Deadpool is a powerful antihero and world-class mercenary due in part to his weaponry, but for some reason he keeps ditching his strongest gadgets.
Since his debut, Deadpool has proven himself to be a deadly antihero whose incredible powers are matched only by his highly-effective weaponry. However, Deadpool has a terrible habit of ditching his most powerful, god-tier gadgets–something that can be traced back to his first appearance.
Wade Wilson was a highly-skilled mercenary who excelled at his chosen profession due to his exceptional killing ability and complete lack of empathy towards his targets. Wilson became Deadpool after he was diagnosed with cancer and, in an attempt to cure his terminal illness, signed up for radical experimentation through the Weapon X Program. Weapon X transformed Wade into a mutate (human-turned-mutant) by granting him heightened strength, speed, and reflexes, as well as a vastly powerful healing factor that not only keeps his cancer at bay, but also makes him practically immortal. Using his newfound powers, Deadpool continued being a cold-blooded gun-for-hire, and in his early days in Marvel Comics, was a legitimate villain as his first assignment in the Marvel Universe was to kill the leader of the X-Men’s New Mutants: Cable.
In New Mutants #98 by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza, Deadpool makes his explosive first appearance, literally, as he bursts into the New Mutants’ sector of the X-Mansion looking for Cable. Deadpool was hired to kill Cable by the villainous Mr. Tolliver, so he didn’t pull any stops to complete his objective. When the other New Mutants came to Cable’s aid, most notably Cannonball, Deadpool used a ‘neural disruptor net’ to stop Cannonball in his tracks before focusing his attention on his assigned target.
Cannonball is a hero with the power to take down Gladiator–an intergalactic warrior with powers similar to those of DC’s Superman–and Deadpool easily stopped him with a single gadget in his arsenal. This isn’t the first time Deadpool has shown off his god-tier weaponry as in this very same issue, Deadpool also sported a teleportation device that made him practically untouchable. In a later issue, Deadpool is also seen boasting an image inducer that can make him look like anyone. Basically, Deadpool has some seriously powerful gadgets that make him exponentially more deadly, and for some reason, he keeps getting rid of them. The neural net and teleporter haven’t really been used at all since Deadpool’s first arc in New Mutants/X-Force–aside from breaking them back out for meta callback reasons–and Deadpool gives no explanation as to where those devices went or why he ditched them.
Deadpool is a complicated individual to say the least, so trying to understand the inner workings of his mind is something even Professor X wouldn’t try to do. It doesn’t make sense that Deadpool would give up his powerful weapons, but Deadpool isn’t a character who is known for always making a lot of sense so this phenomenon is actually on-brand for him. It could be because his superpowers give him enough of an edge during a job and the added gadgets made each one too boring, or because Deadpool is aware he’s a comic book character and that anytime he needs one of his ultra-powerful weapons he will have them because the story demands it, so he doesn’t feel the need to carry them everywhere all the time. No matter the reason, meta or otherwise, the fact remains that Deadpool has a habit of ditching his god-tier gadgets–one that started with his original weapon.
About The Author
