Even before the insanely popular Deadpool films came out, the Merc with a Mouth was always hugely popular with true Marvel Comics fans. Created by Robert Liefeld, the character is one of the best comedic personalities created in comics. His look was appropriated from DC’s Deathstroke (who he’s actually fought in an unofficial crossover comic), but his attitude and unique sense of humor is entirely his own. Deadpool’s witty, wisecracking nature made him much less serious than other superheroes, and people love that he doesn’t take himself too seriously. Time and time he gets himself into sticky situations, often getting killed in the process, but his healing factor always brings him back.
He’s also gotten into some pretty epic fights with legendary Marvel characters over the years. Sometimes, he’s even won those fights. There was one such non-canonical incident where Deadpool actually took on the whole Marvel roster -- more on that that later. In the same vein, Deadpool has gotten beaten down by other superheroes in pretty memorable fashion. Just because he has the best healing factor around doesn’t mean he can’t lose: it simply means his opponents have to find creative ways to keep him down, and they often do. Deadpool is one of the only characters who knows he’s a comic book character, so he doesn’t take his losses (or wins) too seriously. Many of the heroes on this list he’s actually friends with. Others, he’s “nemeses” with, in the loosest possible way. Here are 10 heroes who have embarrassingly beat Deadpool, and 10 he’s made a fool of.
19 BEAT HIM: BLACK PANTHER
During the Civil War II era, while everyone else was picking sides, Deadpool went and visited the Avengers base. Things didn’t go too smoothly, and on the way out Black Panther stopped Deadpool to have a word. T’Challa backhanded Wade across the face, clearly showing his distrust of the Merc with a Mouth. Deadpool, sufficiently ticked off, got into a fight, but he was clearly outmatched.
Black Panther was the superior hand-to-hand fighter, and Deadpool tried to resort to cheap tricks to gain a psychological advantage (kicking him between the legs, taking a bathroom break). This only motivated Black Panther further, who pushed Wade out of a window and landed with glass impaling his body.
18 HE BEAT: MISTER IMMORTAL
Mister Immortal, aka Craig Hollis, is a character with a similar trait as Deadpool: he’s immortal. He can never perish permanently, instead resurrecting a few minutes after he’s ended. He has said he will live until the end of the universe, and that he is a new form of man: Homo Supreme.
Mr. Immortal is too much of a temptation to ignore, and Deadpool has taken him out on multiple occasions. Some of their fights to the “end” have included Deadpool doing some truly ridiculous things to him and Mister Immortal losing his life in some of the most creative ways possible.
17 BEAT HIM: MOONSTONE (AS MS. MARVEL)
Most people think of Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel, but she wasn’t the only ones to use that moniker. When Norman Osborn formed his own Avengers team, now known as the Dark Avengers, he disguised supervillains as popular heroes. One of the villains who made a real attempt at being a hero was Moonstone, operating as Ms. Marvel.
The fight with Deadpool was over telepathic babies that Deadpool had stolen from Ms. Marvel. She tracked him down and the fight was brief. Deadpool forgot his enemy was impervious to bullets, taking away much of his arsenal. He got beat up and latched onto her. Moonstone flew into the air with him then let him go when they were high up.
16 HE BEAT: DOCTOR STRANGE
Doctor Strange, especially in the ‘70s, was one of the most overpowered Marvel heroes around -- there was a time he fought Galactus one on one and won, and he challenged Eternity and the Living Tribunal. His power levels have been taken down a few notches since then. In a non-canon comic, Deadpool defeated the Sorcerer Supreme.
Deadpool beat Doctor Strange in the Sanctum Sanctorum. In the comic, Deadpool also offed Spider-Man, the X-Men, and Wolverine. It’s unclear how Deadpool managed to sneak behind Strange and get him, but it happened. Unfortunately, Strange didn’t have the Eye of Agamotto to protect him from “evil.”
15 BEAT HIM: BLACK WIDOW
In one sense, Deadpool’s battle with Black Widow was a victory for him but the physical repercussions were not. When the Thunderbolts decided to make Deadpool their next target, he tried to take on the whole team at once, and he got distracted by the fact that Black Widow was a woman. At that point, Deadpool didn’t care about war anymore. H
e attacked Black Widow with romantic advances, and while he was distracted and getting beat up, the Thunderbolts’ Headsman took him out. Black Widow could have left him, but she found his affection sweet, and revived him.
