A million tantalizing potentials exist in the untamed territory set to be explored in Deadpool & Wolverine, as the Merc with a Mouth teams up with Captain Canada for a good old fashioned mess-around.
Among these are each and every unexplored Deadpool storyline, a collection which already boasts some of the wildest tales Marvel ever put to page. Zombie heroes? Been there, done that. The invasion of a messiah-like alien overlord? Snore. We’ve seen Deadpool and Wolvie duke it out a dozen times — they even hauled in Logan’s kiddo once — and the pair’s comicbook relationship is almost as wild as the real-world bromance between Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. There are too many potentials to pin down, but one of the wildest could put Wade Wilson’s “good” name on the line.
Some serious leeway is given with the “good” there — my man’s killed almost as many people as Chopper from Star Wars: Rebels — but I couldn’t be more serious on the name front. In case you were unaware, there’s actually some major questions surrounding the Regenerating Degenerate’s name — and whether or not its really Wade Wilson.
Wait, is Deadpool not named Wade Wilson?
Marvel Comics go way, way back, so there are plenty of wild storylines that no longer have a lick of relevance to the modern-day versions of our beloved characters, but Deadpool is only three decades old. Even his most fringe, ancient appearances are pretty modern, so they contain far fewer violent children or wild, incestuous rapes.
What they do contain, however, is a tidbit that could delegitimize a staple of the character’s identity — namely, his name. It all harkens back to a years-old Deadpool comic, in which the character’s origins come into question.
It all hinges on a staple of Deadpool canon that somehow has yet to make his big on-screen debut: T-Ray. The voodoo-wielding maniac has been a rival of our favorite mercenary for years by the time he finally confronts him with a supposed truth that shatters “Wade’s” perception of his life so far.
All because T-Ray claims that it is he, not Deadpool, that was born with the name Wade Wilson. Mid-way through an intricate scheme to destroy Wade’s life and sanity, the pasty pariah claims his vendetta is driven by revenge — revenge against the man who killed his wife, attempted to kill him, and stole his identity.
According to T-Ray, he was once known as Wade Wilson, and he lived on a farm alongside his wife, Mercedes, when an injured mercenary named Jack — the man that would become Deadpool — stumbled onto their property. They nursed him back to health, but upon awaking, the man became violent and killed Mercedes. His attempts to kill T-Ray failed, but the horror of what he’d done still broke “Jack’s” mind, ultimately leading to his adoption of a new name, new identity, and new purpose.
The way T-Ray tells it, he’s been awaiting his revenge for years. He slowly tracks down the man who supposedly stole everything from him, even his name, and set out to destroy his life. He certainly succeeds there — if you ever want to read a really depressing Deadpool comic, look for that goofy bandaid — but it’s still unclear whether a single word of T-Ray’s claim was true.
There’s evidence to support the theory that Wade Wilson was never Wade Wilson at all, but there’s also plenty to the contrary. A combination of the singularly unstable nature of Deadpool, a canonically insane character, and the everlasting rewriting of history that persists across every Marvel and DC comic lends to the confusion, and leaves most fans utterly baffled as to the truth.
In the end, it makes the most sense to take a Deadpool approach to things. He was destroyed, upon learning that his identity may not be his own, but he ultimately came to a certain peace on the matter. He may have inherited his name from a former victim — something I still fail to believe — but even if that’s true, he ultimately became a much better person than T-Ray. In the process of seeking revenge, T-Ray became far worse than the man he was hunting, and ultimately led Wade to become better.
The question still lingers — and there’s enough evidence supporting either side to stir up a lively bar room debate — but ultimately the answer doesn’t matter. Somewhere out there, in the broad Marvel canon, is a pasty, bandaid-wearing weirdo nursing a serious beef with our favorite merc, but until he enters the MCU, he’ll only register with we few obsessive Deadpool fans. His involvement would certainly be interesting, if only to bring this conversation to the fandom at large, but it won’t change who every Marvel fan would select as the best Wade Wilson of them all.