Thanks to a lifetime of violence, Deadpool has been through some disturbing moments, but the worst of them had to be when he killed his own parents. It wasn't even something he did of his own volition. Well, at least not with all the information at hand. At the time, Deadpool was under the mental manipulation of The Butler, a villain who was controlling Deadpool to gain access to his blood for his own nefarious purposes. And in order to test out the full extent of his control over the Merc with a Mouth, Butler had Deadpool murder his own parents.
The Butler, or Bartol Utler, first debuted in Deadpool #14, by Brian Posehn, Gerry Duggan and Scott Koblish. He was a part of the Weapon Plus Program, the same group that created Deadpool. The Butler's sister was diagnosed with cancer and when the Butler learned that Deadpool had been cured of his cancer he began harassing him, sending strike teams to drug him and extract tissue samples so the Butler could experiment with his DNA. This eventually culminated in the Butler directly approaching Wade and repeatedly dosing him with mindwipe drugs, causing his memory issues.
While in this state, Deadpool was highly suggestible being sent out on missions by the Butler occasionally, but his captor wanted to ensure that the effects of the drug-induced compliance were truly efficient. To that end, he had Sabretooth escort Deadpool to Canada to kill his own parents. Deadpool wasn't even aware who he was truly killing, only believing it was a job he had to do. Their initial attempt went poorly due to the intervention of Alpha Flight, but eventually, Deadpool broke into his childhood home.
Even in his addled state of mind, some subconscious part of Deadpool recognized the house. He remembered things like where the second key that was hidden outside, he checked his childhood bedroom, finding a tattered old baseball glove beneath the bed. All the while though, he laid the foundations for his own family's death. He set up several incendiaries before checking to make sure the couple was still asleep. Then he set the house on fire and walked away, completely dismissing it like it was nothing. It was simultaneously one of the most disturbing and tragic moments of Deadpool's life and he wasn't even aware enough to understand what he had just done. Or, what he had just lost.
Deadpool eventually broke away from Butler's control, but the aftermath of the long-term drug dosages was the cause for his memory malfunctions and Deadpool would spend years not remembering what he did that night. Eventually, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents became aware of what Deadpool had done but decided not to tell him, believing that not remembering was better than living with that guilt, even if it wasn't his fault. Ultimately, the Butler's work and orders damaged Wade's mind even further past the point of no return. He would always be that crazy, hyperactive assassin, but at least he might have had a consistent memory to remember better times. And yet the damage the Butler did might also have been a mercy, one sparing him a pain greater than perhaps any Deadpool has ever felt before.
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