BIOGRAPHY - page 14
Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, the Red Hulk, approached Deadpool to join a handpicked squad 
and help him overthrow a corrupt regime in the island nation of Kata Jaya. Deadpool joined Punisher, Elektra, Agent Venom and Ross's uneasy allies, Red Leader and Mercy, in infiltrating the island to support their rebel forces. Deadpool enjoyed the job at first, and thought he had made a connection with Elektra. A sexy connection. Elektra began casually sleeping with the Punisher instead, however, causing friction between them. Deadpool and Punisher, I mean, not... [Thunderbolts (2nd series) #1-6] Ross's "evil dictator" had actually been put into power by the CIA in exchange for housing a gamma particle accelerator on the island for the United States. While chasing down the gamma tech, Deadpool's jealousy got the better of him and he tried to kill Punisher on a stakeout. Instead, Elektra shot him through the head from her sniper's perch. Wade seemed to get the message after that, and made no further moves on Elektra or moves against Punisher. [Thunderbolts (2nd series) #7-11]
When the Thunderbolts learned Red Hulk's missions were actually for cleaning up his own old messes, they demanded a quid pro quo. Ross agreed, and the team became a mission-sharing cooperative. After each successful mission for Red Hulk, the team drew names out of a hat and whoever won got to set the next mission objective, accomplishing something the individual T-Bolt couldn't accomplish alone. Deadpool continued to operate with the team for companionship, even though his name was never pulled, and he proved surprisingly effective on many of their missions due to constantly being underestimated by his teammates and opponents. [Thunderbolts (2nd series) #14-26]
Deadpool continued to perform random acts of heroism and mercenary work until a bizarre encounter with a zombie Franklin D. Roosevelt in Manhattan. His success brought him to the attention of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Emily Preston and Scott Adsit. A rogue necromancer (named 
Michael) had foolishly cast a spell to revive the dead Presidents of the United States to make America great again. But the souls of those men were twisted in the return from the grave, encouraging them to destroy the country first before rebuilding it. Agent Preston's supervisor, Gorman, refused to let her create a Public Relations nightmare by sending S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, Captain America or other heroes to beat up the revived Presidents. Preston saw Deadpool's practical skills and existing bad reputation to be equal selling points. She offered him several million dollars to eliminate the zombie Presidents without indicting S.H.I.E.L.D. or causing civilian casualties. Deadpool was just happy to be wanted, and took the job. [Deadpool (4th series) #1]
Over the next several days, Deadpool, Preston and Adsit chased Zombie President activity across the country. They were aided by the ghost of Benjamin Franklin (who had to frequently remind 
Deadpool he was NEVER President) and Doctor Strange, who helped trace Michael's necromantic energies. Deadpool proved highly successful -- although he hardly kept a low profile, the attention from the President-murderin' was drawn to him and not to S.H.I.E.L.D. This was especially fortunate, since Preston uncovered Michael was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent himself, previously supervised by Gorman in a psi-weapons program. [Deadpool (4th series) #2-4]
Despite his antics, his mouth, his smell, where was I going with this...? Oh, anyway, Preston found herself warming up to Deadpool. He was helping her fix a seriously bad situation and saving innocent lives in the process. She sincerely thanked him for all his help during one of their down 
time sessions between missions. So it all went to hell when George Washington got a hold of the Necromancer's tome and teleported into the Helicarrier. He snapped Preston's neck before Wade could do anything about it, then slit Deadpool's throat with his own swords. Michael was forced to teleport away with the bodies of his dying friends. [Deadpool (4th series) #5]
Time to get serious. Wade and Adsit led the forces of S.H.I.E.L.D. to the great lawn in Washington D.C. in battle with Zombie Washington's army of the undead. With great personal effort, Deadpool defeated Washington and sent the last of the zombies back to the afterlife. Ever the hard-luck hero, however, Deadpool received little acclaim or respect from the Avengers when they arrived to mop up the mess. Worse, Agent Gorman decided he wasn't bound by the late Preston's contract with Deadpool and refused to pay Wade for his work. Deadpool swore to get even with Gorman, but had more pressing problems at the moment. Michael the Necromancer admitted he tried to save Agent Preston, but only succeeded in moving her soul into cohabitating Deadpool's body. Wade now had another voice in his head. [Deadpool (4th series) #6]
Wade and Preston struggled to deal with their new circumstances, as Preston wanted her family to know she was dead, but not gone. They had other problems to attend to, however. Michael received the power necessary to resurrect the Presidents from Deadpool's old foe, the demon Vetis. His stunt was so popular in Hell that Mephisto paroled Vetis from eternal torment. Vetis intended to claim Michael's soul as per their arrangement, but offered Deadpool a side deal instead. If Deadpool killed the other people Vetis made deals with, he would spare Michael. Vetis had a plan to overthrow Mephisto and, instead of claiming souls, he had been stockpiling spiritual energy in his victims in order to retrieve it later. When his contracted victims died, Vetis could absorb their power. Deadpool knew the demon was lying about sparing them, but he agreed to the arrangement in order to stall for time.
