Who is Deadpool? 5 things to know about the Merc with a Mouth

So there you have it, a basic what to know before watching Deadpool this weekend. Hopefully this helps some of you trying to take your significant other, who may not be too familiar with some of Marvel's other heroes, to see Deadpool on Valentine's Day. The Marvel anti-hero has a lot to live up to, but judging from the reviews, Ryan Reynolds seems to deliver.

In fact, just recently we discovered that the studio is banking on such a hit, Fox has already greenlit a sequel. T.J. Miller and Ryan Reynolds teased about a sequel, but no one thought it would be this soon. Also, be sure to stick around for the two post-credits sequences.

Deadpool opens in theaters on February 12th, making it the perfect Valentine's Day date movie.

Deadpool Villains

Let's just say Deadpool has a lot of dudes (and gals) that hate him. Sometimes he's duking it out with Cable, sometimes he's fighting our 16th President, Abraham Lincoln. But to narrow it down, we're just going to focus on the film's bad guys that we already know.

As much advertisement as the film's getting, the studio managed to do a great job of keeping the villains tucked away.  It's the worst when a movie spoils half the movie with a 2-minute trailer, don't you agree? I'm looking at you, Batman v. Superman.

The movie's main villains are Ajax and Dr. Killbrew, the two responsible for almost killing Deadpool in the Weapon X Project. In the comics, Ajax is Dr. Killbrew's "strongarm", a guy that jumps when Killbrew says to. When Wade Wilson underwent the Weapon X Project he was placed with a group of patients to see who would last the longest before dying.

After endless amounts of  taunting from Wilson, Ajax was given permission by Killebrew to kill him. Francis orchestrated events so that Wilson would perform a mercy killing on another inmate, which was against the rules; the inmate Deadpool was to kill was one to whom he had grown particularly close.

After Ajax removed Wilson's heart, his healing factor manifested itself for the first time by regenerating a new heart for the mercenary. However, this event cost Wade Wilson his mental stability.

Of course there will be some changes in the film. Heck, we might not even see Ajax ripping out Deadpool's heart, but this event causes Deadpool to seek revenge on the men who almost killed him.

Side Characters that will appear in Deadpool

There's plenty of characters in Deadpool, like Carylse, Weasel, and the giant armor-skinned Colossus. Each of these characters are important to Deadpool lore, so here's some quick facts about each one.

Weasel:

Weasel, who is played by T.J. Miller, is Wade Wilsons' best friend, sidekick, and go to guy when it comes to weapons. He provides all sorts of guns for the merc and he is also the guy who created his teleportation device. The chemistry between Wade and Weasel is sometimes not the friendliest due to Deadpool's frequent mood swings.

Colossus:

Colossus, whom we've briefly seen in the trailers, is voiced and partly motion-captured by 37-year-old Serbian actor Stefan Kapicic. Although probably not a household name, the actor has appeared in some pretty popular shows, including 24 and The Event.

Speaking to EW, Kapicic explained the process that went into portraying Colossus, including how he honored the character's Russian heritage and why director Tim Miller actually used two different actors to play the part, click here to read the full interview.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead:

Brianna Hildebrand plays as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, whose real name is Ellie. She was a telepath with the ability of precognitive powers. We recently got our first look at how the character will fight in the recent 2 girls 1 punch trailer, which you could check out right here.

Deadpool's Love Life

Deadpool has a couple love interests in the comics, from Typhoid to Death (no not a character named Death, the actual meaning of the word). But we probably won't see these two in the upcoming movie; however, we will see Deadpool's main lover — Vannessa Carlysle, who will be played by Morena Baccarin.

Comic book show watchers will be quite familiar with Baccarin as she plays roles in both DC's Gotham as Dr. Leslie Thompkins and in The Flash as the voice of Gideon. But instead of playing a side character, Baccarin is now faced with starring as the main love interest for Wade Wilson, while also preparing herself for becoming the comic book character — Copycat.

