By any metric, Deadpool is one of Marvel’s most unpredictable characters. It’s for this reason that Wade Wilson is often paired with more stable individuals, like Cable. When Deadpool became involved with Typhoid Mary, however, even he was driven to the brink of his sanity. The Merc With the Mouth first encountered Mary Walker in 1997’s Deadpool #6, by Joe Kelly and Ed McGuinness. Wade was hired to kill an unknown patient in a mental asylum. The ensuing events saw Deadpool fight off the Vamp and Animus in order to reach his target. In the asylum, Wade met the peaceful Mary Walker, who revealed that she put the hit out on herself.
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Deadpool, feeling slightly more heroic than usual, told Mary he would break her out of the asylum, and even allow her to live if she wanted. By the time the two made it clear of the asylum, Deadpool discovered that Mary Walker was gone, replaced by her other persona, Typhoid Mary. More importantly to Deadpool, Typhoid Mary revealed she couldn’t pay him for his services. Wade decided that Mary would pay off her debt by working as a mercenary with him.
In their time together, Deadpool seemed to care for Mary, attempting to help her curb her villainous tendencies. In Daredevil/Deadpool Annual #1, by Joe Kelly and Bernard Chang, Wade even followed Mary to New York. There, Deadpool worked with Daredevil to stop Typhoid Mary’s murderous rampage. Additionally, Deadpool encouraged Mary to resolve her issues with Daredevil, expressing further his desire to help her. While Deadpool wanted to help, Typhoid Mary wasn’t very receptive to his efforts. Things fell apart in Deadpool #8, by Joe Kelly and Shannon Denton. In this issue, Typhoid Mary went on a killing spree, as she taunted Wade about trying to be a hero. Deadpool lost his temper, giving Mary a severe beating. This outburst shocked Wade, making him see that he wasn’t the hero he wanted to be.
The torment didn’t end here, however. Mary returned in Deadpool #12-13, by Joe Kelly, Shannon Denton and Pete Woods, disguised as Siryn, for whom Wade had great affection. After Deadpool slept with “Siryn,” she revealed her true identity to him, horrifying Wade. This violation was part of a larger scheme by Deadpool’s foe, T-Ray, to break Wade for good. In terms of T-Ray’s plot, this particular event was extremely traumatizing, since Siryn was part of Deadpool’s journey to becoming a hero. Realizing that he slept with Mary, Deadpool was devastated. This event led to Wade’s mental and physical beatdown by T-Ray’s hands.
It’s clear to see that Typhoid Mary was a horrendous match for Deadpool, even before that gross personal violation. Mary had an even darker, more psychotic energy than Wade did, deeply affecting his mental state. The fact that Deadpool was already struggling with his darker impulses made Mary a toxic influence on him. Moreover, releasing Mary from the asylum only deteriorated her own mental state even further. Wade was trying to play hero by helping Typhoid Mary, but it soon became apparent that he still had his own issues to work out. When someone like Mary came along to trigger Wade’s issues of mayhem and violence, Deadpool lost a lot of personal progress. Typhoid Mary’s disruptive influence illustrated why people like Siryn were more healthy for Wade to be around since he definitely needed a strong moral compass.
Deadpool was very early in his journey of personal growth, meaning he didn’t have the control or understanding necessary to help Mary. As a result, Mary’s condition seemed to worsen, as she roamed around, killing indiscriminately. Even heroes like Daredevil, who were more mentally stable than Deadpool, couldn’t truly help Mary, who needed psychiatric assistance. Considering Daredevil’s own instability, it said a lot that he was more capable of helping others than Wade. Still, Deadpool thought he could help Mary, when he really needed to help himself first. As a result, Wade underwent a deeply scarring event that impeded both his personal growth and Typhoid Mary’s recovery.
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