We get to the whole Landau, Luckman & Lake/Mithras story here. Noah, Zoe, and other members of the firm pull Deadpool into an another dimension to tell him about it.
He’s supposed to make Earth ready to receive an alien power that will bring eternal peace. After hearing the story, Deadpool gets teleported to another location, where he immediately dies.
For a bunch of issues, there’s been this dude Ajax capturing, interrogating and killing folks associated with the Weapon X program. Now, we learn why.
The Annual starts with that awesome splash page, after which he receives that fist to his face and it kills him. Seriously. And he rises out of his body and meets Death, who shows him his full-blown origin story. He started out trying to be a hero in “Department K”….
…but failed. Miserably. And got cancer.
From there, he went to Weapon X Facility where he was tortured within an inch of his life and met Death for the first time. He fell in love with her and tried suicide so he could be with her—a very ingenious way of explaining what happens to a man who is put through what Wade Wilson went through.
Ajax worked for Dr. Killebrew at the facility, as an enforcer of sorts.
While being tortured, Wade Wilson dies. Multiple times. Then tries to die, because it turns out that every time he dies and gets revived, he can see Death.
And he likes her.
Deadpool also guns Ajax into pieces–which is why Ajax hates him.
Like Wade, Ajax appears to be unkillable.
Only Deadpool likes dying because, again, he digs Death.
At the end of the annual, Deadpool finally gets to kiss Death.
The he wakes from Death horrible scarred.
He goes on to seek revenge against Ajax, which is a 2-issue battle from #18 to #19.
Dr. Killebrew dies in the process, before Deadpool can snap Ajax’s neck.
One of the most serious moments in this series. The guys floating in the air are Ajax’s other torture victims.