Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Brian Richards | Marvel Movies | April 3, 2026
Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago, the studio formerly known as 20th Century Fox had little to no interest in making a movie about Deadpool, a.k.a. the Merc with a Mouth. And they certainly weren't interested in making a movie about Deadpool with Ryan Reynolds in the lead role, especially since his career took a hit after he starred in the critically panned box office failure Green Lantern, let alone a comic book film that would be rated R, and be very explicit in showing why it would be rated R. Or at least that's how they felt until the test footage leaked.
Tim Miller, the director of Deadpool, was given a budget in the low six figures by 20th Century Fox to create some test footage that would help convince them whether a Deadpool movie was a movie they'd want to make. With the help of his animation company, Blur Studio, Miller and his colleagues designed the test footage, which was heavy on action and on showcasing Deadpool's humor. The Powers That Be over at Fox weren't convinced, but the millions of Deadpool fans who saw the test footage for themselves once it leaked on the Internet were a lot more enthusiastic in their response.
Once Fox became aware of how badly people wanted to see Deadpool on the big screen, R rating be damned, they soon started backpedaling, and they gave Reynolds and Miller the green light to begin shooting Deadpool, which opened in theaters on February 12, 2016.
A former operative of the Canadian Special Forces, Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is now a mercenary who just completed his recent assignment of putting the fear of every deity in existence into a pizza delivery boy who spends his free time stalking young women. He then meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), a sex worker/waitress whose pitch-black sense of humor matches his own, and the two quickly fall in love. When their relationship hits the one-year mark, Wade proposes to Vanessa, who happily accepts, right before Wade passes out in their home and is soon diagnosed with inoperable late-stage cancer. To spare Vanessa the pain of seeing him suffer a slow and agonizing demise, Wade leaves her, and accepts an offer from a mysterious organization called the Workshop (a subsidiary of the Weapon X program that gave Wolverine his adamantium-coated skeleton and claws) that promises to grant him superhuman abilities that will not only cure his cancer, but allow him to truly make a difference fighting on their behalf.
Unfortunately for Wade, his time in the operating room is overseen by Francis, a.k.a. Ajax (Ed Skrein), and his ruthless partner-in-crime, Angel Dust (Gina Carano), who both have superhuman abilities, and who also make it clear to Wade that not only will his acquisition of superpowers will be an incredibly long and painful process, but that the organization who made him this offer are far more interested in making slaves than superheroes. The procedure is a success, and cures Wade of his cancer, giving him enhanced strength, agility, reflexes, and a regenerative healing factor with rapid cellular regeneration that makes him nearly impossible to hurt or kill. It also gives Wade horribly deformed skin all over his face and body, and when he escapes from the facility, he adopts the name Deadpool (from the betting pool at his favorite bar as to which one of his fellow mercenaries is likely to die first), designs a costume for himself, and begins shooting, slicing, and dicing through all the Workshop operatives he can find until he can get to Francis, and make him undo the damage to his physical appearance so that he can reunite with Vanessa. And Deadpool has to do all of this while also being pursued by two members of the X-Men: Colossus (Stefan Kapičić) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who are determined to stop Deadpool's warpath and convince him to use his powers for the greater good as their newest teammate.
Comic book fans had spent years waiting for Deadpool to appear in live action on the big screen, only to feel extremely disappointed after seeing him make his debut in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a film that succeeded in not only being poorly made and damn near unwatchable, but in wasting the casting choices of Liev Schreiber as Sabretooth, Taylor Kitsch as Gambit (back when Hollywood was hellbent on trying to make Taylor Kitsch happen, and I say this as someone who liked John Carter, while also wondering why the filmmakers didn't just call it John Carter of Mars), and Reynolds making his first attempt at playing Deadpool, only to somehow end up as a mute version of Baraka from Mortal Kombat II. Fortunately for those fans, and for Reynolds (who wanted to make sure that the character was done right this time around), this version of Deadpool was nothing at all like the Deadpool we previously saw that made fans want to pour bleach into their eyes.
As for the film itself, it hits the bullseye in numerous ways, starting with the action scenes and how much they succeed at being brutally inventive and hilariously entertaining, despite the budget limitations the filmmakers were forced to deal with. (Deadpool constantly forgetting his duffel bags packed with guns and extra ammunition on his way to battle Francis and his goons? That was so the film could avoid any additional gunfights that would take up enough time and money to put a serious dent in the budget.)
