The 15 Best Deadpools In Deadpool & Wolverine, Ranked
Contains spoilers for “Deadpool and Wolverine”
After years of anticipation, Marvel’s merc with a mouth has finally joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the summer smash hit “Deadpool and Wolverine” — though a more accurate title might be “Deadpool and Wolverine and Deadpool and Deadpool and Deadpool and…” In true Wade Wilson fashion, the film leans hilariously hard into the concept of the Marvel multiverse, using it to drag in so many variants of different characters from various eras of superhero movies that it makes “Spider-Man: No Way Home” seem like a quaint indie film by comparison.
The cameos throughout the film have dominated the discussion around it, with surprise appearances from the Fox “X-Men” universe, older superhero movies like “Daredevil” and “Fantastic Four,” and even a sudden DC Universe crossover as Deadpool sorts through the multiverse’s many Wolverine variants. The centerpiece of this fan service festival, however, is the ultimate battle between Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), and the so-called Deadpool Corps — a legion of Deadpool variants with all the fighting skills, healing abilities, and dirty jokes of the original, with none of the emotional growth.
The sequence is a feast for the eyes just for the sheer amount of wild Deadpool variants on screen at any given moment. And though they may not all be God’s favorite idiot, we ranked them based on impact, style, and — in some cases — pure vibes to find out which of them is our favorite idiot.
15. Haroldpool
Our first contender for the title comes in last not for lack of skill, but for lack of distinct style — and, admittedly, because we’re not exactly sure which Deadpool he even is. What we do know for certain is that, during that final sequence, somewhere in the crowd is the variant colloquially known as “Haroldpool,” named after the stunt performer and actor who plays him, Harold Holland. No, that last name is not a coincidence: he is indeed the younger brother of the MCU’s Spider-Man himself, Tom Holland.
As fans may be aware, both Hollands are apparently incredibly athletic in real life, with the elder Tom doing many of his own acrobatic stunts in his own films. Harold was actually supposed to appear in a bit of stunt work even earlier in the MCU, playing the role of a thief in “Spider-Man: No Way Home” who gets yanked into the air by Spidey’s webs. Though that scene was ultimately left on the cutting room floor, it at the very least seems to have connected him with stunt coordinator and second unit director George Cottle, who went from staging wire-work moments like the aforementioned “No Way Home” deleted scene to orchestrating the epic final battle in “Deadpool and Wolverine.”
Hilariously, Ryan Reynolds didn’t find out about this cameo until Cottle took to social media to unmask Holland and praise his work on the set. The actor-producer-writer exclaimed on his Instagram (via Deadline), “This is how I find out?!?”
14. Zenpool
One of the most eye-catching variants seen in “Deadpool and Wolverine” stands out due to his ghost-white mask and black hood. This is “Zenpool” who, in the comics, is actually not a variant of the character from an alternate reality, but an alter-ego adopted by the Earth-616 Deadpool after the events of the “AXIS” storyline.
To make a long and very complicated story as short as possible, “AXIS” saw various heroes and some villains join forces to stop the Red Skull from using the powers of the quasi-omnipotent “X-Men” villain Onslaught to conquer the world. In the process, Doctor Doom (a character now played by Robert Downey Jr.) and the Scarlet Witch cast a spell which unintentionally alters the personalities of several Marvel characters — Deadpool included.
Now aspiring to avoid violence and conflict as much as possible, Deadpool becomes Zenpool, a vaguely Buddhist monk who goes as far as constructing a massive zen garden in his backyard. While he’s still willing to beat up evil-doers, he now refuses to kill them — which makes his inclusion in “Deadpool and Wolverine” slightly confusing, as the Deadpool Corps’ stated goal is to kill Logan and Wade. For being Zenpool in name and style only, he earns a low spot on this list.
13. Golden Age Deadpool
Near the front of the crowd when the Deadpool Corps first arrives through the portal is a Deadpool variant dressed in red vintage military wear, with two old-fashioned sword handles sticking out where katanas should normally be. This is Frederick Wilson, also known as “Wheezy Wilson” for the gas mask he wears at all times. He is also often referred to as the Golden Age Deadpool, so named for the comic book era generally agreed to have begun with the creation of Superman in the late 1930s and ending sometime in the early to mid-1950s.
