When an impersonator takes the guise of one of the best mercenaries on the planet, the Merc with the Mouth Wade Wilson, AKA Deadpool, forms a private team of mercenaries to improve his destroyed reputation. They are known as…the Heroes for Hire! WAIT. Rescind that, that name is taken…
They are legally known as…the Mercs for Money!
Impersonation Station
When someone impersonates Deadpool and destroys his perfect reputation, he forms his own team. He hires a bunch of mercs all required to dress like him and names them Heroes for Hire. But, like the impersonator that inspired Wade to form the team, that name was already taken by Luke Cage’s team, who had a cease and desist letter drawn up and sent. They update their name to Mercs for Money, and it’s free of any legal issues.
Internal Power Disputes
Deadpool leads the Mercs for Money, promising payment for their mercenary services and demanding that they all dress like him. The team questions the latter requirement, and Deadpool ultimately relents, allowing them to wear their own clothes whether they be costumes, uniforms or street clothes. When their paychecks bounce, the team loses faith in their heroic leader.
This first iteration of the team includes counter-terrorist mercenary James Bourne, AKA Solo, contortionist and weapons expert Steven Harmon, AKA Slapstick, therapist and murderer Gregory Salinger, AKA Foolkiller, weapons expert Masacre, the unkillable Shreck, AKA Terror, and the fully armored oceanographer Walter Newell, AKA Stingray. Deadpool also hires former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Scott Adsit, in an organizational and tactical capacity.
Later, Deadpool seeks out Neena Thurman, AKA Domino, to help form a new team in an effort to rescue Ellie Phimister, AKA Negasonic Teenage Warhead, from her captor, Umbral Dynamics. They recruit Ken Hale, AKA Gorilla-Man, Hit-Monkey, Aaron Stack, AKA Machine Man, and Masacre. Negasonic joins the team as well. Domino takes over as the Mercs leader despite Deadpool’s protests.
High-Flying Foes
The first foe the team faces is a member within their ranks, the crazy MadCap, who impersonates Deadpool to begin with, which is what forms the team.
Domino’s Mercs for Money team faces Umbral Dynamics and their Doom Maidens.
Friends of the Mercs
The Mercs for Money are loosely affiliated with the Avengers, AKA Uncanny Avengers, seeing that Deadpool finances them. The Avengers have been known to provide backup to the Mercs when Deadpool asks. They’re also allied with the X-Men and Peter Parker, AKA Spider-Man, on occasion.
Highlights and Hiccups
After Deadpool hired a bunch of freelancers to dress up as himself and help him out on some gigs, it turned out that the one who was impersonating him, framing him for murders, was his own employee, MadCap. The Mercs for Money helped Deadpool put a stop to MadCap while Deadpool brought in some Uncanny Avengers as backup. Once he was dealt with, the Mercs got paid and they started wearing their own uniforms.
Deadpool and his mercs take on a gig to steal a crate from a research facility, but their contact who hired them ended up dead and the Mercs were soon attacked by the Crazy Gang. They opened the crate which contained a highly valuable robot that predicts the future. They decided to sell the robot to the highest bidder (various crime lords) and when the bids wouldn’t stop coming, Deadpool hosted an auction, inviting every Super Villain the Mercs knew. The highest bidder was the Ozarks Kingpin. The Mercs were then attacked by a motley crew of villains, but it was just a distraction crafted by Evil Deadpool who got ahold of the predictive robot. The Mercs attempted to get the robot back for the Ozarks Kingpin, a battle ensued, and Deadpool found the robot and realized it, too, was partly behind the whole mess. Deadpool tossed a grenade in with the robot, blowing it to smithereens. Though the Ozarks were not happy, so Deadpool explained how he did them all a favor since the robot was playing them all for fools. Convinced, the Ozarks Kingpin parted with the Mercs but not before Deadpool asked for full compensation. The Ozarks Kingpin was not too happy about the suggestion, so Deadpool agreed to leave with just the deposit.
Though, the money eventually didn’t flow that well from Deadpool to the Mercs since he was actually funneling their profits into the Uncanny Avengers. Unhappy with their mouthy leader, the team members destroyed their contracts and parted ways with Deadpool.
Umbral Dynamics hired Deadpool and the Mercs to take out radioactive Super Villains, but the team disbanded. Deadpool soon found out that Umbral Dynamics was using a previously captured target, Ellie Phimister, AKA Negasonic Teenage Warhead, to power a radioactive superhuman called The Presence, a project led by Caroline Le Fay. To rescue Negasonic, Deadpool assembled the new Mercs with Domino, Gorilla-Man, Masacre, Machine Man, and Hit-Monkey. They rescued Negasonic, who siphoned all of The Presence’s energy into herself, saving the day. Deadpool tried to take credit but was quickly outnumbered. Dominio seemed to take over as the de facto leader, to the displeasure of the deposed Deadpool, and the Mercs for Money continued to protect those who couldn’t protect themselves.
Their next gig had them choosing sides between the X-Men and the Inhumans. Typically motivated by money, they instead chose what they believed in, and in this case it was the X-Men who as mutants were under threat of death by the Inhuman Terrigen Mists, but it landed them in hot water and heaps of trouble with consequences that impacted the team five years in the future. After that was resolved, the Mercs joined Deadpool against his wife and Queen of the Underworld, Shiklah, in her attempt to take Manhattan for Monsterkind.