The humor is incredibly lewd and sophomoric, and much of that is courtesy of Deadpool. The opening credits, the creatively profane insults hurled by Deadpool towards anyone who gets on his nerves or ends up in his crosshairs, and Deadpool breaking the fourth wall at every opportunity, while also teasing 20th Century Fox for not spending enough money on his film to allow more than two X-Men to be cast members. Deadpool isn't as comics-accurate as some hardcore fans would expect and hope for (for example, if you were hoping to see Vanessa as the shapeshifting mercenary also known as Copycat, those wishes were not granted here, as Miller and Deadpool screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick decided that it was best to keep the focus on Deadpool, and save any possible developments for future sequels), but it does feature some notable Easter eggs to make them happy, including the late, great Stan Lee briefly appearing as a DJ working the turntables at a strip club, Marrow being one of the test subjects at the Workshop, and the final action set piece taking place on a discarded S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier that couldn't be identified onscreen as a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier because, in the words of Groundskeeper Willy in The Shinning, "Shh! You want to get sued?"
Ed Skrein does a terrific job of making Francis/Ajax come across as utterly detestable, and making it very easy for viewers to hope that Deadpool finds him and stomps him all over as if he's playing Dance Dance Revolution. Gina Carano is...there. She's admittedly easy on the eyes, is physically impressive in her fight scenes, and is the recipient of a lewd gag in which Colossus accidentally sees her exposed breast while the two of them are battling each other (to which she thanks Colossus by punching him in the Яйца). But other than bringing us the pleasure of seeing her get mollywhopped by Negasonic when she finally decides to jump into the fight and show what her mutant powers are, she brings very little to the table. Karan Soni is much more compelling to watch in comparison as Dopinder, whose brief time with Deadpool in his cab turns out to be a curse and a blessing for his confidence and his love life.
Brianna Hildebrand is great at channeling teenage disdain towards Deadpool, who she clearly finds as funny and entertaining as a double feature of Waiting... and Van Wilder, but that doesn't stop her from throwing down when necessary to help him out. Morena Baccarin makes the most of her screen time by making it very understandable as to why Vanessa would attract Wade, thanks to her zero tolerance for disrespect, her love of skeeball, and the fact that she looks like Morena Baccarin. Stefan Kapičić is impressive in his portrayal of Colossus as the huge, steel-skinned Jiminy Cricket to Deadpool's Pinocchio who wants nothing more than to bring pride (no, not that Pryde, though it would've been nice to have her in the film as well) to the X-Men, and for Deadpool to join him and Negasonic in doing the same. And if you ever wondered what it would be like to see Leslie Uggams playing a blind, foul-mouthed cocaine addict named Blind Al (and really, who among us hasn't wondered about this legend bringing such a role to life?), Deadpool is the movie for you.
Say what you will about Ryan Reynolds, and his obsession with becoming more of a brand, even if it makes him a lot less interesting as an actor. But it was very easy to see why he was the ideal choice to play the Merc with a Mouth. His voice perfectly conveys Deadpool's relentlessly smart-assed demeanor in everything he says and does, his refusal to take anything seriously, and his reliance on jokes as a distraction and a foolproof way of getting under the skin of his enemies to annoy them enough so that they'll make a mistake. Underneath all of the near-indestructible layers and red leather outfit, Wade does have a heart, as evidenced by his love for Vanessa, and his short-lived friendship with another Workshop patient who wants nothing more than to recover from his terminal illness so he can be with his kids again. But good luck in finding that side of Wade, as you're a lot more likely to end up the target of his humor, and possibly end up decapitated by one of his swords right before he focuses on more important matters like where to get chimichangas for dinner. (FYI: Deadpool doesn't even like chimichangas all that much. He just really likes saying the word.)
If you're wondering why I haven't felt the need to mention anything about T.J. Miller, or his performance as Weasel, best friend to Deadpool and fellow mercenary? Stop wondering. There are better things for you to think and wonder about other than that.
