Superpowers Most People Don't Know Deadpool Has

Everybody knows Deadpool has a mutant healing factor. That's kind of his thing. It's no secret that he's aware he's a fictional character, either—breaking the fourth wall is what set Deadpool apart from all those other grizzled, bulky, pouch-wearing '90s tough guys, and made him into the wise-cracking antihero he is today.

But the Marvel Universe is lousy with mutants that can heal themselves—besides Deadpool there's Wolverine, Sabretooth, Mystique, X-23, and others—and Wade Wilson needed more if he was ever going to get ahead. Thankfully, Deadpool has plenty of other tricks up his sleeve. Here are a few.

Deadpool is tough, funny, and charming, but let's face it: he's not exactly a looker. The experimental surgery that gave Wade Wilson his regenerative powers also kicked his cancer into overdrive, and while the procedure kept tumors from ravaging his body, it didn't keep them from growing all over his face. As a result, Deadpool looks like "a testicle with teeth"—his words, not ours—and prefers not to show his face in public.

When he's on the job, that isn't much of a problem. Put a mask over that gruesome visage and nobody can tell the difference. During Wade's downtime, however, it's a different story. If he wants to go out, Deadpool needs to either suit up, deal with being a walking freak show, or find another solution.

In the comics, Deadpool chooses the third option. Thanks to a holographic image inducer—the same technology used by X-Men like Nightcrawler and Beast to enjoy a night on the town—Wade can change his appearance and wander around incognito. That's a pretty simple solution, so of course Deadpool finds a way to screw it all up. Wade's brain is just as broken as his body—to put it charitably, he's psychotic—and unless he's on a specific mission, he uses the image inducer to change his appearance willy-nilly.

Shape-shifting may not be quite as obtrusive as a face that looks like Freddy Krueger's, but it's awfully close (and those yellow dialogue bubbles give tend to give him away, anyway). Eventually, Deadpool decides to stick with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' time-proven, low-tech disguise: a fedora, a trenchcoat, and the comforting knowledge that in New York City, a tumor-infested mutant probably won't be the weirdest thing you'll see wandering the streets.

Deadpool can't fly, he doesn't have super speed, and he can't jump (at least, not very high). So, what's a busy mercenary do when he has to get somewhere in a hurry? In the movie, he takes a taxi, and New York has a robust and reliable public transportation system (as long as you don't try to use the L line on the weekends). But that doesn't make for very exciting comics and, as Deadpool proved, Wade's not always great at keeping tracking of his belongings while en route to his destination.

As a result, over the years, Deadpool has used a number of teleportation devices to get around quickly. In early issues of X-Force and his solo title, he has a device tucked away in one of his many pouches which allows him to zip around with ease. However, the most interesting iteration of Deadpool's teleportation powers surfaced in the Deadpool & Cable series. During that comic's first arc, "If Looks Could Kill," the titular heroes are infected by the Facade Virus, a disease that allows victims to change their faces. Unfortunately, as a side effect, Cable loses control of his mutant powers, allowing the techno-organic virus that plagues his body to run wild, while Deadpool's healing factor stops working. In other words, both mutants start melting.

In order to save themselves, Cable swallows Deadpool and their genes combine. Not only does this temporarily restore Deadpool's Ryan Reynolds-esque good looks—oh, and save both of their lives—but it means that Deadpool has access to Cable's personal teleportation technology, which is keyed to Cable's DNA.

When Deadpool says, "Bodyslide by two," both Deadpool and Cable will travel together, either to Cable's high-tech base or a location of their choosing. When Deadpool says "Bodyslide by one," he'll travel wherever he wants, with one small catch: Cable will come with him, and upon arrival, their two bodies will be fused together, forcing the heroes to literally tear themselves apart to get free. It's just as gross and hilarious as it sounds, and we'd love to see Ryan Reynolds and Josh Brolin go through the same ordeal in Deadpool 2. Pretty please?

Deadpool's healing factor is pretty handy. It stops cancer. It cures decapitation. It lets him walk away from fights with creatures like the Hulk, and it kicks his metabolism into overdrive. That's right: no matter how much he eats— Deadpool won't gain any weight. Want to eat 372, 488 pancakes? Go right ahead, Wade. Nothing's going to happen.

Deadpool's super-resistant body means that outside substances, like tranquilizers, poison, or mind-control drugs, won't affect him either. That's good news when you're fighting supervillains, but isn't so useful when you want to get absolutely hammered—and, let's face it, Wade is the kind of guy who could use a drink every now and then.

Now, Deadpool can get drunk. He just needs a lot of alcohol to make it happen. In Deadpool #12, Wade spends an entire day and night drinking, polishing off a six-pack and who knows what else, before he's even slightly buzzed. In Deadpool #7, a villain pays Deadpool to make Iron Man drunk, but instead of forcing Tony Stark off of the wagon, Deadpool takes care of business himself. Wade clocks Stark with a liquor bottle and straps into the Iron Man armor, but not before downing an entire sack full of stolen booze. That fulfills Wade's contract—Iron Man had to get plastered, not Tony—and best of all, Deadpool doesn't even have a hangover when he wakes up.