Though no version of Deadpool could be considered a genuine Golden Age character (Wheezy was created in 2010, while Deadpool Prime was created in the early ’90s), Wheezy gets a slight pass because he’s a reimagining of the classic character that exists in that time period.
On his Earth, where World War II is likely still waging in perpetuity, Wheezy is the embarrassing nephew of President Woodrow Wilson and a disastrous private in the U.S. military. He’s discharged early on after clearly faking mustard gas poisoning, when in reality he just smokes a ton of cigarettes, hence the constant need for a gas mask. It isn’t until 1938 that he’s transformed into “Veapon X” as part of a Nazi experiment gone wrong. Despite a unique comic book origin story, he doesn’t do much in “Deadpool and Wolverine” and barely stands out visually, so close to the bottom of the list he goes.
12. Roninpool
The straw hat-wearing Deadpool seen during the final battle is Watari, known as both “Roninpoool” and “The Fool” interchangeably. This variant first appeared in the alternate universe Marvel comic book series “5 Ronin,” a five-chapter miniseries that reimagined Deadpool, Wolverine, Psylocke, the Punisher, and the Hulk as warriors in feudal Japan. Like many variants of Deadpool that were created for one-off stories, he was eventually revived as part of a multiversal crossover event that featured as many different Deadpools as possible.
Relative to some of the other variants on this list, Watari actually gets a fair amount of screen time in “Deadpool and “Wolverine.” After getting both of his arms cut off during the carnage, he is revived hilariously with two infant arms — a callback to the first “Deadpool” film, in which Wade temporarily has a baby hand after cutting his own hand off to escape from Colossus. For the sight gag alone, Roninpool deserves to be placed at the top of the list of Blink-And-You’ll-Miss-Them-Pools that litter this fight scene.
11. Deadpool 2099
Finally, we’re getting to the Deadpools that are a little more than living set dressing for the Easter-egg heavy scene. The high-tech Deadpool variant with a glowing suit and electrified batons who manages to briefly halt our heroes is Warda Wilson, Wade Wilson’s daughter and the Deadpool of the year 2099. Indeed, she exists in the same timeline as Miguel O’Hara, the Spider-Man of the 2099 universe who serves as the villain of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” (voiced by Oscar Isaac).
Given that we’re presumably dealing with the movie multiverse and not the comic book multiverse, we could make the argument that the cinematic Spider-Man 2099 and Deadpool 2099 hail from the same universe. But even without the multiversal connections, Warda stands above every variant mentioned already for getting to flex her full power even for a brief moment — not to mention the viral meme going around that duped some fans of musical artist Sabrina Carpenter into thinking she plays Deadpool 2099 in the movie (sadly, she does not, though the actor remains a mystery).
10. Welshpool
While Deadpool 2099 seemingly isn’t a secret cameo from a celebrity like Sabrina Carpenter or even Taylor Swift, plenty of other celebs do make up the many cameos in “Deadpool and Wolverine.” The most subtle of these is arguably Welshpool, a variant of Deadpool whose costume is only slightly modified to feature the Welsh flag and some green, red, and white coloring. Welshpool is also the name of a small town in Wales — not terribly far from Wrexham, Wales, where a certain football team just so happens to be co-owned by one Ryan Reynolds.
Of course, Welshpool is a cameo meant for football and “Welcome to Wrexham” fans everywhere, with the silent character being played by Wrexham A.F.C. forward Paul Mullin. Reynolds, a self-professed fan of stunt-casting who infamously cast Brad Pitt for only one shot in “Deadpool 2” and has now given Chris Evans two meta-cameos in his films, involved Mullin so that he could honor the club in some fashion in the MCU. Wrexham striker Ollie Palmer is also in the film, having supposedly talked his way into the background of one of the movie’s bar scenes.
9. Babypool
Part of Ryan Reynolds’ reasoning for involving Wrexham players in “Deadpool and Wolverine” is because, according to the actor, they’re like his family — and he loves involving his family in his work. Of course, putting his money squarely where his merc-mouth is, Reynolds not only cast his football family, but his actual wife and children, the youngest of whom is credited as playing the original character Babypool.
