It was a great time to be part of the X-Men in 1993. The letter “X” was everywhere. We had the X-Men, the X-Files, the X-games, and generation X as the young and rebellious youth of the time. The X-Men animated series introduced the mutants to children everywhere. It also established the de facto main cast of Marvel’s mutants. Characters like Storm, Rogue, Gambit, and Jubilee, who weren’t part of the original formation, became central to the mutant storylines. We would see them in arcade games like Children of the Atom, X-Men vs. Street Fighter, and also in the early 2000s movies (although Jubilee is left out of most of these).
Amongst the growing cast of characters in the X-men, however, there was one who always stood out: Wolverine. As stated by Deadpool in the Deadpool & Wolverine trailer, he was The X-Men. From an unknown protector of Canada upon a Hulk invasion in the 1970s to the most popular character in the cast, Logan was so distinctive that since the 80s he had become too big to be contained only by the several X-titles gaining his own comics.
At the time, Fatal Attractions was one of the most iconic stories involving Wolverine. Its climax features the famous moment when Magneto violently extracts the adamantium from his body. Logan barely survives that confrontation. Losing his metal claws, however, wasn’t his biggest problem. His healing factor had greatly deteriorated as a side-effect of the confrontation. In this state, drawing his bone claws not only was as painful as ever, but the wounds they left on his hands were no longer healed instantly. Something Wolverine wasn’t used to would happen instead: he would bleed.
Without his healing factor and adamantium, Logan would question if he could still be the best at what he did. He departs on a lone journey for answers, while being a much easier target for his foes. For many issues Wolverine would even carry a katana to defend himself since his claws didn’t work so well anymore (and also because Wolverine wielding a katana is just cool). It’s during this nerfed Wolverine era that the least friendly of the X-Men would cross paths with the most obnoxious of the mercenaries for the first time.
Deadpool was initially introduced as an antagonist in 1990’s New Mutants #98. He was a simple character then: he kills people and cracks jokes. The issue sees him show up to humorously inform Cable he’s there to kill him and fail, as most hired assassins in the Marvel comics do. Deadpool is, however, as resilient as he is irritating and keeps coming back to confront several other Rob Liefeld creations.
Most notably at this time, Deadpool would get into several fights with a fellow Weapon X subject. If the readers thought one metal-armed mutant with a shiny eye and a receding hairline wasn’t enough, Liefeld had them covered. He also gave us Kane, a discount Cable who had not one, but two metal arms, a shiny eye, a much younger looking receding hairline, and a rocket punch. Thus, Kane fit every criteria to be a part of Cable’s team the Six Pack. Knowing Rob Liefeld’s creative process after watching him drawing Overkill alongside Todd McFarlane on The Comic Book Greats with Stan Lee, I can easily picture him calling Kane “a culmination of technology and brutality” and saying “the kids will love this one”.
During these early Deadpool stories, Cable’s team was infiltrated by Vanessa Carlysle, the Copycat. She was a mutant who used her morphing powers to impersonate Domino while working for Deadpool’s employer Tolliver. Vanessa and Deadpool used to be a couple and whenever the two of them crossed paths the Merc would go out of his way to try to murder her, in spite of Deadpool being the one who ended their relationship. Unlike Deadpool, however, Vanessa had a heart and seemed to be slowly warming up to Cable’s team, especially Kane. Deadpool, on the other hand, murderous intentions and villainous antics aside, was growing on the readers and writers at Marvel. People liked the funny guy shooting guns and making pop culture references as he jumped around. As a result, little-by-little he started shifting from a chaotic evil mercenary to the funny murdery antihero he is known as today.
At the end of the 1993 miniseries The Circle Chase by Fabian Nicieza and Joe Madureira, the confrontations between Deadpool, Kane and Vanessa came to a climax. Unexpectedly, Deadpool saves his former girlfriend from a mortal wound, but it was too little and too late. Vanessa exits the scene with her new Weapon X lover Kane. Heartbroken, Deadpool wonders if he could also use his talents to save people instead of only killing them, making this a turnpoint for the character. He would then have many adventures besides Silver Sable, The Secret Defenders, Banshee, Siryn, and others, mostly playing the clownish chaotic antihero archetype rather than the mad assassin he was thus far.
In spite of the change in the character’s alignment, in Wolverine #88 the writer Larry Hama decided to bring back the former bloodthirsty Deadpool for another ride. Wolverine, still on his lone journey, stops at San Francisco to check how Kane and Vanessa are doing. Coincidently, he arrives at Vanessa and Kane’s apartment at the same time Deadpool is there looking for them. It’s hate at first sight for them and a fight breaks out right away with Deadpool making fun of Logan’s faulty healing factor. Deadpool does his best to try and end the couple’s lives, but thanks to Logan, he fails yet again. Considering the nature their relationship would have from then on, it‘s quite fitting how the two characters first meeting wasn’t a team up to save the day, but rather a story in which Deadpool is a jealous murderous ex-boyfriend while Wolverine plays the role of the reasonable adult trying to stop the other Weapon X children from killing each other. Their widely different personalities would make for interesting stories later on whether they were trying to kill each other or reluctantly teaming up.
The 90s are an infamous era of Marvel Comics, but they had quite a few gems hidden under the pile of disposable X-titles. A vulnerable Wolverine made for stories his previous unbeatable, ever-regenerating, self could never be in. As it usually goes for superheroes when they lose their powers, these stories are more focused on their psychological state and how they can overcome that. Deadpool, on his side, was still in his formative years when he first met Wolverine in 1993. By then, he wasn’t yet the fourth wall breaking Deadpool we know today, but as he was picked up by other writers you can see him slowly getting more nuanced and becoming a slightly more complex creature.
Deadpool and Wolverine have much more in common besides their Weapon X background and healing factor. They are both seen as monsters by people around them. They couldn’t be with the ones they loved. They have a troubled violent past and deal with their issues isolating themselves from those who love them. Wolverine keeps everyone out with his hard ass Clint Eastwood stoic attitude while Deadpool shields himself from others with his obnoxious sense of humor. It was only right that writers would keep pairing them up for the past 30 years.
This era of Wolverine and Deadpool comics can be read in Deadpool Epic Collection: The Circle Chase, Deadpool Epic Collection: Mission Improbable, and Wolverine Omnibus Volume 4-5. You can find these at comic book shops, online retailers, eBay, Amazon/Kindle, and Marvel Unlimited.
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