
It makes his humor dark, but relatable. Loki has a lot of other children for Marvel to play with if they wish. Deadpool has enough issues.
Deadpool Beat Up His Mama
Yeah, that is the title of this part because it seems to be what was implied by the panel in Deadpool #36 (1997 run).
Deadpool was looking for answers, trying to figure himself out. Searching his past and things of the sort, he thought maybe learning who his father was would assist him. So, he asked his large, seemingly very unhappy to see him, mother if she knew where his father was.
She started smacking the crap out of him, and in turn, he beat the piss out of her. This comes after it was alluded to in this run of Deadpool that his mom was a bit of an alcoholic deadbeat who abused him while growing up.
A part of him hoped, one might imagine, to learn his father was at least not the level of scum his mother turned out to be.
How could this tale of Deadpool’s alcoholic, abusive mom still be true if we later learn Deadpool killed his parents? Or that his mother died from cancer?
I’ll get to that after we explore those, but I promise to make it clear.
Deadpool Meets his Real Father
I approach this, as a comic fan, as the most curious and intriguing bit of lore in Deadpool’s parents’ history. A random meeting and near confrontation with an old man in a bar. This happened in Deadpool #45 (1997 run).
Loki, claiming to be Deadpool’s father at the time, full of trickery crap, as usual, had put a curse on Wade. He took away all his scars and made him a handsome bastard. Deadpool legitimately fell into depression because of this.
The curse would be broken when Deadpool asked for forgiveness from his “father”. Of course, Loki would make it seem as if it meant Wade needed to ask the God of Mischief for forgiveness. Yet, this would not work. Why? Because the wording of the curse was precise, and Loki is not his actual father. Poor Deadpool.
While lamenting in defeat at his state, he got into a short argument with an older man who was demanding he not hog all the nuts at the bar. Their dialogue is eerily similar, their faces are drawn to be alike in several ways.
The old man cut him off before he could turn what would be an argument into a fight by calling him out for his shitty behavior. Deadpool actually apologized for making something out of nothing. Shortly later leaving to let the old man watch his game and eat the peanuts in peace.
Thereafter, Deadpool turned to see not long later that the curse had been broken! He rushed into the bar to find the man who must be his father, only for the man to no longer be there. The nut bowl was empty and the game was seemingly finished.
Due to the wording of the curse and this event, this was surely Deadpool’s biological father. Where did he go though? How did he end up there? Well, many theories could arise to answer this. However, new writers would step in and this would be but a brief story nearly forgotten in the lore of the Merc with the Mouth.
My take? Lady Death. She could have easily brought back his father for this moment. She does love Wade and would lament at his woe. Using her very encompassing power, this is plausible. Why would it be her? Because as we learn later, Wade’s biological parents are in fact, dead.
Did His Mother Die From Cancer?
Yes. In another comic arc, we learn that Deadpool’s mother passed away from cancer. In Deadpool & Cable #19, a heartfelt discussion about their past occurs between Cable and Deadpool.
In it, Deadpool recants how his father, a military man, was shot and killed after falling into alcoholism. The alcoholism was brought on after Deadpool and his father had to watch Wade Wilson’s mom slowly die of cancer.
Seeing his wife die of cancer drove him to drink and drove Wade to lash out. Memories were planted in Logan’s mind during the Weapon X project. That means it’s likely this is an implanted memory in Wade’s during the Weapon K project.
However, with the sincerity of its delivery, I don’t believe the author meant for it to be so. How could this, the biological parents being killed, AND Deadpool’s mother being an abusive alcoholic all be true?
I’m going to string together a series of events that make this believable and possible, but only after I present to you more “facts” as written in comic canon.
Did Sabertooth Kill Deadpool’s Parents?
No.
Why did he say he did?
Because he didn’t want Deadpool to know the truth. The truth was Deadpool killed his parents under the orders of Butler. Sabertooth decided to protect Wade from this the best he could and even took the wrath of the Merc with the Mouth.
In a bloody, brilliant battle, Deadpool overcame Sabertooth with cunning and even came up with a plan to kill him once and for all. You can read this beautiful arc of savagery and sadness in Deadpool (2016) #8-#12.
Who is Butler?
