Claim: Deadpool was initially depicted as a character.

Deadpool -LRB- Wade Winston Wilson -RRB- is a fictional antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics . Created by artist/writer Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza , the character first appeared in The New Mutants # 98 -LRB- cover-dated February 1991 -RRB- . Initially Deadpool was depicted as a supervillain when he made his first appearance in The New Mutants and later in issues of X-Force , but later evolved into his more recognizable antiheroic persona . Deadpool , whose real name is Wade Wilson , is a disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary with the superhuman ability of an accelerated healing factor and physical prowess . The character is known as the `` Merc with a Mouth '' because of his talkative nature and tendency to break the fourth wall , which is used by writers for humorous effect and running gags .   The character 's popularity has seen him feature in numerous other media . In the 2004 series Cable & Deadpool , he refers to his own scarred appearance as `` Ryan Reynolds crossed with a Shar Pei '' . Reynolds himself would eventually portray the character in the 2009 film X-Men Origins : Wolverine and reprised the role in the 2016 film Deadpool .