Throughout his comics history Deadpool’s moral com has always been a bit erratic. He started out his career as a villain, but soon became an antihero and then a full-fledged hero thanks to his popularity as a character. However, the pages of Deadpool #58 gives fans a glimpse of what the Merc with a Mouth would have looked like if he had continued down his original villainous path.
Deadpool is Wade Wilson, an ex-special forces soldier turned mercenary and assassin. After being diagnosed with inoperable cancer he was recruited by the Weapon X Program and implanted with an artificial healing factor modeled after Wolverine. This stopped the cancer in his body, but in return Wade had to complete clandestine and questionably ethical missions for his new masters. Eventually, the healing factor failed, and Wade's cancer returned resulting in grotesque deformities all over his bodies, which would forever be a major point of trauma for him. Next, Wade was handed over to the mad scientist, Doctor Killebrew, and through a combination of torture, a desire for vengeance, and his love affair with the entity known as Death, Wade’s healing powers returned. Unfortunately, it was not enough to correct his physical appearance.
However, in Deadpool #57 & #58, by Frank Tieri and Georges Jeanty, the Merc with a Mouth finds himself recruited again by the infamous Weapon X Program. This decision returns Wade to the worst version of himself: a mercenary serving a corrupt government organization who intends to do evil to undeserving people. In exchange for his service he is given a stronger healing factor that finally fixes his cancerous malformations, and a new outfit. It is through this new costume, fans are given a glimpse of what Deadpool could have been like if he had chosen to stay as a villain.
Deadpool’s new Weapon X uniform is a complete reversal of his classic red and black one. Black becomes the dominant color with only a minimal amount of red striping, most notably in the mask. The new costume also exposes his arms, which cleverly underscores Wade’s trade-offs with the Weapon X Program. Deadpool was always one of Marvel's bleakest heroes but the reversed color scheme shows that he is allowing his selfish desires to overshadow his heroic impulses. Also by having the uniform be sleeveless it shows off Wade's “normal” appearance, and the bare arms remind Deadpool of what Weapon X has given him and what they can take away.
By the end of the comic Deadpool chooses to turn against the program and loses his new healing factor along with the costume. However, this small incident gives readers a view into what Deadpool could have been, had he never grown past his mistakes and become the hero —and general-fourth-wall-breaking nuisance— that most people know him as today.
