The King in Black Just Handed Deadpool His Most Disgusting Defeat
Warning: contains spoilers for Savage Avengers #19!
Although he scored an early victory against the King in Black's forces, Deadpool was just handed one of his most disfiguring defeats ever by the symbiote god. Having already helped his new buddy Conan the Barbarian escape jail, the situation only escalates when they run into the X-Men, who hire Deadpool's makeshift crew to help rescue two of their teammates from Knull's control. What starts out as a simple rescue mission becomes another installment of Deadpool's endless pain and suffering, specifically with how his healing factor allows him to sacrifice much more than others for the good of the team or the mission.
While Earth and its cities are invaded by Knull and his symbiote army, Conan the Barbarian's night out ends with him in jail, where he befriends fellow inmate Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool. Conan's quick thinking and brutality allows Deadpool to make a memorably gruesome escape, freeing them and fellow criminal Night Flyer. Navigating through the symbiote-infested New York, the three fugitives find solitude in the mansion that was the former base of the infamous Hellfire Club. Their stay and plundering is interrupted by the members of the X-Men's Marauders team, who arrive courtesy of a Krakoan portal and immediately attack their unexpected squatters.
In Savage Avengers #19 by Gerry Duggan and Kev Walker, the battle ends on a surprising note with the X-Men agreeing to hire all three of the criminals to help assist their mission to rescue Cyclops and Storm, who've been corrupted by the King in Black. Despite a well-coordinated attack on the symbiote's base at the Empire State Building, things take a turn for the worst, especially for Deadpool. He is electrocuted by lightning bolts courtesy of Storm, blasted off the building by Cyclops' eye beams, and despite Conan's efforts, he falls all the way to the ground. His teammates come to (literally) pick up the pieces, noting that Deadpool is in bad shape, even for someone whose complexion is pretty staggering even on his best day.
Although this unlikely team-up is sure to be brief, especially considering Deadpool's intention to crash the X-Men's Hellfire Gala, this doomed mission continues the theme of exploring how much punishment Deadpool can take and keep going. His Weapon X comrade Wolverine's healing factor works the same way, and Logan has admitted that the emotional and psychological toll can sometimes be unbearable. Having been literally shoved through prison bars to escape and used as a human shield by Conan earlier, Deadpool's trademark swords are used as conducting rods by Storm and he's the cruel target of Cyclops to be an example for the other X-Men. Although Conan tries to help save Wade, he ends up saving Callisto instead, promising to make it up to Deadpool as he takes a fall that leaves him in pieces.
Deadpool takes being burned, blasted, and dismembered with characteristic good humor, but he's left in terrible shape, and with the familiar experience of being the person no-one is worried about saving. Deadpool is later seen drinking with the other heroes, having hilariously chosen one of Emma Frost's old outfits because he didn't pack a spare costume. Honoring his long history with the Merc with a Mouth, writer Gerry Duggan puts Deadpool through the wringer, showing that he often suffers more than others and typically gets no credit. Hopefully, after having taken such extreme punishment, there'll be no third round between Deadpool and the forces of the King in Black.