Butler is the man who experimented on humans in an attempt to make an army of mutants out of them. Most of these people were dying of disease or down on their luck. One such man was Wade Wilson.
Wade Wilson was dying from cancer, and he had given away his rights in the hope Butler and the Weapon K project would cure him. You could say they did but at a great cost.
Deadpool was tortured and brought to the brink of breaking before finally snapping. In his madness, his powers also fully activated, showing that he could regenerate at rapid speeds.
However, the damage done to his body through the torture and cancer became his natural state. So, he would heal only to that physical state(appearance-wise), for the remainder of his never-ending life.
He is written to have escaped the lab and killed all those within. It is revealed that this is not entirely what happened. Butler got a hold of Deadpool and was able to manipulate him like a puppet after learning about his skills.
He had Deadpool go on several missions, killing and dealing with threats all over. Covering his once vengeful hands with not just the blood of battle, but innocence.
The worst of which, having Wade Wilson burn his own parents alive. Couldn’t have them looking into where their son had gone, after all. One could harshly assume, any relative of anyone experimented on in the Weapon K experiments was also killed.
This is the current Deadpool comic book canon.
All of this Can be True
Yes. All of these can be true by adding one word to their equation. Orphan.
If Deadpool’s original parents gave him up for adoption, he would’ve had multiple parent figures. A lot of stories of adults adopting children can be horror stories. They get a check from the government occasionally for money for adoption and they don’t care much about the kid.
The consistency of alcoholism points to Deadpool being in a rough household regardless of the tale. So, here’s a plausible order of events.
- Put up for adoption by parents who couldn’t keep the child.
- Adopted by a good couple at first, but the mother died of cancer.
- This drove the father, who was in the military, into becoming a heavy drinker and being strict with his son in an abusive fashion.
- The father is killed when trying to drag Wade out of a bar because he was far too young to be in there anyway. Leaving him to hate the man but also feel guilty for his death.
- Still, under the legal age, the angry teenager went back into foster care.
- Adopted this time by an abusive, alcoholic mother who claims to be his biological parent even.
- She was a big enough woman and literally beat the rebel out of him for a bit while collecting money for having him there.
- Wade Wilson escaped the shitty home to one day go on and become Deadpool.
- Anyone with the same DNA as his needs to be targeted. In case connections are made should his blood be left at the scene of a crime.
- Deadpool is brainwashed into killing his actual parents.
- He does go in search of what might be his biological father one day at the home of the abusive mom he escaped.
- He kicks her ass because she has it coming.
- He meets his biological father via Lady Death to break the curse left on him by Loki.
- It feels right, but the dead go back to the place of the dead. Leaving him with no answers.
- Deadpool remembers both his childhoods and his better first parents more fondly because that mother cared for him, so it’s the story he usually gives.
- Eventually, he wonders why he was in foster care in the first place.
- Learns both his original biological parents were killed!
- Learns it was Sabertooth and goes for vengeance.
- Turns out it was Butler who set up the hit.
- Only he did it using Deadpool himself as the instrument. It’s a tragic ending to the journey.
- The best Wade Wilson can do now? Be a good father himself, because his parents are gone.
FAQs – Deadpool Parents Guide
Question: Who are Deadpool’s Parents?
Answer: Thomas and Hailey Wilson.
Question: Did Deadpool Kill his Parents?
Answer: Yes. However, as he was being controlled, you can say it was truly Butler who killed them.
Question: Does Deadpool have a Daughter?
Answer: Yes. Funny you should ask that, we have a whole article on his daughter. You can check that out here.
Question: Will we see Deadpool’s Parents in a Deadpool movie?
Answer: It’s possible. Do expect a new take on them if you do, however. As Butler doesn’t seem to be a factor, Sabertooth is not yet part of the MCU, and alcoholism isn’t a topic Disney tackles very heavily for some reason. Though, they could use them as a way to do so, perhaps.
Conclusion
Deadpool’s parent’s history can be very confusing because it did get changed more than once. I even left out the part where Deadpool said his father left him and his mother in the womb and his mom was (still an alcoholic) a lovely lady who got addicted to the shopping network.
However, you are all caught up on the current canon. Deadpool’s parents are a soft spot for the Merc, but this can be true for many of us. Like him, the best we can do is make sure our kids don’t ever feel that way about us.
Take care, true believers.
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