14 HE BEAT: UATU THE WATCHER
Uatu the Watcher is an uber-powerful Celestial being and part of the Watchers, who have sworn an oath to only observe, record, and never intervene in any planetary affairs. Uatu did not follow such rules: he’s intervened many times in Marvel comics, such as when Galactus decided Earth would be the next planet he devoured.
Uatu has an array of cosmic powers and superhuman intelligence. In a non-canon comic, however, Deadpool single-handedly defeated Uatu -- the narrator of that story. Deadpool acquired an artifact called the “God-Taser” and used it against the Watcher, and then he offed Uatu. It was not Uatu’s first demise in the comics, but it was probably the most memorable.
13 BEAT HIM: THOR
Deadpool has dressed up as Thor on multiple occasions and Thor didn’t give him permission to do this. Deadpool had the signature helmet and a knockoff hammer to fly around with, and Thor didn’t appreciate the Merc with a Mouth making a mockery of the name. The two clashed, and Wade was no match for the God of Thunder.
He got knocked around and lost his hammer, but didn’t lose his enthusiasm. Thor took the second hammer and swung both weapons, sandwiching Deadpool’s head between them. It knocked Deadpool out, and it was the last time the mercenary impersonated the god.
12 HE BEAT: CAPTAIN AMERICA (AS DOCTOR BONG)
It wasn’t actually Steve Rogers that Deadpool defeated, it was a clone of Captain America. It counts, though, because Doctor Bong’s genetically engineered version of Rogers had the same powers and combat skills as the real thing. Doctor Bong was a goofy villain, even by Golden Age Marvel standards.
He has a metal ball where his left hand should be, and uses it to create concussive blasts by striking the appendage against his bell-shaped helmet. In 2010’s Deadpool Vol 2, the villain was reimagined more threateningly. Wade found himself in a tough battle with a faux Captain America, and the Merc came out on top, putting an end to his cloned opponent.
11 BEAT HIM: MOON KNIGHT
Moon Knight is not the most prolific hero in the Marvel Universe, but he has some cool stories. One such story is when he wound up meeting Deadpool in Vengeance of the Moon Knight #7 and #8. Deadpool had been hired to end the life of a man already dying, while Moon Knight was opposed to the euthanasia.
The fight began in the hospital and Moon Knight got the early advantage by knocking Wade around with some acrobatics. Moon Knight then punched him out of a window. They met for round two in the following issue, where Deadpool surprised Moon Knight at a carnival. He got beat again, this time in an Enter the Dragon-style fun house of mirrors.
10 HE BEAT: THE ENTIRE MARVEL UNIVERSE
Marvel Comics thought it would be fun to let Deadpool off his leash outside the main Earth-616 universe. They gave him the license to take on every single superhero in its books, no matter how iconic they were, and he did not disappoint. In fact, he did the deed twice! Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe kicks off against Psycho-Man, who attempts to turn him into a mindless assassin.
The procedure fails but leaves him more unhinged than usual, with a voice in his head telling him to kill everyone. He kills everyone from Spider-Man to the Fantastic Four, the Avengers, the X-Men, and more. Then he does it again in Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again.
9 BEAT HIM: DAREDEVIL
One strange fight Deadpool managed to get himself into was against Daredevil. At the time, Deadpool was hunting a shapeshifter, and he believed he’d found him when he found Daredevil. He was confident Daredevil wasn’t the actual superhero, so he opened fire. When Daredevil began dodging the bullets, he knew he’d attacked the wrong guy.
Deadpool realized the actual shapeshifter was in the vicinity rooting Daredevil on, so Wade just wanted to extricate himself from the fight. But Daredevil wouldn’t let that happen. He beat Deadpool up, and as Wade tried to explain himself and the shapeshifter story, Daredevil tied him up and left him in the middle of the street.
8 HE BEAT: CABLE
Wade Wilson was having a tough go during Marvel Legacy. First, he’d been duped into taking out poor Phil Coulson, then he was forced to end his old friend Cable (Despicable Deadpool #290). He was forced into this by Cable’s clone, the mutant supervillain Stryfe. Deadpool was faced with the possibility of his daughter coming to harm, so he agreed to carry out the hit.
Cable isn’t easy to eliminate, and Wade’s initial attempts failed miserably. Realizing the nature of Deadpool’s situation, Cable felt compelled to help him. He had Wade travel to the future, meeting up with an old, damaged version of himself. Deadpool shot a single bullet into him, bringing his heart to Stryfe to prove that he did the deed.
