Deadpool’s First Appearance in Comics
Deadpool is an globally recognized character who has appeared in movies and hundreds of comics, but he started out from humble origins.
Deadpool’s first appearance in comics was as a supporting character for Cable (he appeared in the second Deadpool but doesn’t have his own movie) and the New Mutants (they did get a movie but they probably won’t get a second movie).
Deadpool’s rise to fame took place gradually, but the character has remained consistent from his first appearance in New Mutants #98.
If you are looking for a comic book collectible, you couldn’t go far wrong with New Mutants #98 (disclaimer: this is not financial advice, just a suggestion of what looks cool). If you haven’t heard of New Mutants, don’t worry. It’s last issue was 100.
In New Mutants, Cable taken over Charles Xavier’s slightly destroyed mansion. As Scott and Jean Gray’s son from the future, Cable is both committed to maintaining the freedom of mutants and the battle against oppression, but also has a more military approach.
Raised in the war-torn future, Cable isn’t exactly a cheerful and his training of the young mutants under his care is lacking a little compassion. He is all about survival and optimising mutant abilities as well as building a functioning team.
The mysterious arms dealer Tolliver (spoiler: he turns out to have a close connection to Cable and to be a fully-fledged super villain) has had dealings with Cable in the past and send Deadpool to find Cable and to kill him.
Deadpool finds Cable who taking a little afternoon library time. Exactly what we expect from a future warrior. Library time.
Deadpool is anything but quiet and starts a fight in the library. Countless of librarians across the world inhaled with a shocked (but quite exclamation). That’s not how you conduct yourself in the library.
It is surprising just how little Deadpool has changed from his first appearance. The very first thing Deadpool does it start talking and he doesn’t stop. As a result, Deadpool doesn’t see Cannonball coming and gets knocked down. But Deadpool proves himself a worthy opponent and takes down Cannonball. Takes a few hits from Cable before knocking down Cable and then Deadpool is so close, so very close to taking down the entire New Mutant team and finishing off Cable.
So close, but doesn’t make it (Cable is needed to lead the New Mutants into their new title, X-Force). And who manages to get the best of Deadpool? It’s not Cable and it isn’t any of the young mutants.
Turn away now if you don’t want to know what happens and also, don’t look too hard at the front cover of the issue.
It’s Domino, who also has a first appearance in New Mutants #98 (except there is a shocking revelation about the true identity of the person who appears in New Mutants #98 and it isn’t Domino).
At the end of the comic Cable is trying to a do a little recruiting for his new mutant team, but much more interesting is what he suggests about Deadpool.
Domino asks what happened to Deadpool. Cable says he sent him back to Tolliver and quietly says that he mailed Deadpool to Tolliver.
There is no specific evidence to suggest what Cable did to Deadpool, but it does seem like a great starting point for what turns out to be an antagonistic relationship that spans across multiple comics.
Of course, Deadpool is an antagonistic character who challenges even the most upstanding and controlled characters in comics (Cable isn’t either of those things).
Deadpool does prove to be an interesting character who appears in latter issues of X-Force before getting his own limited series. And from there the character explodes into so many different titles and so many different and unusual adventures, it gets tricky to establish an exact continunity for the character.
What we do have in the first appearance of Deadpool is a blueprint for a character that is only enhanced as his comics continue.
We have a mercenary willing to kill for money. He is carrying two swords, even though he never gets to use them. He is an able fighter and can take down multiple opponents with different abilities. There is clearly an intelligent approach to his fighting, but he talks, a lot. And it’s the talking that gets him into trouble, or, at least, stops him from taking out the good guys and maintaining his status as a the anti-hero.
Check out Deadpool: The Adamantium Collection for his first appearance and the first couple of times Deadpool appears in comics. Or just go straight to the True Believers Deadpool #1 which Reprints New Mutants #98 (these are paid affiliate links and as an Amazon Associate I will earn a small income from qualifying purchases, but won’t cost you any more).