In his long comic book history, Deadpool, the crazy, disfigured alter-ego of mercenary Wade Wilson, has managed to team up with, and annoy the hell out of, just about everyone in the Marvel Universe. Sometimes it’s as unwanted help, sometimes it’s as an antagonist-turned-ally, and usually it’s as a last resort. Either way, everybody’s favorite Merc with a Mouth just loves hanging out with the best the MU has to offer.

However, some of these team-ups have stood out as something special. Deadpool is a bit of a lone wolf - he never chooses sides, can't tell if he's a hero or a villain, and is, of course, mentally unstable - so when he genuinely connects with another hero (or villain), it can be a pretty special moment.

Here are Deadpool’s 10 Greatest Team-ups

10. Wolverine

Deadpool owes Wolverine plenty. Not least of which is his healing power, which was grafted into his DNA from samples of Wolverine’s own. Wade Wilson initially volunteered for the second Weapon X project while dying from cancer. The healing factor saved his life, but reacted with the cancer in unexpected ways disfiguring him and driving him insane. Despite a long history together, their best team-up came during the Wolverine: Origins run when Deadpool was hired to kill Wolverine by a disguised Bucky Barnes.

In this storyline, Deadpool actually manages to plan everything to near perfection in a rare display of professionalism. After succeeding in capturing Wolverine having a successful strategy in place to end his life once and for all, Deadpool is stopped by Wolverine’s son Dakken. The whole job proved to be a ruse, orchestrated by Wolverine to draw out his son, reasoning that once word of the hit got out, he’d get involved as he’d want to be the one to kill his father.

Despite losing several body parts on the previous encounter, the enmity between Deadpool and Wolverine didn’t last, as Wolverine recruited Deadpool to join a recent incarnation of X-Force.

9. Captain America

Not two characters you’d ever expect to get put together. Despite their similarities (both are super-soldiers created by government agencies etc.), they couldn’t be more different. Cap is a stand-up guy, all God, duty, and Mom’s apple pie. Deadpool is a stand up comedian with no respect for anything other than chimichangas and his beloved Bea Arthur. Surprisingly, they do have one thing in common: a respect for Wolverine.

Despite butting heads several times, Deadpool and Steve Rogers (in the form of a frail old man) team up after the death of Wolverine to prevent bad guys from obtaining Wolverine’s DNA. After the fight, the two journey home together and share a toast to their former friend and colleague. It’s a surprisingly tender end to what was largely a comedic story. With Deadpool serving as an Avenger, it won’t be long before these mismatched buddies have several more adventures together.

8. Bob, Agent of Hydra

OK, so Bob isn’t exactly a superhero. Or a supervillain. Or super in any way at all. Bob only joined HYDRA because he wanted a steady job with a decent dental plan. He didn’t even get that, as A.I.M has a full dental plan, but HYDRA doesn’t. Deadpool encounters Bob when he storms a Hydra base to rescue Agent X (Alex Hayden). Bob is reluctant to help Deadpool, as HYDRA is notoriously vengeful to those who betray them. Nevertheless, despite being four inches tall at the time, due to exposure to Pym Particles, Deadpool bullies Bob into helping him rescue Agent X and fly them out of the base. Bob then takes Weasel’s place as Deadpool’s de facto sidekick for several adventures, despite having no superpowers or skills. His often cowardly nature makes him the butt of many of Deadpool’s jokes.

He does come in handy from time to time, like when Wolverine decapitates Deadpool. Bob re-attaches the head, allowing Deadpool’s healing factor to save his life. Usually, however, Bob serves as extra comic relief and as Deadpool’s punch bag when he gets bored.

7. Taskmaster

Despite initially being an enemy of The Avengers, Taskmaster is now closely associated with Deadpool due to their long association, going all the way back to Deadpool #2. Despite numerous team-ups and confrontations over the years, their best moment came in Cable and Deadpool #36. Deadpool rescues Taskmaster from a government facility, and in order to convince some captive military generals of his skills, forces Taskmaster to attempt to kill him. To prove his superior skills set, Deadpool deliberately gives Taskmaster several advantages, like binding his arms and legs together, and yet he still wins.

This fails to impress the captive generals and they leave without offering Deadpool any mercenary work. After thanking Taskmaster for letting him win, Taskmaster tells Deadpool that he had not let him win, saying "The truth is... You're that good. You've always been that good. Which won't get you a cup of coffee until you figure out how to be a professional..."

6. The X-Men

Deadpool has teamed up with the X-Men several times, usually despite their reservations. During the Cable and Deadpool era, the X-Men hire Deadpool to locate pieces of a mini-teleporter to use against Cable, who had become dangerously powerful at the time. Deadpool insisted on having an X-Men uniform for the mission, but horrified the X-Men present when he entered battle dressed as Marvel Girl (Rachel Summers).

