Marvel Noir - Series - Deadpool Pulp

Deadpool Pulp

Wade Wilson is a Canadian citizen who joins the OSS during WW2. Though not America and Canada already being at war with the Axis powers, his superiors describe him as 'a patriot', even if he is "missing a couple screws, and then some." While fighting in the Pacific with Merrill's Marauders, Wilson is captured by Japanese forces. Transported to a POW camp on mainland Japan, Wade is subjected to torture and interrogation daily for nearly a full year. It is assumed this is the source of his mental break with reality. Being left to drown, hung by his thumbs in a quickly rising river, Wade manages to escape by removing one of his thumbs. Sneaking into camp, he steals the mask and katana swords of his torturer. Donning the mask, he stabs the soldier to death and escapes with another mysterious prisoner. They leap off a cliff and to safety.

Years later, Wade and the mysterious other prisoner (who turns out to be Cable) are working under the jurisdiction of J. Edgar Hoover, Wade as an operative and Cable as an executive officer along with General Stryfe. Set during the 1950s, the storyline follows an early Cold War plot to attack America.

The story begins with rogue CIA agent Outlaw (Inez Temple) stealing a powerful briefcase nuke from a CIA protection team. Discussing the matter, Cable suggests Wade Wilson as the man capable of getting the nuke back. He is recalled from operations on South East Asia, where he was doing a good imitation of 'The Deer Hunter'. On his return, Wade is interviewed by a shrink. We discover that Wade is afflicted by two conflicting voices in his head, which he makes light of by saying "We all have our Jiminy Cricket, don't we?" We also find out that Wade did not join the US Army out of patriotism, but because "I like to kill people and the U.S Government was smart enough to give me a license to." He also created an alternative personality called 'Deadpool' in addition to the two voices he hears. The psychiatrist states that 'Deadpool' is a method of dealing with the torture he endured by becoming the monster he feared most. Though the doctor's professional opinion is that Wade is a "bonafide psychotic, with multiple personality disorders {...} He is a danger to society and should be institutionalized immediately." Cable disagrees, saying he "needs a nut to catch a nut." Wade is subsequently assigned the liquidation of Outlaw.

The first part of his mission is to find the missing scientist Dr. Jack Hammer who worked on the nuke. Unfortunately Outlaw finds him first and kidnaps Dr. Hammer, leaving Wade a note pinned to the wall. The two agents meet at a dinner club for a meeting. The story reveals that the two had a romantic relationship in the past but they are unable to reach an understanding and their dance turns into a gunfight and a chase through the streets of New Orleans.

Back at Dr. Hammer's apartment, Wade sifts through clues left behind. Outlaw has not killed the doctor, but instead removed him to Cuba. Traveling to Havana, Wade meets his underworld contact Meyer Lansky as his home. While the family enjoys their Sabbath upstairs, Meyer leads Wade downstairs to where Meyer's men are interrogating Dr. Hammer's pimp. Together they find the doctor's location and Wade heads there. As they near the location, Wade feels something familiar about the landscape around him. He is ambushed by Cubans. He is grazed in the head by a .22 caliber round and collapses.

As he awakes, Wade is confronted by Stryfe and the brainwashed sleeper agent Cable. Unwittingly, Wade has stumbled into a plot to begin World War 3. Furthermore, Wade was not captured by the Japanese as previously believed. He was kidnapped for Stryfe's secret program to turn him into a deadly sleeper agent. The camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was where he was taken after 'capture'. Stryfe himself was Wade's torturer. As with Cable, Wade was programmed to obey orders without question after the coded phrase "Sic transit gloria mundi" was spoken aloud.

With both Cable and Wade under his control, Stryfe begins to outline his plans for America, beginning with the assassination of John F Kennedy. As the general is briefing the agents, Wade's inner voices are in turmoil. Another third (or possibly fourth) personality has arisen. "There's someone else in here with us." Is how the 'white-box voice' describes it. A third caption box appears in the panels following; black with white lettering, it seems to be the 'voice' of Wade's programming. Somehow, either from the recent head wound or from living with the more familiar personalities for so long, Wade manages to overthrow his brainwashing and foils Stryfe. The general orders Cable to "KILL HIM, CABLE! KILL DEADPOOL!" Acting quickly Wades disables Cable before he can attack. This gives Wade time to give Stryfe his mask back (with the assistance of a desk stapler).

Cable awakes with only his orders to "KILL DEADPOOL" intact. He leaps onto the general and begins to pound on him until Stryfe gives up the coded phrase to de-program an agent; "Joe DiMaggio." Wade explains the situation to a baffled Cable, and the two leave to stop Outlaw at last. Along the way, Cable and Deadpool extract their revenge on General Stryfe.

Wade meets Outlaw once again on top of the Statue of Liberty during the 4th of July celebration. Believing her to be one of Stryfe's agents, Wade tries to convince Outlaw that she was tricked and used. In return, he tells him she was never a sleeper agent and explains "{...} Baby, I'm just bad." as she cuffs him to the armed briefcase nuke, which is in turn cuffed to the railing around the Statue's observation deck. With twenty-two minutes until detonation, Wade breaks the railing and dives over the edge in pursuit of Outlaw. They come to a final showdown in the wheelhouse of a boat they fell near. Wade cuffs the briefcase to Outlaw's wrist, dooming them both. Taking the device as far out to sea as possible once rendering Outlaw unconscious, Wade realizes they will not get far enough away. Wrapping the cuffs around an anchor on deck, he plunges again into the water to drown himself, the nuke, and Outlaw. As she drowns, the key to the handcuffs floats up from around her neck. Wade escapes just in time, and the nuke detonates deep underwater.

Wade survives the blast, but the resulting radiation poisoning causes an extreme strain of cancer. Wade is left scarred and with only days to live. Cable and a man with a Maple Leaf flag on his lapel approach Deadpool in his hospital bed to tell him of an experimental program that could cure him: Weapon X. Wade responds with a smile and tells Cable "You got my attention."