10 Unbelievable Times Comic Book Villains Were Unmasked

While Deadpool was no longer a villain by the time his face was revealed, he is still worth mentioning in terms of unmasking - if only because there was such fan speculation over what he looked like under the mask as far back as his villainous inception in 1991.

Deadpool stopped being a villain, but fans didn't stop being interested in his appearance under the mask until the somewhat gruesome initial reveal of the grim reality that is the character's wounded face. With this, we learn a crucial part of Deadpool's backstory - that he was afflicted with cancer before being given a healing factor, and so the ravages of the cruel disease still continually affect him.

It's one of few backstories to involve such an upsetting and real feature without feeling forced, and the emotional impact it provides really helps make Deadpool feel less like a joke character, and more like a well-rounded anti-hero who just happens to bust out jokes every other panel.