Everybody knows Deadpool has a mutant healing factor.
That's kind of his thing.
It's no secret that he's aware he's a fictional character, either — breaking the fourth
wall is what set Deadpool apart from all those other grizzled, bulky, pouch-wearing '90s
tough guys, and made him into the wise-cracking antihero he is today.
But the Marvel Universe is lousy with mutants that can heal themselves — besides Deadpool
there's Wolverine, Sabretooth, Mystique, and X-23, just to name a few — and Wade Wilson
needed more if he was ever going to get ahead.
Thankfully, Deadpool has plenty of other tricks up his sleeve.
Here are a few.
Master of disguise
Deadpool is tough, funny, and charming, but let's face it: he's not exactly a looker.
The experimental surgery that gave Wade Wilson his regenerative powers also kicked his cancer
into overdrive.
And while the procedure kept tumors from ravaging his body, it didn't keep them from growing
all over his face.
As a result, Deadpool looks like, well...
"Like a testicle with teeth."
His words, not ours.
Anyway, he understandably prefers not to show his face in public.
So when he's on the job, that isn't much of a problem.
Put a mask over that gruesome mug and nobody can tell the difference.
But, to hit the town, he has to get creative.
In the comics, Deadpool uses a holographic image inducer and disguises to change his
appearance and wander around incognito.
Deadpool also employs the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' proven, low-tech disguise: a hat,
a trenchcoat, and the comforting knowledge that in New York City, a tumor-infested weirdo
probably won't be the weirdest thing you'll see wandering the streets.
Teleportation
Deadpool can't fly, and doesn't have super speed.
So, what's a busy mercenary to do when he has to get somewhere in a hurry?
In the movie, he takes a taxi.
But that doesn't make for very exciting comics and, as the film version of Deadpool proved,
Wade's not always great at keeping track of his belongings.
Yep, the guns were in that taxi.
As a result, Deadpool has used a number of teleportation devices to get around quickly
in the comics.
In the early issues of Deadpool, he has a device tucked away in one of his many pouches
which allows him to zip around with ease.
Then, he even biologically combined with Cable for a while in the Cable & Deadpool series
due to a crazy virus, which allowed him to share Cable’s teleportation tech.
Hard to get drunk
Deadpool's healing factor is pretty handy.
It stops cancer.
It cures decapitation.
It lets him walk away from fights with creatures like the Hulk, and it kicks his metabolism
into overdrive.
That's right: no matter how much he eats, Deadpool won't gain any weight.
That's all good news when you're fighting supervillains, but isn't so useful when you
want to get absolutely hammered — and, let's face it, Wade is the kind of guy who could
use a drink every now and then.
But, Deadpool can get drunk.
He just needs a lot of alcohol to make it happen.
In Deadpool #12, Wade spends an entire day and night drinking before he's even slightly
buzzed.
In Deadpool #7, a villain pays Deadpool to make Iron Man drunk, but instead of forcing
Tony Stark off the wagon, Deadpool takes care of business himself.
Wade clocks Stark with a liquor bottle and straps into the Iron Man armor, but not before
downing an entire sack full of stolen booze.
That fulfills Wade's contract — Iron Man had to get plastered, not Tony — and best
of all, Deadpool doesn't even have a hangover when he wakes up.
Now that's a superpower.
Superhuman strength
Deadpool is able to lift between 800 to 50,000 pounds, but you wouldn't know it just by looking
at him.
While super-strength is one of Deadpool's many powers, you rarely see him lifting heavy
objects, and the only time Wade seems to make use of his enhanced abilities is when he goes
toe-to-toe with heavyweights like the Hulk and the Juggernaut.
Still, every once in awhile, somebody hints that Deadpool is a lot stronger than he seems.
During his earliest appearances, he went toe-to-toe with some of Marvel's strongest characters.
In X-Force #11, Shatterstar, a warrior from the Mojoverse with super-strength, calls Deadpool
his equal — right before Deadpool knocks him out cold.
In X-Force #15, Wade is powerful enough to kick Cable's head through a stone wall.
Deadpool's super-strength is made abundantly clear in Cable & Deadpool #13.
Haji Bin Barat, one of the world's most deadly terrorists, is murdered, and Deadpool wants
to solve the case.
As Deadpool gathers clues, the medical examiner concludes that Barat was choked by an adult
male using just two fingers.
In fact, the murderer actually squeezed too hard, accidentally snapping Barat's neck mid-killing,
a feat that would require superhuman strength.
At the same time, Deadpool discovers that he's the murderer—he just can't immediately
remember why he did it.
Because, you know, comics.
Cursed to be immortal
Thanos, one of the biggest bads in a galaxy full of big bads, has the hots for Death — as
in, the literal personification of mortality — and he'll do practically anything to prove
it.
So, as you can imagine, Thanos isn't exactly thrilled when Death and Deadpool strike up
a relationship.
In Deadpool/Death Annual '98, Wade first meets Thanos' would-be gal pal when he's stuck in
the Department K medical facility, undergoing the treatments that will eventually turn him
into Deadpool.
Thanks to his cancer and the government's experiments, Wade is very, very close to dying,
and Death uses her feminine wiles to try and convince Wade to finish the job.
However, Wade's newfound healing powers—and a reluctant sense of heroism—foil his best
attempts at suicide-by-supervillain, and the couple is forced apart.
Later, to keep Deadpool away from Death, Thanos puts a curse on Wade that brings him back
to life whenever he dies—and will keep him that way.
Resistant to psychic attacks
Wade’s inability to die isn’t his real superpower.
His insanity is.
Deadpool knows he's a comic book character because he's absolutely crazy, and while his
broken psyche doesn't help much when it comes to getting a happy ending, it's a huge boon
when he faces off against psychics.
For example, in Deadpool #69, Deadpool finds himself in a duel with a telepathic mutant
known as the Black Swan.
As they fight, Swan tries to poke around in Wade's head to find the disarm code for a
bomb Deadpool brought with him.
Unfortunately for Swan, things don't work exactly like he expected.
Wade welcomes Swan into his mind, which is a savagely insane place.
That distracts Swan long enough for Deadpool to shove the villain's head in the fireplace.
Deadpool attempts to defuse the bomb.
But it goes off anyway.
Because, hey, Deadpool’s not great with details.
Deadpool's healing powers help fight against telepathy, too.
In Cable & Deadpool #8, the X-Men enlist Deadpool to help stop Cable, who's trying to create
peace by uniting the world's nations against a common enemy—himself.
Emma Frost, a psychic, uses Cerebro to shield the X-Men from Cable's telepathy, but Deadpool
has an easier way: they could've just had the conversation inside his brain, which is
immune to telepathy thanks to its ever-changing biology.
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