Deadpool

Wade Wilson is a wisecracking mercenary with a severe healing factor—the result of a rogue Weapon X experiment that attempted to treat his terminal cancer by grafting Wolverine's regenerative abilities onto his cells, leaving him physically scarred but virtually unkillable. Armed with swords, guns, and an unstoppable mouth, he burst onto the scene picking a fight with the New Mutants before carving out a reputation as Marvel's self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking 'Merc with a Mouth.'

Few characters have clawed their way from a single debut issue to genuine pop-culture phenomenon quite like Deadpool, who crashed onto the scene in The New Mutants #98 in 1991, conjured by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza at the dawn of comics' bold, brash Modern Age. Over 35 years and 853 catalogued appearances — eight of them certified key issues — he has become one of Marvel's most relentlessly published figures, anchoring his own long-running solo title while sharing pages with heavyweights like Wolverine, Spider-Man, and Captain America across Cable & Deadpool and the fan-beloved Uncanny X-Force. That kind of company, and that kind of staying power, doesn't happen by accident — this is a character who grabbed readers by the collar in the Copper Age and simply never let go.