Deadpool was once targeted by Loki — and infected with a curse that ended up making him look like the Mission: Impossible movie star.
Deadpool’s healing factor is one of his most impressive attributes, allowing him to regenerate from almost any form of injury. However, these powers famously come at the cost of transforming his entire body and leaving his visage incredibly calloused and physically unappealing. It’s been a source of drama for the character, notably in the Deadpool films starring Ryan Reynolds.
But there was a brief storyline in the Deadpool comic series that saw Wade Wilson briefly take on a more handsome visage — and it actually made things worse for Deadpool, partly because it affected how he saw himself, and partly because it led everyone on the planet to seemingly mistake him for the Marvel Universe version of the famous MissionImpossible movie star, Tom Cruise.
Deadpool #34 by Christopher Priest, Paco Diaz, and Gus Vasquez, the Merc with a Mouth was restored to life following his demise fighting against T-Ray. Separated from Death once more, he found himself targeted by Loki, the Asgardian villain. Briefly tricking Deadpool into believing he is his father, Loki recruits him into his plans to defeat Thor — at which point, he’ll release a captive death back into the world. But Deadpool eventually betrayed Loki, leaving the furious God of Mischief to curse his “son” with a unique spell that on top of dooming him to bad luck and woe also foxed his typically scarred face and replaced it with a handsome (and impervious) one that greatly resembled the actor Tom Cruise — or, as he’s known in the Marvel Universe, Thom Cruz — until he sought forgiveness from his father.
Despite his scarred visage being a source of great personal drama for Deadpool over the years, Wade discovered to his surprise that having his face suddenly repaired actually greatly affected him. All of his efforts to damage it beyond repair were magically and suddenly reversed, to his increasing frustration. Deadpool couldn’t go out in public without his mask, as crowds of on-lookers would gather to look at (what they believed) to be the actual movie star. Feeling as if his new face was papering over who he truly was, Wade did whatever he could to wreck it. But the specifics of the spell repaired Deadpool’s face any time it suffered damage.
This corresponded with a series of minor defeats that increasingly separated him from his life, including the loss of his home when it failed to recognize his new face through its facial recognition software. Deadpool ended up briefly living with Titania and the Constrictor. Despite his best efforts, Deadpool remained with his handsome visage and becoming increasingly frustrated with the turn of events that occurred because of them. Even his new home was eventually destroyed, with Titana really being Copycat in disguise for a plan concocted by Taskmaster and the Wizard to get revenge on Deadpool for a previously failed plan. Again, Deadpool quickly blamed the curse (and his new face) for his recent string of bad luck.
But a chance encounters with an unknown man in a bar in Deadpool #45 by Priest and Jim Calafiore — whom Wade apologized to for being needlessly aggressive when they have a brief argument — results in the curse being lifted and Wade’s face being restored to its previous form. Deadpool literally sings through the streets as people react poorly to his reverted and exposed face. It’s only too late that Deadpool realizes that the specifics of the curse means the man in the bar may have been his actual father — and by the time he returns to the bar, the man has disappeared. Even in removing the curse, Loki got one last laugh over Deadpool, but Wade took the loss in stride and resumed his mercenary ways.
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