By refusing to take responsibility for her actions, Hill completely ruined Deadpool’s life.
Despite his crude demeanor and willingness to resort to extreme methods, Deadpool has always held a genuine desire to help others and gain the approval of the Marvel Universe’s other heroes. Initially introduced as a villain of the New Mutants, Deadpool gradually evolved into a more anti-heroic character as time went on, eventually culminating with Gerry Duggan’s run on the main Deadpool series, which saw Deadpool become a full-time hero and finally earn the trust and respect of the broader superhero community.
Sadly, Deadpool would ultimately lose everything that he’d worked so hard to achieve during the infamous and controversial Secret Empire crossover event, and while his downfall is partially the result of his poor judgment, it was former S.H.I.E.L.D director Maria Hill who started the series of events that led to Deadpool’s fall from grace. Maria Hill’s morally-bankrupt actions were directly responsible for Secret Empire, and Deadpool’s attempt to atone for the mistakes he made leading up to the event were exploited by the disgraced former director, who to this day has never faced justice for her actions.
During Gerry Duggan’s run on the series, Deadpool discovered that he had a long-lost daughter named Ellie, and his desire to do right by her led him to renounce his violent past and act more heroically. Impressed by his sudden change in character, Captain America invited Deadpool to join the newly-created Avengers Unity Division, a team of heroes designed to promote peaceful coexistence between humans, mutants, and Inhumans, and Deadpool’s dedication to his new role inspired even the most skeptical members of the superhero community to accept him as one of their own.
In contrast, while Deadpool was working to improve his standing with the superhero community, Maria Hill seemed bent on annihilating her already-fragile standing with it. Through the use of a sentient Cosmic Cube, which had taken on the form of a little girl named Kobik, Hill erased the memories of hundreds of supervillains before placing them in an idyllic small town named Pleasant Grove, intent on allowing them to live out the rest of their lives in ignorance of their former lives. Although Hill attempted to justify her actions by arguing that she was “rehabilitating” the villains by turning them into productive members of society, they would go on to have dire consequences for the superhero community.
After a group of villains managed to reclaim their memories and take the S.H.I.E.L.D agents running Pleasant Hills hostage, the Unity Division were called in to intervene. During the chaos that followed, Kobik, under the influence of Red Skull, replaced Captain America with a duplicate from an alternate reality that had been indoctrinated into Hydra at a young age. Blinded by his admiration for Captain America, Deadpool stood by “Hydra-Cap” as he transformed the United States into a fascist dictatorship in the lead-up to Secret Empire, going so far as to assassinate Phil Coulson when he learned too much.
Sadly, by the time Deadpool came to his senses and attempted to pass valuable information to the anti-Hydra resistance, he made the mistake of contacting Maria Hill, who trapped Deadpool within an exploding building and claimed his information for herself. By the time Deadpool clawed his way out of the rubble, the Avengers and the restored Captain America had defeated Hydra, and his friends, family, and fellow heroes all believed that he’d remained loyal to the brutal regime to the bitter end.
Because Maria Hill refused to reveal that Deadpool had betrayed Hydra, the Merc With the Mouth not only lost the trust of the entire superhero community, but he also lost his relationship with Ellie. She disowned her father after she discovered his role in the death of Phil Coulson, who had been like an uncle to her. While Deadpool did commit many crimes on Hydra-Cap’s behalf, it was Hill’s complete disregard for the rights of S.H.I.E.L.D’s supervillain prisoners that allowed Hydra-Cap to even come into existence. By refusing to take responsibility for her actions, Hill completely ruined Deadpool’s life, while she was free to deny her involvement in any of what transpired after the fall of Pleasant Hill. To make matters worse, Hill’s deception has gone undiscovered to this very day, meaning that Deadpool may always be viewed as a Hydra sympathizer, despite having risked both his life and his daughter’s life to destroy the tyranny that he’d helped create.
Since Secret Empire, Deadpool has returned to his original role as a distrusted anti-hero, while Maria Hill has managed to reclaim a position within the intelligence community and put her past misdeeds behind her. Sadly, with Deadpool having erased his memory of the entire “Duggan-era”, Maria Hill’s treachery and cowardice may never be discovered, and he may never again find acceptance within the superhero community.
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