Now that's a superpower.

According to Marvel's official database, Deadpool has a strength rating of four, which means he's able to lift between 800 to 50,000 pounds. You wouldn't know it just by looking at him, however. While super-strength is one of Deadpool's many powers, you rarely see him lifting heavy objects, and the only time Wade seems to make use of his enhanced abilities is when he goes toe-to-toe with heavyweights like the Hulk and the Juggernaut.

Still, every once in awhile, somebody hints that Deadpool is a lot stronger than he seems. During his earliest appearances, he went toe-to-toe with some of Marvel's strongest characters. In X-Force #11, Shatterstar, a warrior from the Mojoverse with super-strength, calls Deadpool his equal—right before Deadpool knocks him out cold. In X-Force #15, Wade is powerful enough to kick Cable's head through a stone wall.

However, Deadpool's super-strength wasn't confirmed until years later. In Cable & Deadpool #13, Haji Bin Barat, one of the world's most deadly terrorists, is murdered, and Deadpool wants to solve the case. As Deadpool gathers clues, the medical examiner concludes that Barat's was choked by an adult male using just two fingers (usually, it'd take a fully-grown man both hands to strangle a person to death). In fact, the murderer actually squeezed too hard, accidentally snapping Barat's neck mid-killing, a feat that would require superhuman strength. At the same time, Deadpool discovers that he's the murderer—he just can't remember why he did it.

If that's not convincing, remember that Cable & Deadpool was written by Deadpool co-creator Fabian Nicieza, meaning that Wade's superhuman strength is most likely canon—until it isn't, anyway. This is comics. That sort of thing changes all the time.

Even supervillains have feelings. To wit: Thanos, one of the biggest bads in a galaxy full of big bads, has the hots for Death—as in, the literal personification of mortality—and he'll do practically anything to prove it. In The Infinity Gauntlet, Thanos uses the Infinity Gems to wipe out half the universe in order to prove his dedication to his skull-faced paramour. If that's not love, we don't know what is.

So, as you can imagine, Thanos isn't exactly thrilled when Death and Deadpool strike up a relationship. In Deadpool/Death Annual '98, Wade first meets Thanos' would-be gal pal when he's stuck in the Department K medical facility, undergoing the treatments that will eventually turn him into Deadpool. Thanks to his cancer and the government's experiments, Wade is very, very close to dying, and Death uses her feminine wiles to convince Wade to finish the job. However, Wade's newfound healing powers—and a reluctant sense of heroism—foil his best attempts at suicide-by-supervillain, and the couple is forced apart.

That changes in Deadpool #60, when Weapon X takes away Wade's healing power and kills him. In the arc that follows, "Funeral for a Freak," a handful of Deadpool imitators rise up to take his place (which should sound familiar to all the mid-'90s comic book fans out there), while Deadpool finally finds peace in Death's arms. Unfortunately, Thanos happens. The Mad Titan casts a curse on Wade that brings him back to life—and will keep him that way, permanently (at least until Thanos removes the curse in Deadpool vs. Thanos #1). On the plus side, that means Deadpool can never die, even if his healing factor fails. On the other, it also means that he'll never make his way into the afterlife, leaving Thanos as Death's only suitor.

Here's Wade's secret: his healing powers aren't his real superpower. His insanity is. Deadpool knows he's a comic book character because he's absolutely crazy, and while his broken psyche doesn't help much when it comes to getting a happy ending, it's a huge boon when he faces off against psychics—and believe us, there are lots and lots of psychics running around the Marvel Universe.

For example, in Deadpool #69, Deadpool finds himself in a duel with a telepathic mutant known as the Black Swan. As they fight, Swan tries to poke around in Wade's head, trying to find the disarm code for a bomb Deadpool brought with him. Unfortunately for Swan, things don't work exactly like he expected. Wade welcomes Swan into his mind, which is a savagely insane place. That distracts Swan long enough for Deadpool to shove the villain's head in the fireplace, although the bomb goes off anyway—while Deadpool wrote the code down on his hand so that he wouldn't forget it, Swan chopped off his arm earlier in the fight.

Deadpool's healing powers help fight against telepathy, too. In Cable & Deadpool #8, the X-Men enlist Deadpool to help stop Cable, who's trying to create peace by united the world's nations against a common enemy—himself. Emma Frost, a psychic, uses Cerebro to shield the X-Men from Cable's telepathy, but Deadpool has an easier way: they could've just had the conversation inside Deadpool's brain, which is immune to telepathy thanks to its ever-changing biology. Thankfully for Emma, Deadpool's powers affect her, too. She can't read Deadpool's mind, which shields her from all of his dirty, lecherous thoughts—until Wolverine tells her about them, anyway.