Though the character seems to be at least partially animated with CGI, it sounds as though 1-year-old Olin Reynolds is the giggling voice of the character. Even if Babypool wasn’t related to Reynolds, he’s still one of the most distinct characters featured in the Deadpool Corps sequence. Something about a baby waddling out with all the angry swagger of an adult Deadpool makes it the perfect joke for a moment parodying one of the MCU’s most ambitious scenes. Apparently Marvel and Regal Cinemas thought so too, as the character got his very own disturbing novelty popcorn bucket.
8. Kidpool
The other Reynolds child featured in the Deadpool Corps sequence is 7-year-old Inez Reynolds, who plays the pint-sized pottymouth Kidpool. She gets major marks for having one of the funniest lines in “Deadpool and Wolverine,” in which she makes a not-so-polite remark about Wolverine. However, we do have to dock a few points not for Reynolds’ performance, but for the lack of the character’s iconic comic book weapons.
In the comics, Kidpool is a version of Deadpool raised in a Charles Xavier-run orphanage. Trouble maker that he is, he makes up for his lack of katanas by stealing two laser swords that are basically lightsabers in all but name. Ryan Reynolds and director Shawn Levy actually featured a lightsaber as one of the surprising franchise prop cameos in 2021’s “Free Guy,” then went on to give Reynolds a strikingly similar weapon in their Netflix follow-up “The Adam Project.”
Not to mention, one of Levy’s upcoming projects after “Deadpool” is making a “Star Wars” movie himself. So the omission of the laser swords from “Deadpool and Wolverine” is perplexing at best, though not glaring enough to detract too much from an otherwise amusing moment in the film.
7. Cowboy Deadpool
Taking a break from Ryan Reynolds’ immediate family (for now), we have to give special props to the gunslingin’ Wild West variant being widely referred to as “Cowboy Deadpool.” Visually, he’s clearly inspired by the Deadpool Kid (not to be confused with Kidpool), a Western variant that first appeared alongside Lady Deadpool in “Deadpool: Merc with a Mouth,” a multiverse-hopping “Deadpool” comic from 2010. In the film, Cowboy Deadpool gets plenty of moments to shine — pushing back Deadpool and Wolverine with his dual pistols — and even has a few lines of dialogue. If he sounded familiar in the theater, that’s because this role is a voice cameo from none other than Matthew McConaughey.
At present, we don’t know how the Academy Award-winning actor got involved (likely because Reynolds and company want to preserve it as one of the film’s most shocking surprises). That said, it’s no less incredible that a Hollywood A-lister who many have wanted to see play a Marvel character for years has made his debut as such a bizarre character. For this fact — and his rootin’ tootin’ fightin’ in the scene — Cowboy Deadpool deserves the No. 7 spot on this list.
6. Headpool
At first glance, Headpool seems to just be a version of Deadpool missing the rest of his body. While that’s the bare essentials of the story, Headpool is actually tied to the vast, complicated, alternate Marvel Comics universe from “Marvel Zombies.” Originally a miniseries penned by “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman, “Zombies” follows the regular heroes and villains of the Marvel Universe as they’re infected by and/or fight against a virus known as “the hunger,” which reduces them to sentient zombies. A loose adaptation of this story was featured in the first season of the Disney+ animated series “What If…?,” and a spin-off series that won’t follow the comics is currently in development.
Headpool’s unique design and function in the battle — getting swung around by his severed spine like a grotesque mace — would be enough to place him in the top 10. What gets him this high on the list is his voice actor, Nathan Fillion, who makes his fourth MCU appearance in “Deadpool and Wolverine” after playing supporting roles in all three “Guardians of the Galaxy” films. Aside from being a beloved actor in general, Fillion’s scrappy, almost disgusting performance as Headpool makes him one of the most memorable parts of the entire movie, let alone this one sequence.
5. Nicepool
Starting off our top 5 is Nicepool, an original variant of Wade Wilson created for “Deadpool and Wolverine,” as well as the only other one played by Ryan Reynolds. Logan and Wade first encounter Nicepool in the Void, where he offers the pair his Honda Odyssey and first warns them of the dangerous Deadpool Corps. Nicepool then precedes the Corps in the final battle, presumably offering to fight on the side of the two “heroes” — not that he gets to do very much, as Wade quickly uses him as a human shield.
