Deadpool & Wolverine: WWIII #1

History

Joe Kelly's return to Deadpool for this miniseries was his first extended work on the character since he wrote the celebrated issue included in Deadpool #900 in 2009, and represented his first time scripting a Deadpool-Wolverine team-up in a dedicated series context. Kelly was recruited alongside Adam Kubert — a collaborator with deep roots in both characters' publishing histories, having drawn Wolverine and worked on Uncanny X-Men — in what Marvel framed as a reunion of foundational creative voices. Kelly told ComicBook.com that the emotional interiority of both characters was a guiding principle, aiming to use their overlapping but distinct healing-factor abilities in ways that reflected where Wade and Logan stood psychologically at the time of publication. The series was announced and promoted with a Marvel-produced motion comic trailer, an unusual marketing push that reflected the outsized cultural moment created by the simultaneous theatrical release.

Trivia · 8 facts

• Written by Joe Kelly (writer of the landmark 1997–1999 Deadpool ongoing that defined the character's fourth-wall-breaking voice) with art by Adam Kubert (longtime Wolverine artist) and colors by Frank Martin; Mark Basso served as editor.
• Released May 1, 2024 (cover-dated July 2024) as the first issue of a three-part miniseries — not an ongoing series.
• First appearance of Delta, a new supervillain with the demonstrated power to amplify a person's physical abilities, strength, and savagery to their maximum limit — debuting unnamed in this issue.
• First appearance of Those Who Watch, an antagonist organization that forces Deadpool and Wolverine to fight each other for the group's observation and entertainment.
• First appearance of Wither (a mutant who dies within the issue), also noted in the Marvel Database character index for this issue.
• The title's acronym WWIII refers not to World War III but to 'Wade Wilson the Third,' a character-centric wordplay established within the issue itself.
• The issue carried a Rob Liefeld variant cover — notable because Liefeld is the co-creator of Deadpool — alongside variants by Gabriele Dell'Otto, InHyuk Lee, Todd Nauck (Windowshades), J. Scott Campbell, Clayton Crain, and Alan Quah, among others; Adam Kubert also produced a homage variant referencing Wolverine (1988 1st Series) #88, one of the earliest Deadpool/Wolverine encounters in continuity.
• The series was collected in a TPB edition and all three issues received second printings, confirming significant reader demand at street level.

Cast · 3 characters

Full credits

Variants (14)