With a nickname like the Merc with a Mouth, Deadpool is one of Marvel Comics’ most iconic and most erratic characters. While he usually works on the side of the angels these days, Deadpool is still a pretty ridiculous individual known to bite off more than he can chew. But his shenanigans aren’t just limited to the humans of the Marvel Universe, as proven when his very own animal variant, Dogpool, mixed it up with a classic Avenger’s canine companion resembling Krypto the Superdog.
Dogpool — the Deadpool variant of Earth-103173 created by Victor Gischler and Phillip Bond — is just as wily and wacky as the Wade fans know. In “Dogpool vs Voidmutt,” a story by James Asmus and Darnell Johnson in the Deadpool Family #1 anthology special, readers get a glimpse at just the sort of mayhem Dogpool can cause when left to his own devices against a far more powerful opponent. And while the confrontation may not work out in his favor, it doesn’t make it any less twisted – and it definitely puts the overall Marvel Universe in a very precarious position.
After Dogpool attempts to eat a miniaturized Ant-Man in Avengers Tower, he’s stopped by Sunny the Sentry Dog, the Sentry’s superheroic canine comrade fueled by, “1,000 exploding dog stars.” Unbelievably outmatched and overpowered, Dogpool is thrown from the tower with such alarming force that his trajectory launches him all the way to the Hadron Collider in Geneva, Switzerland. Once this doggy duo is inside, Dogpool uses his surroundings to his advantage and activates the Collider, incapacitating Sunny but at a cost he couldn’t have expected. Though Sunny is no longer a threat, Dogpool’s ploy ends up unleashing Void Mutt, Sunny’s evil, Void-influenced alter ego. The story cuts away before fans can get a glimpse of just what becomes of Dogpool. But with the Void involved, it can’t be pretty.
Marvel Comics fans know the Sentry as a dark counterpart to DC Comics’ very own Man of Steel, Superman with at least as much power as Clark Kent if not more. As such, it follows that like Superman, Sentry would have his very own Krypto in Sunny the Sentry Dog who mirrors the Last Pup of Krypton’s own powerful potential. But like his master, Sunny is tainted by the Void’s corrupting touch, twisting him from the lovable analog of a fan-favorite DC Comics canine into a dark doggy of death and destruction as Void Mutt.
The Void is one of the most dangerous threats the Marvel Universe has ever faced – so much so that Thor once had no choice but to kill the Sentry instead of risking the Void’s wraith. Bob Reynolds has enough difficulty controlling that sort of power with his own genius intellect. If that sort of raw potential can take over a superpowered animal with none of Reynolds’ reasoning skills, Marvel Comics has a new big bad, or at least, a real bad boy. And with no sort of Super Animal Control yet established in the Marvel Universe, there’s hardly anyone who can stand in his way.
In any universe, a variant of Deadpool is more than likely to cause some trouble, but this massive mishap could definitely take the cake. Wade Wilson typically means well, but his intentions don’t always go according to plan, and apparently his animal variant is prone to falling into the same trap. Hopefully, someone will throw Deadpool AND Dogpool a bone, and get Marvel Comics’ pastiche of Krypto the Superdog under control.