Better Revenge Through Blackmail

Stryfe expects Deadpool to kill four people for him. One was Cable, and Wade found a loophole of sorts by killing a Cable who was at the end of the line anyway, rather than the younger, shoulder pads and big firearms Cable we all know and, well, not love, but, tolerate? Politely ignore?

The second target was Irene Merryweather, a reporter who was Cable's Chief of Staff during the time he had a floating island operating as an open nation. Wade stabbed her in the heart. The third target is Evan Sabahnur, who might become Apocalypse. Wade thinks he has a workaround for that one. We'll see.

Considering that Irene is someone Wade would probably consider a friend (it's questionable if she'd agree), and Evan is someone Wade cares about a lot, I've been thinking Stryfe is picking these targets to fuck with Wade. Not Cable, mind you. He wanted Cable dead because Cable always gets in his way, plus the usual existential bullcrap that goes down between a clone and the original he's cloned from*.

Wade fulfilled the letter of that request, if not the spirit, and Stryfe, somewhat surprisingly let it go at that. Well, he threw Wade out of his zeppelin HQ, but he didn't immediately go try and kill Wade's daughter, which is a restrained response by Stryfe's standards.

But maybe Cable was the only one he ever really wanted dead. Once he has the heart, and once he's seemingly accepted Deadpool won't kill the Cable he actually wanted dead, did he have any other goals in mind? If Wade succeeds, that's it, Cable's dead. What's accomplished at that point by killing an old acquaintance or a possible future for? If the answer is "nothing," why not make Deadpool, who did try to betray Stryfe, suffer by killing people he cares about? Their deaths wouldn't mean anything to Stryfe other than they hurt Wade (and killing Irene would also probably hurt Cable).

Because I'm not sure of the end goal otherwise. Irene did work closely with Cable for a time, but I don't think she's shown up in any of his other various attempts at ongoing series since he left Cable/Deadpool. Unless Cable goes back to trying to change the future by showing people how to make the present better, their lives are on different trajectories now. He seems to be back to running around with guns shooting people in the face, which she may report on, but they aren't likely to be hanging out much.

Killing Evan would prevent him from becoming Apocalypse, which would stop him from standing between Stryfe and any world-conquering goals he has, but eliminates someone who might, if you're lucky, kill Cable. If Evan's gone, would there be another kid down the line who might become Apocalypse? Although if that was the case, maybe Stryfe wants Evan gone because Wade and the X-Men have actually succeeded, and the kid was never going to become Apocalypse. Stryfe wants that bastard around, so Evan has to go.

Gerry Duggan's been gradually isolating Wade. His team of mercs are gone. He's off the Avengers. His daughter and her foster family hate his guts. His wife ran off with friggin' Dracula. The public hates him, SHIELD's after him, he and Rogue are about to have an ugly falling out, so that probably blows any credit he had with the X-Men.

But one of the things about Deadpool, with his constant cycle of putting together some kind of life for himself, then blowing it to hell, is he's accumulated a surprisingly large circle of friends who seem to stick by him. They may not show up for years, but they're around, going back to Weasel and Blind Al. Bob's one. Sandi, Outlaw, and Agent X, to varying degrees. Taskmaster on a good day. Duggan added several as well, but has been peeling them off a little at a time. Ben Franklin moved on to the next plane, Mike the Necromancer died. Wade shut Preston's brain down, and has her stuffed in a crate in his crappy hideout. And now Duggan's going after characters from those earlier runs. Rick Remender brought in Evan during his time on Uncanny X-Force. Cable and Irene Merryweather became friends with Wade during Nicieza's Cable/Deadpool.

I'm not citing that as a complaint. Sure, I'm not a fan of how he wrote Cable and Deadpool, but Duggan at least seems to have a plan here. There's a goal beyond simply wrecking toys other writers put in there (I think/hope). If the idea is Stryfe is feeling a little pissy and bitter, and wants to accelerate Deadpool's freefall as payback, he might try and make Wade take a torch to those relationships which have somehow held up through all of Deadpool's many, many past, missteps.

Right now, I figure these moves are part of some plan  and I just don't know my Cable backstory well enough to see it. But if the fourth target turns out to be Weasel, then I'd say I was right.

* Also, he needs Cable's heart to make more clones? I don't quite get why Stryfe would want more of himself around, or why he needs Cable's entire heart for that, but that was Cable's theory.