Francis Freeman, also known as Ajax, is a supporting antagonist of the X-Men film franchise, appearing as the main antagonist of Deadpool.
He is a member of the Weapon X Program and the man responsible for the creation of Deadpool. He is also a powerful mutant who gained enhanced physical attributes and an immunity to pain. After finding out what the treatment did to him, Deadpool makes it his life goal to hunt down Francis and force him to reverse the program.
He is portrayed by Ed Skrein.
Deadpool[]
When Wade Wilson suddenly collapses one night and is diagnosed with multiple organ cancer, he reluctantly leaves his girlfriend Vanessa to undergo an experiment to cure his cancer. There, he is strapped to a bed and introduced to the head of the facility, Francis Freeman. Wade continuously insults and mocks Francis, much to the latter's displeasure. Francis tells Wade that he will be injected with a special serum and, in order for the serum to trigger a mutation, subjected to days of torture methods as this is the only way to cure him. Francis also tells Wade that he himself was once subjected to the same procedure and that the mutation caused him enhanced physical attributes & an immunity to pain. He also claims that Wade will hardly become a super hero as after the mutation has spread, Wade will be sold to the highest bidder and be forced to work for him, be it as a killer or as a gardener. After torturing Wade for days without triggering the mutation, Francis decides that there is only one way to succeed and straps Wade into an airtight chamber, telling him that the oxygen level in the chamber will be lowered until Wade is about to faint. Oxygen will then be pumped into the chamber to keep Wade alive, but will be pumped out again.
Subjected to this kind of torture, the drop in oxygen triggers the mutation in Wade that removes his cancer and makes him nearly immortal due to the powerful healing abilities, but severely disfigures his face and skin in the process. He then tells his assistant Angel Dust to put Wade in the chamber again, not because it's necessary but because he wants to. However, Wade steals a match from Angel and ignites it in the chamber, causing a giant explosion when the oxygen is pumped in again. The explosion causes a fire in the entire facility and when Francis returns to extinguish the fire, he is attacked by Wade. Both engage in a brutal fight in the burning facility and the battle ends with Francis impaling Wade on the ground, leaving him in the burning ruins as he believes him to be dead.
However, Wade survives, now driven by his lust for revenge, and resurfaces as the masked Deadpool. As he thinks that Francis can heal his disfigured body, he goes after Francis' associates to make them talk. However, most of them do not talk and are therefore killed by Deadpool. When Deadpool interrogates the man who recruited him for the therapy, nicknamed Agent Smith, he is told where Francis is. Deadpool tortures Agent Smith nonetheless.
Meanwhile, Francis and his men meet with a Russian warlord, who is buying some of Francis' "superheroes". After the deal is concluded, Francis's convoy drives off and is attacked by Deadpool on a highway. After killing all of Francis' men, Deadpool attacks Francis, who is riding a motorcycle. After stopping the man, Deadpool violently kicks and beats Francis, impaling him with his sword and demanding a cure for his disfigurement. However, before he can do more, he is suddenly interrupted by the X-Men members Colossus and Negasonic Teenage Warhead. Colossus, who wants to recruit Deadpool to the X-Men because he believes that Deadpool has the potential to be a hero, argues with Deadpool and during this argument, Francis draws the sword pinning him to the barrier out of his body and drives off.
As Deadpool took off his mask when fighting Francis, Francis now knows that Wade Wilson is still alive. Francis and Angel head to the bar Wade frequents and find a picture of Wade with Vanessa. Weasel, Wade's best friend who witnessed this, calls Deadpool and tells him that he has to go back to Vanessa to protect her. However, when they arrive at the strip club Vanessa works at, Deadpool discovers that she has been kidnapped, and Francis and Angel Dust tell him to meet up with them on a decommissioned aircraft carrier at a scrapyard. Deadpool convinces Colossus and Negasonic to help him, and the trio take a cab to the scrapyard.
When the trio arrived at the scrapyard, Colossus and Negasonic fight Angel Dust while Deadpool slashes through an army of goons on his way toward Francis. On board the air carrier, Deadpool witnesses Francis shutting Vanessa in the oxygen chamber before grabbing two axes and fighting Deadpool. To save Vanessa, Deadpool throws one of his katanas at the chamber, piercing the glass and allowing Vanessa to cut her ties with the blade. After Francis lodges a knife into Deadpool's brain in order to stop the healing factor, Vanessa frees herself and grabs the katana, using it to stab Francis from behind. With the knife stuck in his brain, Deadpool struggles to stay conscious until he pulls it out to resume his fight with Francis.
Below the air carrier, Negasonic fights Angel and uses her destructive power to defeat her, thereby destroying the pillars that are supporting the air-carrier. This causes the air carrier to topple over. During this incident, Deadpool loses sight of Francis, who is hit by a container and thrown of the falling carrier.
However, Deadpool is later attacked by Francis when he tries to get to Vanessa. After a short fight, Deadpool knocks down Francis and demands that Francis cures him. To his surprise, Francis starts to laugh and asks Deadpool whether he really believed in a cure. Furious, Deadpool mocks Francis for revealing that the only thing Deadpool kept him alive for did not exist. He grabs a gun to shoot Francis but Colossus stops him, telling him that sometimes being a hero is decided by sparing a life instead of taking one. Colossus continues to preach to Deadpool about the responsibilities of a hero, only to be stopped when Deadpool shoots Francis in the head, killing him nonetheless. This causes Colossus to vomit.
Personality.[]
Ajax is extremely evil, cruel, sadistic, vicious, despotic, sinister, ruthless, cold, devious and manipulative man to extreme, enjoys torturing Wade and trying to kill him. Towards Wade and other his slaves, he is rude, spiteful, insidious, abusive, tyrannical and careless. He is extremely sadistic, enjoys hurting and torturing other people, especially Wade. He is also very sneaky, ambitious, sociopathic, inhumane, greedy and unmerciful. He doesn't appreciate human life at all, and likes only money. He is also extremely vindictive, because wants to get revenge on Wilson. The only person whom he cares, is his sidekick Angel Dust. He likes to be with her. But secretlyhe is ready to sacrifice her. Freeman is complete sociopath. He is ready to kill innocent people to finish his goals. Despite his villainous nature, Frencis is absolutely calm. He never loses his temper with anyone. He never left his voice and speaks with insidious and sinister tone. Ajax is also very intelligent, cunning, charismatic and brilliant genius. He is brilliant manipulator and can easily manipulate people, if he knows their weaknesses. But he is also too arrogant, stubborn, confident and naive. And it is his main weakness. He is extremely paranoidal, thinks he is equal to Deadpool. And it caused his death.