Carysle was a prostitute before meeting Wade, and after finding out about Wilson's terminal cancer, she and Wilson called it quits. This led Carysle to become a mercenary and join the Weapon X project which also gave her super powers. Her alter-ego, Copycat has the ability similar to X-Men's villain Mystique. However, she takes the power one step further; instead of just shapeshifting into another person, she can duplicate another being down to the cellular level. Because of this, she is able to replicate superhuman powers, abilities, and even mental imprints so closely that telepaths have trouble identifying her. She could transform into someone just by a description, but she won't is able to use their powers unless she makes physical contact with them.

Morena Baccarin recently had an interview with US Magazine, which led her to talk about her experience working with Ryan Reynolds.

"This guy works so, so hard, and is so smart about the choices that he’s making. It was a total joy. I know I’m just, like, spouting out really wonderful things, but it was just the best movie experience I’ve had. It was so intoxicating being around him."

She even went on to talk about how much Wade and Carysle love each other and the preparation of the films sex scenes.

"It’s too bad he’s so ugly, I mean, it was really hard to think about kissing that face,” the actress joked. “We talked really extensively about [the sex scenes] with the director. It was important to us that we were portraying the time lapse in this relationship: them falling in love, the bizarre and strange ways in which this particular couple would copulate. It was about the creative aspect of it all.”

"They have such an intense connection, and they really, truly are in love, they love the s–t out of each other."

Deadpool's Origin

The official synopsis for the Deadpool movie is as reads: "A former Special Forces operative turned mercenary is subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopting the alter-ego Deadpool."

Naturally since this is really the first time Deadpool is on the big screen, (disregard the Deadpool from Wolverine: Origins, it was a disaster) we will be getting an origin story.

Without going into very specific detail, Wade Wilson was diagnosed with incurable cancer that had him facing one outcome — death. That is until he found out the Weapon-X project, the same project that gave Wolverine his powers. Weapon X managed to cure cancer of Wade's body, but it came with a price; he was left with scars all over his body. However, one could argue that the powers he did obtain outweighed the hideous scars.

The main power Deadpool possesses is his healing factor which will heal any wound and restore him back to normal. Literally, Deadpool could get shot, decapitated, or have his heart ripped out from his chest and still be fine. The healing factors that Weapon X gave him are both a blessing and a curse, but we won't get into that now.

Creators of Deadpool

Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza are the two original creators of Deadpool. His first appearance took place in New Mutants #98. The series focused on Deadpool being an assassin, his hit list consisting of huge characters like Cable, Hulk, and eventually the big baddie Thanos.

You might notice some things familiar between Marvel's anti-hero Deadpool and DC's villain Deathstroke. They wield similar weapons, don similar outfits and go by almost identical names — Wade Wilson as Deadpool & Slade Wilson as Deathstroke.

This was no accident. Turns out, Rob Liefeld was a fan of Deathstroke and when creating his own original character, some similarities might have stuck.

Despite the similarities, their personalities couldn't be more different, however. Deathstroke is smart and tactical. He's also a villain. Deadpool is mentally unstable, wisecracking, and somewhat a hero.

Following a record-breaking preview night, Deadpool officially hits theaters today. But the Merc with a Mouth has been making waves in the media for quite a while now. From his Superbowl appearance, to helping raise Testicular Cancer Awareness, to managing to get himself banned from China, the iconic anti-hero has been hogging the spotlight with his crazy fourth-wall breaking comments and his unlike superhero jokes.

He's kind of an outcast character from the rest of the heroes based in the Marvel universe, but at the same time, the same. He's quick-witted like the web-head Spider-Man, yet instead of bringing you to the police for justice, he will just shoot you dead. Instead of going through an impossible task, he would look to the viewer and clarify that this is all made up. These are the things that make Deadpool so unique and funny.

But there's more to Deadpool than his charm, story, and design that meets the eye. Regardless if you're a Deadpool enthusiast or a newcomer to the hero, here's the 'need to know' stuff about the character before seeing his movie this weekend.