In Cullen Bunn and Dalibor Talajić's 2012 miniseries Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, the Merc with a Mouth finally went off the rails and slaughtered the Marvel Universe. In 2017, the pair reunited to reexamine the concept, creating Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again. While the first story was pretty horrifying, the second version of the story was somehow even worse. It even tied into another dystopian Marvel reality, making it one of the most tragic takes on Deadpool ever.
Now, CBR is taking a look back at how Deadpool was corrupted, who died in his wake and what separates it from the earlier incarnation of the comic.
What Went Wrong With Wade
In the first version of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe, the hero was broken by Psycho-Man. This led to the dissolution of the voices inside Deadpool's head. They were replaced by a darker persona that compelled Deadpool to murder his way through the universe.
In Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe Again, the random chaos of that first story is modified to be directed in the second take on the concept. Instead, Deadpool's urge to kill is a subliminal message instilled in him by several villains, including M.O.D.O.K.. Although the AIM leader activates the subliminal message, it's later revealed that he worked with a massive cabal of villains including the Red Skull to corrupt Deadpool.
Deadpool also isn't the only hero in the story who's used in this manner. When Deadpool eventually goes after the X-Men, he arrives after the team has already been slaughtered. By Examining the scene, Wade realizes that Wolverine killed his own friends, which lines up with the events of Old Man Logan, where Wolverine was tricked by Mysterio into murdering his fellow Mutants. This suggests the villain's ultimate plan was to corrupt multiple heroes and slaughter as many others as possible. And given the dystopian landscape that appeared in Old Man Logan, it's apparent that their plan worked. This story is an inherently crueler take on the premise, twisting Wade's perceptions of the battles into goofy cartoon adventures while he's really murdering the heroes he usually admires.
HOW DEADPOOL KILLED THE MARVEL UNIVERSE
The number of heroes killed by Deadpool in this story is truly staggering. Wade impales Gambit with his own staff. The Uncanny Avengers (Rogue, Doctor Voodoo, Quicksilver and Synapse) are taken by surprise and hacked to pieces, and Thing, Human Torch, Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Black Widow are killed off-panel.
An assortment of magical heroes (Hercules, Thor, Loki, Ganesha, Hippolyta and Valkyrie) are lured to the Aegan Sea, where he uses Medusa's head to turn these godly figures to stone so he can shatter them. He uses air horns to separate Eddie Brock from the Venom symbiote and shoots Brock dead. Deadpool even briefly bonds with Venom, and uses it to bite off Spider-Man's head and eat his brains before he allows the symbiote to escape.
Jessica Drew and Porcupine are murdered in front of their baby son. Spider-Man 2099 takes a bullet to the head and Miles Morales is beheaded. The Guardians of the Galaxy were discovered after being wiped out, with Deadpool even skinning Rocket Raccoon on top of murdering Gamora, Drax, Star-Lord and Groot.
The teenange X-Men from the past are lured into a malfunctioning time machine and reduced to a gory mess of flesh. Deadpool's own team, the Mercs for Money are likewise wiped out (including Domino and Slapstick), with only Gorilla Man surviving. This was because Wade didn't want to be cursed with the immortality that comes with murdering Gorilla Man.
HOW DEADPOOL AND ULTRON KILLED EVERYONE ELSE
A group of heroes tried to chase down Deadpool, but that doesn't go well either. Deadpool booby-trapped a massive gun that killed Punisher. Moon Knight was quickly murdered as well, which led the remaining heroes. (Scarlet Witch, Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Doctor Strange, Misty Knight, Captain America, the Totally Awesome Hulk, Jessica Jones, Kate Bishop, Black Panther, Jessica Jones, Vision, Shang-Chi and Cable, to try and rush Deadpool. Unfortunately, the villains had managed to combine Deadpool with Ultron, and the newly empowered murderer slaughtered the Avengers. Notably, Iron Man got himself ripped in half and Misty Stone got her face vaporized.
Deadpool quickly goes on to kill other heroes like Daredevil, Ghost Rider, Ant-Man and Nova are quickly dispatched. Even the Power Pack, Moon Girl and Ms. Marvel, who are all brutally murdered. Gwen-Poole arrives as the last hero standing, and she finally seems to be able to reach through to him even as she dies.
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The final issue of the story sees Deadpool turning his wraith on the villains who corrupted him, and quickly wiping most of them out. Green Goblin loses his head, Carnage is held against a train, Mysterio is drowned in gasoline and Wrecker is crushed by his own wrecking ball. Only a broken Magneto is spared because he gives Deadpool the location to the remaining villains, and Deadpool wants Magneto to live with the knowledge of his actions.
Abomination and Doctor Doom go into hiding, and Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Orb, Arcade, Masam Masque, Viper and Crossbones all die as Deadpool makes his way to Red Skull. Taskmaster ultimately refuses to fight Deadpool, which gets him killed by Red Skull. Deadpool beheads Red Skull, but his head just keeps talking, reminding Wade this could just be another hallucination. Wade staggers away, aiming to kill the last of the villains on Earth.