As he started killing his way through Vetis' list, Deadpool felt he needed to do something unexpected to thwart Vetis' inevitable double-cross. Wade decided that if HE killed Michael, that would put Michael in Mephisto's realm where he could potentially make a deal against Vetis. Michael was not on board with the plan to die and go to Hell, but Deadpool killed him anyway, despite his pleading. Michael was able to impress Mephisto with his gumption and he returned from Hell with the power to free the souls that were feeding Vetis’ power, turning the demon back over to Mephisto. Although he recognized that sending him to Hell ultimately freed his soul from the bargain he made, Michael still understandably wanted some space from Deadpool after that. [Deadpool (4th series) #8-12]
Meanwhile, Deadpool had also become aware of Butler's organization again. For years since they broke regular contact, Butler had kept tabs on Deadpool. His people would ambush Deadpool and act like street surgeons, removing blood and organs necessary to keep Butler's experiments and research going. A dose of Tabula Rasa would leave Deadpool unable to remember the encounters, allowing them to repeat the same ambush pattern over and over. Preston's spiritual presence was unaffected by the drug, however, and she helped Wade remember an ambush that occurred after she took up residence. When a second assault happened, Wade and Preston were ready for the attackers. Deadpool took one of them alive and learned (again) that a man named Butler had been harvesting him like this for years. [Deadpool (4th series) #8-9, 14]
Although his memory was rocky, Wade subliminally recognized this situation was connected to the Weapon Plus Program. Deadpool swallowed his pride and reached out to other super-soldiers like 
Captain America and Wolverine for help. Unfortunately for Wade, his reputation meant they weren't willing to take him seriously. Logan and Cap laughed off his concerns and suggested Wade's paranoia alone was responsible for his problems. After being shot down, Deadpool holed up in an abandoned house for the night. Butler's people assaulted him while he was sleeping, bringing him back into the organization without a fight. [Deadpool (4th series) #15]
Deadpool awakened in Butler's facility and fought his way out of an experimental tank. He came face to face with Butler for the first time in years and learned the extent of what was being done with his body. Wade was in North Korea, where the regime was paying Butler to create super-soldiers for them. The powers of the All-New, All-Different X-Men were genetically imprinted on unwilling test subjects, and organ transplants harvested from Deadpool gave the subjects the regenerative qualities necessary to survive the process and not reject the foreign genetic material. Unfortunately, it also scarred their skin like Wade's and left them in a state of horrible agony. These men and women were being held in a concentration camp while Butler refined his work on them. While Wade was processing this, Butler got the drop on him by revealing they had Carmelita Camacho and Wade's daughter. He shot Deadpool in the head before he could react.
Wade retreated into himself after that as Butler had him recaptured and strung up. It was days before Preston convinced him to speak to her again. Wade was numb from the idea of having gotten Carm and his innocent daughter into this mess, and had basically given up. When the 
North Korean version of Nightcrawler teleported in to find Deadpool, Preston had to do the talking. Kim and his fellow test subjects were planning an escape. However, their families were being held by the army in a separate location, which they needed to locate and secure before they made their move. Preston did the driving for Wade's body as he sulked, coaxing him out of his funk by pointing out Carmelita and Eleanor would likely be held with the test subjects' families as well. They infiltrated a heavily guarded barn on the perimeter, and surprisingly found Wolverine and Captain America held in stasis inside. [Deadpool (4th series) #16]
Wade thawed Logan and Cap out of cold storage and filled them in on the situation. It seemed Butler monitored Deadpool's meetings with the two and snatched them up to avoid taking any chances. Wade lambasted the duo for not believed his concerns, and they made plans to take down the camp. With the help of Kim and the ersatz X-Men, they overcame and liberated the camp before any alarms could be sent out alerting the second camp of the insurrection. However, Butler and his North Korean army liaison had already left by helicopter for that camp. [Deadpool (4th series) #17]
Deadpool, Wolverine, Captain America and their allies ran several miles through the countryside to reach the second camp. In order to infiltrate it, they arranged for the North Korean "Cyclops" to wear Deadpool's mask and present himself for capture. The surprise optic blasts created the distraction necessary for Wade and the others to breach the perimeter. An order was given to execute all the prisoners, and Captain America intervened before a flamethrower could be taken to those working in the mines. Deadpool spotted Butler, but was unable to catch him before he locked himself in a high-tech panic bunker. With Butler secure for the time being, Logan pulled Wade back into the fight.
