GWENPOOL: Page 2 of 6

Publication Date: 27th Aug 2020
Written By: Monolith.
Image Work: Douglas Mangum.
Biography

BIOGRAPHY page 2

Gwenpool and Cecil were living it up in a swanky hotel after collecting their bounty when it was blown open by a giant mechanical spider. It turned out the mercenary Gwenpool killed was a member of M.O.D.O.K., the Mercenary Organization Dedicated Only to Killing, owned and operated by its founder, M.O.D.O.K., the Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing. M.O.D.O.K. was not happy that M.O.D.O.K. lost the payout and their top killer. Intent on making the best of the situation, M.O.D.O.K. insisted Gwenpool join M.O.D.O.K. in place of the man she killed, under penalty of death. Gwen thought it was hilarious that she was being threatened by the "tiny legs, big head" guy from her comics, and laughed at M.O.D.O.K.'s request. So M.O.D.O.K. incinerated Cecil right in front of Gwen, leaving only his charred skull behind. Shocked and confronted with real consequences for the first time since coming to the Marvel Universe, Gwenpool meekly agreed to serve M.O.D.O.K. As part of M.O.D.O.K. [Unbelievable Gwenpool #1]

Gwen soon discovered that all the top agents of M.O.D.O.K. were serving M.O.D.O.K. only under penalty of death. She met the veteran professional Batroc the Leaper, a witch known as the Terrible Eye and Mega Tony, a biological science expert. Gwen had to smirk at how they fit the mold of the classic adventuring party: the thief, the magic user and the healer... until she realized she was expected to be the tank, since she killed their last one. Gwenpool privately vowed to kill M.O.D.O.K. for killing Cecil, but openly she just suggested that M.O.D.O.K. being a mercenary violated M.O.D.O.K. continuity. M.O.D.O.K. merely shrugged off her complaints and sent M.O.D.O.K. on their next mission.

The team was hired to kill the Seed of Pains, a black druid in police custody. They unexpectedly encountered the female Thor, who needed the Seed's expertise to save an Elven colony. Gwenpool's comrades were hopelessly outmatched against the Goddess of Thunder until Gwen remembered the character Natalie Portman played in the Thor movie and shouted out Jane Foster's real name in the fight. This distracted Jane long enough for Gwen to kill the Seed of Pains with a rocket launcher. Mega Tony made peace with Thor by extracting some of the Seed's essence to accomplish what she needed for the Elves. Back at the giant spider, though, Batroc confronted Gwenpool. He had seen her in battle and recognized she had no super powers or even combat training. And he was going to tell on her. [Unbelievable Gwenpool #2]

Gwen panicked and told Batroc the truth, that she was from the "real world" and they were all fictional characters that she had read about in comic books. Gwen demonstrated that Batroc remembered very little about his early life, because not much had been written in her comics about his backstory. She showed enough unusual knowledge that Batroc decided there was something to her claims, and agreed not to rat her out to M.O.D.O.K. Yet. Instead he would offer her some combat training (so long as she avoided any Leaper jokes). With some coaching from Batroc, Gwenpool actually proved to be a natural with firearms.

Meanwhile, Ronnie came through for Gwen and arranged a consultation with Doctor Strange. Gwen explained her "immigration problems" to the Sorcerer Supreme and he worked a spell to transplant the essence of her birth and all its consequences onto the Marvel Universe, creating a backstory that would support her existence in this new dimension. Gwen also asked for a second favor: a way to talk to her friend, Cecil. Gwen had been carrying around his skull since M.O.D.O.K. killed him. Doctor Strange recognized that the death of a young man in particularly unfair circumstances gave him to the option to return as a ghost. He enchanted the skull for Gwen to use. Unfortunately for Gwen, Doctor Strange's machinations created a paper trail for M.O.D.O.K. to confirm Gwen Poole was a completely ordinary individual, with no place among his mercenaries. [Unbelievable Gwenpool #3]

When M.O.D.O.K. the team left on their next assignment, M.O.D.O.K. the "big head, little legs" guy had Gwenpool remain behind. He confronted her about her lack of power and learned his top agent had died out of sheer luck on her part. M.O.D.O.K. tried to incinerate Gwen, but she had used the money from her merc work to prepare for M.O.D.O.K. betraying her, buying a force field generator as well as other tech to defend herself. Gwenpool and Batroc had also been training, and she used the master of savate's first two lessons ("sweep the leg" and "fight dirty") to blow up the mechanical spider legs M.O.D.O.K. used to support his massive bulk. When M.O.D.O.K. revealed he still had his rocket chair attachment, however, it looked like Gwen was done for. She cracked Cecil's skull as Doctor Strange had instructed her and summoned his spirit back to this plane. Remembering M.O.D.O.K. was responsible for killing him, Cecil used his new "ghost-hacking" powers to override M.O.D.O.K.'s chair and send him into orbit. [Unbelievable Gwenpool #4]

Gwenpool felt completely redeemed by what happened. No longer a bad guy, henchman or casualty, she believed this sequence of events was merely the "heroic journey" of her first story arc, probably a sign that her book hadn't been cancelled prematurely and her adventures would continue. Batroc suggested that M.O.D.O.K. should remain together and continue supporting each other on mercenary endeavors, giving Gwen a reliable supporting cast. M.O.D.O.K. (the group) was contacted by the mysterious benefactor who gave M.O.D.O.K. (the dude) missions for M.O.D.O.K. (the group again) to carry out. He insisted on a face-to-face with a representative of M.O.D.O.K. (still the group) to keep their business relationship intact.

Gwen adopted civilian clothes to go visit the benefactor at his lair in Brooklyn, but found herself riding the same subway train as Miles Morales. Unable to stop herself from telling Miles she knew he was Spider-Man, she stopped short of saying he was her favorite comic book character. Totally distracted by hanging out with Miles Morales, Gwen got involved when a bomb went off at Miles' school. She remembered a shady student from Miles' comic before Secret Wars happened, and worked out that the only reason that character would have been transferred over from the Ultimate Universe would be because Miles' writer wanted to continue that subplot. More-or-less explaining her knowledge to Spider-Man, they went to the student's house to confront him. Gwenpool shocked Miles when she tried to shoot the kid instead of capturing him. Gwen was so caught up in being an anti-hero in a fictional world, she didn't consider how her actions would be received by someone of Miles' moral character. Instead, Gwenpool ended up webbed to a lamppost by Miles. He was so disgusted with her, he was even willing to risk her revealing his secret identity to everyone if it meant an attempted murderer like her was locked up. Gwen was freed from custody by M.O.D.O.K. (look, it's just the group for the foreseeable future, okay?), but she had failed her responsibilities to her team and made an enemy of her idol. The reality of her fantasy world was becoming hard to bear. [Unbelievable Gwenpool #5-6]