Ryan Reynolds has people excited about the return of Deadpool to the big screen. While his move to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as its first R-rated superhero movie already promised excitement, Reynolds gave fans another reason to get excited about the movie. Hugh Jackman is coming back as Wolverine, bringing the popular X-Men member to the MCU, even if just for this one movie.
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe was a 2012 storyline that took place out of canon, and it presented Deadpool at his absolute worst. The Merc with a Mouth found a cure that quieted the voices in his head. However, the one voice left standing was the one that knew he was in a comic book and he realized no one in the Marvel Universe was free. Deadpool set out to kill every hero and villain in Marvel before finally setting his sights on the creators of Marvel Comics in our world. Along the way, he left a trail of gruesome dead bodies.
The Fantastic Four
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe began with the death of The Fantastic Four. The fact it was the first superheroes in Marvel Comics history that died first in this series was a shocking way to start the story. The way Deadpool killed these Marvel characters was also extremely brutal.
However, readers only saw one murder here, as the other three happened before this book started. Deadpool had somehow horrifically ripped Reed Richards apart and blew The Thing into bits of rocks. He crushed Human Torch under a jet and all that remained was The Invisible Woman. She blew up Deadpool's head, but his regeneration was faster than ever, and he responded by driving a sword through her midsection. It was shockingly brutal seeing him drive the sword through the midsection of the mother of two, but worse things were to come.
The Watcher
The book started out looking like a version of What If...? In this story, Watcher revealed the deaths of The Fantastic Four and then showed the audience how Deadpool became this merciless killer of heroes. The X-Men captured him and took him to find a cure. However, it was Psycho-Man who cured him.
Deadpool responded by killing him, and in a shocking moment, he saw The Watcher. This is when the book moved away from the What If...? setup and Deadpool decapitated Uatu. Seeing The Watcher's head separated from his body was horrific, and this was where Deadpool realized people were watching his story. It was brutal and horrifying seeing Deadpool kill the peaceful Watcher, and this was where fans realized something really bad was about to happen to the entire Marvel Universe.
Spider-Man
The second issue of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe began with Deadpool fighting Spider-Man. In Marvel Comics, Deadpool and Spider-Man have an interesting friendship, almost a one-way bromance for Deadpool. However, here, he was ruthless in dispatching the Wall-Crawler.
Spider-Man seemed to have the advantage. However, Spidey never thought Deadpool would kill him, even saying he had sliced and diced him in the past, and it wouldn't stop him here. Then Deadpool pulled out a gun and shot Spider-Man in the head, killing him instantly. He did this in front of people on the streets, and this one moment caused everyone to suddenly fear Deadpool. Seeing the popular Spider-Man, someone Deadpool was friends with, lying with the top of his head blown into pieces was horrifyingly disgusting.
Thor
The Avengers deaths were pretty bad, but it was a sudden kill that didn't match up with the rest of the kills in the series. Deadpool used Pym Particles to get a bunch of explosives in and then blew them all up, killing Captain America, Spider-Woman, Iron Man, and more. He had to poison Luke Cage to eliminate him, but then Thor showed up.
Deadpool showed how smart he was in this fight, though. He used his Pym Particles on Mjolnir after Thor threw it at him. It then returned to Thor as a giant hammer and crushed the God of Thunder. It was even more brutal because Deadpool killed Thor using Mjolnir, a twisting turn of irony. While this was brutal, it was also a bit funny as all Thor could think of was that he died crushed under Mjolnir, and he realized it all made sense.
Hulk
In a funny moment, Deadpool figured after killing The Avengers, it would be easy from there out. Hulk then ripped him in half, in a disgusting moment. Of course, Deadpool fighting Hulk was not something that would work out well for the Merc with a Mouth.
However, Deadpool killed Hulk the same way Punisher did when he killed the Marvel Universe. He waited for Hulk to turn back into Bruce Banner. However, while Punisher just shot him, which never should have worked based on history, Deadpool was more brutal. He pulled out his swords and cut Banner's head off, ensuring he couldn't suddenly revert to Hulk. Seeing Banner's body falling one direction and his head flying in the other was just brutally graphic for a Marvel Comic book.
Power Pack
One death that proved brutal took place off the screen, but it was still a shocking one. Aunt May and other survivors gathered all their valuables to hire Taskmaster to kill Deadpool. As he searched out the Merc with a Mouth, he came across dead heroes and villains.
This included Power Pack. While done off-screen, it was enough to make Taskmaster want to kill Deadpool for free because of it. Power Pack are all children, pre-teens, and young teenagers who just want to fight for good. Deadpool killing them proved he was way beyond redemption, and no matter how Deadpool did it, killing children is just wrong.
Professor X
The people ultimately responsible for Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe were The X-Men, with Professor X at the forefront. That made it almost poetic justice that Deadpool made Xavier watch as he killed the X-Men in various ways. Then it was Xavier's turn.
If there is one person who could stop Deadpool, it is Xavier. However, when Charles went in to shut down his mind, he read it first, and that was a huge mistake. Xavier learned what Deadpool knew - they were all characters in a fictional world, and his brain immediately shut down, killing him with this brutal knowledge. Seeing the all-powerful Professor X sitting in his chair, his head slumped to the side, vacant-eyed, was more horrifyingly brutal than even the moment Cyclops killed him in the regular timeline.
Wolverine
What Deadpool did to Wolverine was more brutal than death. Instead of just killing him, he wanted to torture and destroy him emotionally and mentally first. It was horrific when Wolverine walked in and saw his children, X-23 and Daken, hanging from the ceiling, dying over and over again.
Thanks to their healing factor, they would always return. However, Deadpool also has a healing factor and had a cure for that in computers that monitor their vitals and then kill them as soon as they regenerate. For Wolverine, he waited until Logan saw his kids dying constantly and then killed him with a carborundum blade, which nullified his healing factor. Deadpool seemed to hold a grudge here because forcing Wolverine to see his kids dying before killing him was more brutal than any other death in the series.
Taskmaster
In a surprising move, the final issue of Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe ended with Taskmaster as the last man standing. He hunted down Deadpool and was there to kill him and stop his reign of terror.
However, while Taskmaster proved up to the fight, Deadpool had a plan that would win it all for him. He lured Taskmaster to his final chess piece. Just when it seemed Taskmaster might have the advantage, Deadpool backed him up to Man-Thing, who then brutally disintegrated Taskmaster's head with his fire. This was not as much brutal as it was disgusting, as Taskmaster's head almost seemed to melt from his body, and the fear he felt played out on the page.
Man-Thing
Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe only hinted at his last murders. This was the murder of the creative team that designed the comic book. Deadpool also threatened to come for the readers next. However, he had to do one thing to get there.
Deadpool had to use the doorway to the Nexus of All Realities. That meant getting past Man-Thing. However, after killing Taskmaster, Man-Thing knew what Deadpool was doing and let him through the only way he could. In a truly brutal moment, Man-Thing tore himself apart and allowed Deadpool to enter the real world. While this was more of Man-Thing ending his own life, seeing one of the most powerful monsters in the Marvel Universe, exploding into bits and pieces of plant and oozy flesh was a good way to end Deadpool Kills the Marvel Universe with one of the most disgusting moments in the entire series.