The liberation of the camp was completed, and Kim and his friends prepared to flee North Korea with their families. Kim was reunited with his beloved Mei as the prisoners emerged, and Deadpool started to plan what he would say to Carmelita and Eleanor when they arrived. But the 
mood in the camp was shifting. Word spread that not all the prisoners were at the mines when Captain America intervened. Some were being held elsewhere when the kill order was given. The ersatz Colossus was mourning his loss. And when the wind shifted, Wolverine smelled what they hadn't seen yet. Wade ran in the direction Logan indicated before they could stop him. He found the hole, and the bodies stacked inside where the guards left them. And he found Carmelita. She had been holding someone's hand, but the bodies shifted when he jumped in and he couldn't find Eleanor and Preston was yelling inside his head and Logan and Cap were trying to console him and Wade just couldn't escape one shining thought in his mind: They died because they knew him. [Deadpool (4th series) #18]
No more jokes now.
Butler. Butler was still inside his bunker, waiting out time in hopes that the North Korea army would retake the camp. While Captain America held off the army, Wolverine attempted to find an alternate route into the bunker besides the front door. With them occupied, Deadpool spoke to Butler through the security set-up, convincing him to let Wade through the first door so they could talk. Butler remained safe behind the second security door, inside a panic room with his sister. Butler's sister was apparently the reason he did everything to Wade. The super-soldiers were just a side project to pay for his sister's treatment, as Butler tried to cure her from her terminal condition using Wade's regenerative powers.
Deadpool quizzed Butler about his conflicting memories, trying to determine what was real and what was a simulation. Butler confessed he honestly didn't know; other scientists were 
responsible for the Tabula Rasa and deep-consciousness implants. He simply didn't care about that aspect of the work. He did explain how they picked up Carmelita and Eleanor as an insurance policy after Deadpool stopped cooperating with the harvesting procedures.
While they talked, Deadpool focused on Butler's sister, supposedly asleep in her hospital bed. He spotted her eyes moving underneath her lids, tracking Butler's voice around the room, and reasoned out she was an unwilling participant in her treatment as well. Deadpool subtly addressed her in the conversation with Butler, encouraging the woman to let him inside to end both their suffering. She opened the panic room door, allowing Wade to get his hands on Butler. He snapped the man's neck as Butler begged for his life. Butler's sister admitted she didn't even know if he 
was her brother, as Butler's treatments left her mind as foggy as Wade's. She just wanted her suffering to end. When Wolverine returned after having rigged the facility to explode, the woman chose to remain behind. Wade insisted Logan respect her wishes, and they met up with Captain America outside before blowing the camp to kingdom come.
In the aftermath, Wade found a new brotherhood bonding him to Steve and Logan. Each man had lost children of their own recently, and were willing to help Wade shoulder the burden he was facing. They all parted as friends with a sincere promise to meet soon and share their pain. Preston had insisted Wade collect samples from Butler's body as evidence. She intended to open a full S.H.I.E.L.D. investigation into his insidious work when she had her own body again, including finding out what happened to Eleanor. Deadpool agreed, but only if she left him out of it. He felt Ellie's life had already been tainted too much by his presence and, if she were alive, she was better off without him. [Deadpool (4th series) #19]
[Note: This remains the most recent version of Deadpool's past. It identifies his memory problems as a consequence of Tabula Rasa, not his regenerative cells, and confirms the existence of conflicting memory implants like the Weapon X Program did to Wolverine. Deadpool's conversation with Butler specifically called out his history with T-Ray and origin from Cable & Deadpool #19 as probable memory implants.]