The last person that readers would expect to be able to give a lecture to the living legend, Captain America, is Deadpool. However, this is exactly what happened, and Wade Wilson was able to call out Cap's hypocrisy as no one else did before.

In the run-up to the Secret Empire event, Deadpool is asked by the evil duplicate of Steve Rogers created by the Red Skull to kill Phil Coulson. He does so, allowing Hydra-controlled Cap to rise to power and take over the United States. Because Wade always idolized Steve, he follows his orders blindly, even joining the Hydra version of the Avengers. This costs Deadpool the lives of two of his friends, the love of his daughter, any respect the world had for him, and what little life and stability he had built until then. When the real Steve Rogers returns, and Hydra Cap is defeated, he tracks down Wade to arrest him for the murder of Coulson. Deadpool is obviously enraged, as the fake Steve (whom he dubs "Stevil") cost him everything, and now the real Captain America wants to put the blame on him. A confrontation ensues in Deadpool #296 - by Gerry Duggan, Matteo Lolli, and Ruth Redmond - and Wade's words should hurt Steve way more than his katana. He rightly points out was Deadpool's adoration for Captain America that made his life terrible (again).

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Faced with Deadpool's frustration, Steve refuses to take any blame. He believes Wade shouldn't have followed the orders of "Stevil," because that's not something that real Cap would ever ask. Deadpool answers that assassination is a common occurrence when someone is working for top government agencies such as SHIELD. In fact, that's what he, Wade, has always been used for. He is a disposable tool to point at problems when other so-called heroes don't want to get their hands dirty. Captain America, despite his sanctimonious attitude, did exactly the same when he asked Deadpool to join the Avengers Unity Division. Wolverine was dead and Cap needed a substitute, another "obedient torpedo." Steve's answer to these accusations makes his hypocrisy stand out even more. He says that Wade is "better and happier" when he is a soldier, working inside a regimented system, and he was only trying to give structure to Deadpool's chaotic world.

Captain America's words reveal a complete inability to empathize and relate with someone else's perspective. It is true that Deadpool is chaotic by definition, but what made him this way are the experiments that Weapon X - a military organization - performed on him. Wade is an efficient killing machine but, much like Wolverine, he does not enjoy being one, nor being a "solider." He does it because he has nothing else. However, this nuanced view does not fit with Cap's black-and-white morality: Wade has killed people, and so he needs to go to prison, regardless of Steve's own role in his downfall. Cap's arrogance especially comes out when he says "Usually when I ask someone to be an Avenger is one of the greatest days of their lives." Captain America preyed on Deadpool's adoration and respect for him, and on the allure of being an Avenger, just as much as Hydra Cap did.

Steve's hypocrisy is exposed when Wade argues that if Black Widow had killed Coulson on what she thought were Cap's orders, she'd get a pass - a point Cap doesn't have an answer to, replying that he doesn't want to deal in hypotheticals. Deadpool exposed Captain America's inherent hypocrisy by making a pretty inarguable case that Steve enlisted him to be a killer, something he does in most of his Avengers rosters, and is now punishing him for being one.

Next: Captain America Didn't Hesitate to Kill Colossus in the Most Brutal Way