Warning! Spoilers for Deadpool: Black, White & Blood #1 ahead!
The Merc With A Mouth may be one of Marvel's deadliest assassins, but his latest kill has also turned Deadpool into the Marvel Universe’s biggest hypocrite. Wade Wilson has killed plenty of people and done any number of arguably unforgivable things both alone and with teams like X-Force. But now, he’s crossed a line even he once considered to be too far: killing horses.
Deadpool: Black, White & Blood #1 by Tom Taylor, Ed Brisson, and a host of talent features Wade’s latest fall from grace in the “Red All Over” short story by Taylor and Phil Noto. When a group of zombified lab animals make an undead comeback, Wade wipes out nearly the entire pack. But when he needs help, Deadpool calls his old friend Gabby to take on the one creature he can’t handle alone: the undead zebra dubbed the zombiebra.
The equestrian evildoer rampages through the streets, leaving behind a trail of destruction in its wake. Wade and Gabby finally manage to bring it down, but not until after it runs down an innocent civilian and even bites a chunk out of Deadpool’s hand. But back in Savage Avengers #17 by Gerry Duggan and Kev Walker, Wade has a much different stance on ending equines. When Deadpool and his frenemy Conan the Barbarian steal a couple of horses to escape a jail, Wade speaks directly to his horse and warns it that even though it’ll probably die immediately, it’ll still mean something to him, before comparing pop culture’s endless horse massacres to the “fridging” characters for emotional impact. Clearly, Deadpool has either forgotten his feelings on bronco brutality, or he simply doesn’t care anymore.
Zombie or not, Deadpool still slew the zombiebra, feeding into pop culture’s obsession with killing horses. There’s an argument to be made that zebras aren’t actually horses, and even if they were, Deadpool couldn’t really kill what was already dead. But Wade doesn’t seem like the type to make that distinction. Due to his regenerative capabilities, Wade’s mind and personality are constantly shifting.
It’s more than possible that he shifted to a less horse-friendly mindset in between Savage Avengers #17 and Taylor and Noto’s “Red All Over” but with his constant breaking of the Fourth Wall, Deadpool would probably be aware of his actions in another series. Due to Gabby Kinney’s wardrobe in the short story, there’s also the possibility that it actually takes place before Savage Avengers, meaning that this horrific experience could have motivated Deadpool to never again end the life of another pony or pony-like creature.
Either way, that doesn’t change the fact that Wade’s immediate willingness to take down “the Galloping Dead” is more than a little hypocritical after such a strong pro-horse stance. Deadpool sure says a lot of things. But when it comes to valuing the lives of horses, it seems Marvel's Merc With A Mouth is all talk.