Francis Freeman, also known as Ajax, is the primary antagonist of the 2016 comic book movie Deadpool. Based on the Marvel Comics character, he is an artificially-created mutant who possesses superhuman reflexes and imperviousness to pain. He runs a criminal enterprise turning ordinary people into mutants that he then sells off as living weapons to the highest bidder. He is the man responsible for giving Wade Wilson his regenerative healing abilities. He is portrayed by Ed Skrein.
History[]
After being diagnosed with terminal cancer, Wade Wilson falls into despair. He is approached by a nameless individual who directs him towards a clinic that supposedly grants its patients superhuman abilities and may be able to cure his cancer. Feeling he has nothing left to lose, Wade decides to visit the clinic. There he meets Ajax, who subjects Wade to many torturous experiments over several months in order to awaken any latent mutant genes in his DNA.
After an intensely painful procedure involving being locked inside a tank with a fluctuating oxygen supply, Wade's mutant abilities emerge. He is granted a superhuman healing factor, allowing him to regenerate from the most severe of injuries. However, it also causes his cancer to spread throughout his body, hideously deforming him. Ajax decides to leave Wade inside the tank as petty revenge against Wade's constant chatter and jokes, but Wade is able to escape after stealing a matchstick from Ajax's subordinate Angel Dust, lighting it and igniting the oxygen gas being pumped into his tank. Ajax and Wade have a brief fight in the burning clinic, with Ajax winning. He takes a metal rebar and impales Wade with it, bending it at the end so Wade can't pull himself off of it. He then leaves Wade to die as the building burns down.
Thanks to his new healing factor, Wade survives the destruction of the clinic. He then launches a mission of personal revenge to find Ajax and force him to heal his scars before killing him. After months of searching, Wade - now calling himself Deadpool - eventually catches up with Ajax and intercepts him on a highway, killing his entourage of henchmen. However, Ajax himself escapes when the X-Men Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead intervene, hoping to recruit Deadpool. Realizing just how much of a threat Deadpool has become, Ajax decides to deal with the merc with a mouth once and for all. He decides to lure Deadpool into a trap by kidnapping his old girlfriend Vanessa Carlysle and threatening to kill her.
Death[]
After kidnapping Vanessa, Ajax takes her to a scrapyard where he and his army of goons prepare for their final battle against Deadpool. Deadpool arrives with Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead in tow, though he has no guns and only his twin katanas to fight against Ajax's heavily-armed soldiers. It turns out that Wade doesn't need guns, however, as he disposes of Ajax's goons with remarkably hilarious ease.
After a brutal fight, Ajax finds himself pinned to the ground with his limbs broken. Deadpool demands that Ajax cures his deformity, but Ajax confesses that he can't. Having no reason to keep him alive, Deadpool takes a handgun he took from one of the slaughtered goons and prepares to shoot Ajax. Colossus steps in and delivers a passionate speech about the virtue of sparing one's enemies, but Deadpool can't be bothered to listen to it all and pulls the trigger, blowing Ajax's brains out and causing Colossus to throw up at the sight of it.