A second attempt to join the X-Men actually sees Deadpool earn some respect from the X-Men, especially Cyclops. Watching TV and seeing the X-Men declare Utopia a safe haven for mutant kind, Deadpool (despite not technically being a mutant) decides they’re talking to him and goes to join them. Initially turned away, Deadpool sees an opportunity to get into the good graces of the X-Men by assassinating a father who has been on national television accusing the X-Men of preventing him seeing his daughter. In typical Deadpool style, things go through multiple twists and turns, including Deadpool making 372,944 pancakes to cushion Domino’s fall from a roof. In the end, even Cyclops has to admit that, while he wouldn’t want Deadpool to join the X-Men full-time, he "did good."

5. Agent X

For a while Alex Hayden, Agent X, was suspected of actually being Deadpool after surfacing with memory problems after Deadpool’s disappearance. Having a similar power set and demeanour, he set about becoming the best mercenary in the world. Alongside Sandi and Outlaw, associates of Deadpool, he formed Agency X and set out to achieve his goals. After several adventures, it became apparent that he was in fact a man named Nijo, an assassin that had had his mind and powers mixed with that of both Deadpool and a man named Black Swan. After Deadpool regains his memories and abilities, he and Alex went their separate ways, though remained fairly antagonistic toward each other.

After an attempt to steal a device from HYDRA, Sandi and Outlaw convinced Deadpool to rescue Alex. Alex had been affected by the device he was supposed to steal, giving him "the American gene" which made him incredibly fat. Deadpool managed to free Alex, who in turn asked Deadpool to run Agency X while he got himself back in shape. In Deadpool: Suicide Kings #2, Outlaw tells Deadpool that Alex has lost 14 lbs thanks to Jenny Craig, though Deadpool implies that he is still overweight.

4. Spider-Man

After first meeting in Amazing Spider-Man #611, these two haven’t been able to keep their hands off of each other since. While their first meeting ended up becoming a series of "yo mamma" jokes at each other’s expense, the two have been able to work together on occasion too.

During the "Suicide Kings" storyline, Deadpool and Spider-Man have their definitive team up. Deadpool is framed for blowing up a building and killing a bunch of people (and he's innocent for once). Cue various people attempting to bring him down, including Punisher and Daredevil, but Spider-Man ends up proving his innocence and joining Deadpool to take down Tombstone, the true villain.

Since then, the pair have appeared together with increasing frequency, with Deadpool meeting up with the "superior" Spiderman on one occasion. If two smart-talking wise-cracking pop culture obsessed superheroes is your thing, there’s an on-going Spider-Man and Deadpool comic book series to keep you satisfied.

3. Thor

Despite not having much in common, these two have met on a few occasions. Deadpool even lifted a fake version of Thor’s hammer and was given a similar power set.

More recently, Deadpool was plundering the wreckage of Asgard after its destruction at the hands of The Sentry. Alerted by one of the security drones left by Tony Stark, Thor arrives and pummels Deadpool until he realizes that Deadpool isn’t fighting back because he’s a Thor-fanboy. They team-up to fight an Asgardian menace, but the whole thing is largely played for laughs.

2. Dogpool, Headpool and the Deadpool Corps

Leave it to Deadpool to team-up with himself. The Deadpool Corps is a team of Deadpools including Kidpool, Lady Deadpool, DogPool, and Headpool (a disembodied head from the Marvel Zombies universe) from alternate universes founded by our Deadpool after he was chosen by the Contemplator to stop a cosmic entity known as the Awareness that devours the multiverse's consciousness. Due to the insane mind of Deadpool, he’s immune to the power of the Awareness, as are his various multiverse doppelgangers.

The Deadpool Corps teamed up once more to fight an evil version of themselves, also from alternate universes, that were intent of killing every version of themselves in the multiverse.

1. Cable

Ever since Deadpool first appeared in the pages of New Mutants, and then X-Force, he’s been a frequent ally or antagonist of Nathan Summers, a.k.a. Cable. However, it wasn't until the 2004 Cable & Deadpool series that readers really got to see these two truly at their best together. Due to a teleporter malfunction, they were genetically spliced together and forced to "body slide" whenever one of them used the teleporting systems of Cable’s futuristic home.

As the series progressed, the two went from being antagonistic towards each other at times to being surprisingly close. The bromance peaked when they spent a day together in a bar discussing their pasts and what had gotten them to this stage in their lives. Cable’s supposed death at the end of the series, and Deadpool’s new ongoing series may have kept these two on separate paths for most of the last decade, but when the merc and the saviour get together, there’s always plenty of explosions; both literal and figurative.

Conclusion

Deadpool, not being confined to one region of the Marvel universe, has come into contact with a great deal of the heroes and villains of the MU. His status as a sometimes hero, sometimes villain, leads him to be at odds with just about everyone at one time or another, making him hugely entertaining. Got some favourite team ups not mentioned above? Let us know in the comments!