We can charitably assume that Wade reasons that Nicepool has a regenerative healing factor like the rest of the Deadpool variants, but this turns out not to be the case. Though he survives for a surprisingly long time as Deadpool Prime abuses him not once, but twice as a meat-barrier between him and his new enemies, he ultimately succumbs to that tragic ailment of having one’s head explode. Nicepool is survived by his dog, Dogpool, and the two golden guns Deadpool steals from his corpse.
4. Deadpool Prime
It was genuinely difficult to decide where the main Deadpool fits on this list. He has a decidedly unfair advantage, being the central character of all three films, including “Deadpool and Wolverine.” This most recent installment sees the character stepping into his own as “Marvel Jesus,” finally a superhero capable of not just solving a personal vendetta or saving a troubled teen, but preventing the destruction of his entire universe.
All that being said, perhaps our familiarity with the character is also a detriment to his efforts on our list. After all, having watched Ryan Reynolds portray almost this exact character ever since 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” the novelty of his quipping, fourth-wall-breaking, ultra-violent personality has lost almost all of its novelty. Does that mean he’s not a delight to watch even 15 years later? Not necessarily, but it does mean there are at least three other Deadpool variants that excited us more than him when they appeared.
3. Lady Deadpool
Ever since she was first “revealed” (that is, spoiled) in a trailer for the film, speculation amongst MCU fans ran rampant as to which actor could possibly be underneath the mask for Lady Deadpool. For a while, one of the prevailing theories was that the character would vindicate a strange, long-circulating rumor that Taylor Swift had an undisclosed role in “Deadpool and Wolverine,” which itself spawned a viral meme that arguably helped spread the word about the movie.
But while fans were hilariously wrong about SwiftPool, another fan theory did turn out to be true. Lady Deadpool is in fact at least voiced by Ryan Reynolds’ real-life spouse Blake Lively. The pair first got together after meeting on the set of one of Reynolds’ early superhero disasters — 2011’s “Green Lantern.” The two have been together ever since and have four children, all of whom are credited in “Deadpool and Wolverine.” Because Lady Deadpool never removes her mask, it isn’t clear whether or not Lively provided anything more than the voice.
We do know that her stunt double Christiaan Bettridge was there to handle getting her face slashed by Logan mere seconds into the battle. But as the leader of the Corps and the most prominently featured variant in the scene, she deserves a spot as one of our top 3 Deadpools.
2. Peterpool
Just when it seems as though Deadpool and Wolverine will be thwarted by the undying Deadpool Corps, Peter (Rob Delaney) appears — dressed in Wade’s old Deadpool costume, which is just a bit too tight around some key areas. Peter’s presence instantly defuses the battle, seemingly just because the rest of the Deadpools are too distracted by his awe-inspiring aura to continue fighting anymore. It’s easily a gag worthy of the No. 2 spot on this list.
Peter famously debuted in “Deadpool 2,” where he was brutally killed along with the vast majority of the X-Force thanks to surprisingly strong winds. He was revived at the end of the film, however, by Deadpool’s time traveling antics. It’s a widely held belief that Peter is a loose adaptation of the “X-Men” character Pete Wisdom — though, given that they share almost no similarities apart from a name, loose would be putting it lightly.
1. Dogpool
Last, but certainly not least, is Mary Puppins, aka Dogpool. This adorable hound is originally introduced as traveling with Nicepool throughout the Void, but later comes into Deadpool’s possession after Nicepool makes a “heroic sacrifice” (, n other words, is killed through Deadpool’s negligence). Dogpool’s aura is as strong if not stronger than Peter’s, as the Deadpool Corps refuses to fire at Wolverine out of fear of harming the puppy. She also happens to be the most adorable Deadpool on screen (sorry, Ryan).
Before she was cast as Dogpool, canine actor Peggy was “awarded” the title of Britain’s Ugliest Dog. She now has an Instagram account thanks to her work in the movie, with over 600,000 followers. But it’s how she embodies the core tenets of Deadpool — self-acceptance, self-sufficiency, and self-love — that make her the best Deadpool variant featured in “Deadpool and Wolverine,” at least in our hearts.