- Here's a question I get asked a lot.
Is Deadpool a mutant?
It is a really simple answer, actually.
No, no he is not.
But maybe.
(rock guitar music)
Welcome to Comic Misconceptions, I'm Scott.
And in the Marvel universe, mutants are beings,
usually human, who are born with a potential
to naturally develop superhuman powers
without any additional stimuli.
They do this through the X-gene,
a genetic trait acquired through natural human evolution.
And because they are genetically different than humans,
mutants are actually classified as a subspecies
called Homo Superior, or more formally,
Homo Sapien Superior.
So, essentially mutants are born genetically
different than humans.
Their enhanced genome allows for them
to develop powers, abilities, or even
just a unique appearance that the
normal human genome cannot normally express.
The key thing here is that mutants are born mutants.
If a hero acquires super human powers and abilities
through external means like cosmic rays, a Gamma bomb,
or a radioactive spider bite,
than they are not mutants but rather, mutates.
Same goes for Deadpool here.
If you remember back to his origin,
Wade Wilson was not born with any powers.
He gained his healing factor to fight his terminal cancer
via the Weapon X program.
Yes, the healing factor was from Wolverine
who is indeed a mutant,
but that doesn't make Deadpool the mutant.
You need to be born with a mutation
not given one later in life.
Deadpool for some reason does occasionally
remark that he is a mutant though
he is often sternly corrected by
actual mutants that no, he is not.
And this is made exceptionally clear
in Heroic Age X-Men number one
when it very clearly states quote,
"He is not a mutant," end quote.
Again, classifying him as a human mutate.
So, there we go. Shortest Misconceptions ever.
Deadpool not a mutant.
But, and stay with me on this one.
What if Deadpool's cancer is a mutation?
I know, I know, but there might be some,
admittedly rather loose, evidence to support this.
Again, a mutation is classified, by Marvel,
as quote, "Genetic abnormalities which grants
"the subject abilities, an appearance, or powers
"beyond the normal variation expressed in the human genome."
So, we have our criteria. It must be genetic,
and it must grant the subject some kind of
trait that can't be expressed in humans.
Let's see if his cancer matches these standards.
First up, we need to find out if Deadpool's cancer
is a part of his natural genetic code the same way
a mutation would be.
In Deadpool number three from 2009,
we actually get our answer.
Deadpool is fighting off against a scientist Skrull
who has taken his genetic code and spliced it
into Super Skrulls in order to give them
Wade's healing factor.
Deadpool knows that he's already won
and doesn't even need to fight them
because there's one tiny detail they
overlooked when they were doing
their experiments.
Deadpool informs them that he has
incredibly aggressive cancer,
something they didn't check for before
copy-pasting his genes into the Super Skrulls.
They were only after his healing factor,
and his cancer isn't exactly common knowledge,
so they had no idea what they had done.
Deadpool explains how he was not born
with his healing factor,
"It's not a part of my natural genetic code,
"but you know what is? Cancer."
So, we have our first criteria checked off the list.
We now know that his cancer is a part of his
natural genetic code.
One point for the cancer being a mutation.
All that's really left to prove is that his cancer
is not something that any normal human
could get, and we could confidently
call Deadpool a mutant.
This is when it starts to get a little tricky,
but I honestly think there's some merit here.
Let's look at the facts.
Again, Deadpool's cancer is incredibly aggressive.
So much so, that if you have his same
healing factor and you don't have cancer,
it'll cause you to essentially explode
in a matter of minutes.
This is what happens to the Super Skrulls from earlier,
and how Deadpool was able to defeat them
without even having to fight them.
The reason for this is simple
because his cancer is spreading so rapidly
and violently the healing factor he was
given, thanks to the Weapon X program,
has to work double time just to replace
all the cells that are constantly dying.
When you put that overclocked healing factor
into a healthy body, like those of the Super Skrulls,
it creates massive quantities of unneeded cells
and things goes Splorch!
That level of intense, rapidly spreading cancer
is unheard of in humans.
Could this mean that Deadpool's cancer
is beyond the scope of the normal human genome?
Possibly, but don't worry I'm not gonna
leave my argument there.
I mean, c'mon a cancer mutation, that's ridiculous.
Mutations are supposed to be beneficial and cool.
Not always, take Ugly John for example,
his entire mutation is that he has three faces.
Not exactly laser beam eyes.
Nowhere in Marvel's definition of mutants
does it say that the mutation has to be beneficial
to the host.
Again, all it needs to be is a genetic
abnormality which grants the subject
abilities, an appearance, or powers
beyond the normal variation expressed
in the human genome.
So, could the cancer be a kind of power, or ability?
Well, yeah.
In 1951, a woman named Henrietta Lacks
died from cancer but researchers took
some of her cancer cells a few months earlier,
and were surprised to find that they were able
to survive outside of the body indefinitely.
You see, normal cells in your body
grow, divide to form new cells,
and die at some point.
With cancer, cells grow and divide,
but they don't die.
They grow out of control and invade
other parts of the body,
so while normal cells would have died
after only a few days, the cells from Henrietta Lack's
body survived much, much longer.
In fact, HeLa Cells, as they were soon named,
are still commonly used in cell research today
over sixty years later.
They've been immeasurably helpful in medical advances.
They were instrumental in testing
Jonas Salk's Polio vaccine.
Scientists have used them to study the effects
of radiation and toxic substances.
Plus, they were the first human cells
to be successfully cloned.
If Deadpool's cancer was a mutation,
what if its benefit isn't to Wade himself,
but to mutant kind the same way
that Henrietta Lacks's cancer cells
weren't a benefit to her necessarily
but to the rest of us.
His mutation would allow for his cells
to survive in vitro so that they could
be studied for centuries,
and hopefully progress scientific research for mutants.
You might be thinking, well if that's what Deadpool's
mutation is for, then why don't they just
give him a natural healing factor
so he can live forever and be studied that way.
Well, mutations aren't predictable
and they definitely aren't rational.
Mystique doesn't have to be blue,
Rogue's mutation doesn't have to hurt people
when she absorbs their powers.
Mutations are weird sometimes.
And that comic I mentioned earlier
that strictly states Deadpool's not a mutant,
well that was written from the perspective
of Captain America.
So, who knows if he's being accurate,
or just going by the info he's gathered by others.
Granted, this is all just circumstantial evidence,
but it would be kind of a neat twist for the character
if they revealed that he was a mutant this whole time.
I'm sure there would definitely have to be
a lot of retcons for certain events,
but holy cow would it shake things up.
It wouldn't be the first time Marvel
decides to retcon an already established character
as a mutant, Namor anyone?
And maybe this is why Deadpool has
insistently referred to himself as a mutant.
He can break the fourth wall,
and has shown that he's more knowledgable
about the real world than most other characters,
so maybe he's well aware that he is, in fact,
a mutant and he's simply trying
to help the rest of us catch up.
But hey, that's just a theory,
a comic theory.
Please don't sue me.
What do you guys think?
Is Deadpool simply a mutate as it's
been established in the comics,
or could he possibly be a mutant?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments below,
and please don't just write me off as some Deadpool
fanboy in the comments.
I really don't even like the character that much.
I do think that it is simply interesting to think about.
If you do like Deadpool you might like a previous
video we did, wherein I discussed whether or not
Deadpool really was created as Deathstroke ripoff.
The answer might actually surprise you.
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Once again, I'm Scott.
You can find me on Twitter and Instagram,
and I will see you guys on Friday for another video.
See ya.