7 BEAT HIM: CABLE
Of course, Cable has returned the favor. Deadpool and Cable have worked so well together they even got their own comic series for a while. They’ve have their share of scuffles, but in a serious fight Deadpool wouldn’t fare well at all. His quickest defeat came during the first "Civil War" event.
Deadpool fought on the pro-registration side, going after mutants refusing to register. He got in a fight with Captain America, Goliath, Falcon, and some others, and before he could get beat up, Cable broke up the action and tried to reason with Deadpool. Wade tried to tranquilize his friend with darts, but Cable’s shield reflected the darts at Deadpool and he passed out, defeated.
6 HE BEAT: WOLVERINE
Despite Deadpool’s healing factor, Wolverine is the first person people think of when that ability comes up. A lot of fights Wolverine’s won are due to his ability to sustain more damage than an opponent. That makes Deadpool a tough opponent for him, because Wade has arguably the strongest healing factor of all. The two have fought numerous times over the years and Wolverine has typically faired poorly.
On three separate occasions, Deadpool has beaten Wolverine. In one battle, Deadpool had his healing factor, while Wolverine’s was weakened after Magneto ripped the adamantium out of his body. Logan attacked Deadpool, who weathered the storm with some well-placed jokes, then left Logan defeated after impaling him through the heart and lungs.
5 BEAT HIM: HULK
Deadpool has similarly had numerous encounters with the Hulk. People try to avoid making the Hulk angry, generally speaking, but not the wisecracking Deadpool! He deliberately angered Bruce Banner to make him transform. In this bizarre fight, Deapdool was actually hoping the Hulk would smash him.
It happened in Deadpool #39, and the Hulk was at first too confused to go all out. Deadpool lied and said bombs were set to go off every hour, and the only way to stop them was to end him. The Hulk reluctantly agreed to it, but Deadpool’s healing factor saved him. When the Hulk realized there were no bombs, and he’d been lied to, he took Wade out.
4 HE BEAT: SHATTERSTAR
Shatterstar is a hero from the planet Mojoworld, his only purpose being to defeat the tyrannical Mojo V. He has a very convoluted backstory, and became quite an effective member of the X-Force team. He was the perfect soldier: loyal, trustworthy, and effective in battle. However, he was also defeated by Deadpool in X-Men: Millennial Vision (2001).
On an alternate reality, Deadpool was hired to take out the entire X-Men team, and he was successful in ending each and every one of them, including Shatterstar. Deadpool then carried Shatterstar’s swords with him at all times and regularly used them, as a reminder of what he’d done.
3 BEAT HIM: COLOSSUS
This is one of the better known fights for Wade ever since the first Deadpool movie. In the comics, they’ve also fought, and Deadpool didn’t fare much better there (though there was the funny/grotesque time when Deadpool vomited blood in Colossus’ face). As well as in the comics, Deadpool got beat up rather handily in the films by Colossus.
During the fight, Negasonic Teenage Warhead watched on the sidelines, and Colossus didn’t have to do much either. Deadpool did most of the damage to himself. He thought he could hurt Colossus’ metal exterior, but ended up just breaking his own hands and getting beaten so senseless he had to cut off one of his hands just to get away.
2 HE BEAT: PUNISHER
The Punisher has no qualms about taking lives. He’s met Wade in fights numerous times in the comics, and has typically won. When Punisher took on the whole X-Men universe, and everyone had turned into zombies, he took out Deadpool no less than three times. But when it was Deadpool’s turn to non-canonically take on the entire Marvel roster, he wrecked the Punisher.
In the comic, Punisher tracked him down and caught him asleep, shooting him with a sniper rifle. It was then revealed that he’d taken out Puppet Master disguised as Deadpool. The real Deadpool emerged, put a gun to Frank’s head, and got the last laugh.
1 BEAT HIM: SQUIRREL GIRL
The awkward Squirrel Girl is surprisingly one of the most efficient and hardest-to-beat superheroes Marvel has ever created. She’s defeated some of the toughest opponents: Thanos, Dr. Doom, and even Galactus come to mind. But Deadpool has also fallen to her furry claws. Deadpool has lost some fights for some pretty ridiculous reasons, often getting distracted by his own warped sense of reality.
In his fight against Squirrel Girl, he was so baffled by her appearance that he kept trying to rationalize why a squirrel girl was fighting him. She offered him a beat down, then she cleared up that their reason for fighting: Deadpool thought she wasn’t registered under the Superhero Registration Act and was mistaken.