There are many serious reasons why International Women's Day matters, and why it deserves acknowledgment: the fact that women deserve equal pay for their work, autonomy over their own bodies, and their desire to not be murdered by men that they know, and to not be murdered by men that they don't know, and those are just some of the reasons being listed here. But after the theatrical release of Deadpool, one of the most important reasons for the existence of International Women's Day was that it also inspired many female and non-binary viewers to wear their best strap-on dildos with their partners so they could celebrate the day together.
I was going to embed that scene between Wade and Vanessa in the article, and also include a link to where both of you readers can purchase strap-on dildos for celebrating International Women's Day next year and every year. But YouTube has the video page-restricted, and Dustin responded to my scene-embedding, link-sharing requests with "I think the f-ck not, you trick-ass bitch!" (You spend four years making fun of your boss and getting on his nerves whenever you mention him in your recaps of Atlanta, and they just never let it go.)
Deadpool was a hit with both critics and audiences, and after it took in $782 million at the box office, it was only a matter of time before sequels would be announced. And not just because the film ended with a Ferris Bueller's Day Off-inspired gag in the closing credits in which he basically told the audience that there would be a sequel, and that his frenemy Cable would appear in it.
Deadpool 2 was released in 2018, and focused on Deadpool going up against a cybernetically enhanced mutant soldier named Cable (Josh Brolin) to protect a young boy (Julian Dennison) who is also a mutant, and who Cable is convinced will grow up to become a powerful serial killer. Zazie Beetz plays Domino; Morena Baccarin reprised her role as Vanessa, only to be 'fridged' in the first half-hour (though fortunately, her death isn't permanent, thanks to Deadpool's usage of Cable's time-travel technology); Reynolds as the voice of Juggernaut; and Lewis Tan, Terry Crews, Bill Skarsgård, Rob Delaney, and Brad Pitt all make brief appearances as the members of Deadpool's very short-lived superhero team X-Force. It was also the film where stuntwoman Sequana Joi 'SJ' Harris (who was also the first African-American female professional road racer) died on set while performing a motorcycle stunt, and her cause of death was determined to be inadequate planning and other safety violations by the filmmakers.
It was only a matter of time before the Merc with a Mouth would finally be given the green light to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though fans were left wondering if Disney would really allow him to be his usual lewd and crude self, or if he'd have to tone it down so that his MCU appearances would be PG-13. That moment arrived last July with the release of the unapologetically R-rated Deadpool & Wolverine, in which Deadpool is recruited by the TVA to find Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) from another universe, and convince the Ol' Canucklehead to help him save his own universe from being wiped out of existence. The film also starred Matthew McFadyen as Mr. Paradox, Emma Corrin as Cassandra Nova, and a whole bunch of familiar faces from comic book movies past: Aaron Stanford (Pyro), Dafne Keen (Laura/X-23), Tyler Mane (Sabretooth), Chris Evans (Human Torch), Jennifer Garner (Elektra), Wesley Snipes (Blade, and the only version of Blade there will ever be, according to this film, and to every news story that becomes public about Mahershala Ali's attempts to portray the role in the MCU), Channing Tatum (who spent a very long time wanting to suit up as Gambit, and finally got to do so and make a name for himself), Blake Lively as Ladypool, and Henry Cavill as another variant of Wolverine from an alternate universe.
Some people may not know or remember this, but there was a time when we came very close to seeing Deadpool get his own animated series on FX, which would've been created by Donald Glover (who would also provide the voice of Deadpool) and his brother, Stephen Glover. However, that deal fell apart due to "creative differences," and it was implied that Donald Glover was simply too busy to help bring that project to life. Donald, on the other hand, made it clear that he wasn't too busy to work on Deadpool: The Animated Series for FX, and I wrote all about this situation for Pajiba in 2018. Including Donald using his Twitter account to rant about it all in the form of script pages from the season finale of the animated series to let us know just what his version of Deadpool could've been like, and why the Powers That Be never allowed it to see the light of day in the first place.
Since last December, we've seen one teaser after another, and another, and another for the upcoming film Avengers: Doomsday, in which the Avengers, the X-Men, and the Fantastic Four all cross paths to go up against Doctor Doom (played by Robert Downey Jr. making his return to the MCU). We obviously don't know how Deadpool will fit into this, why Thor was seen crying while holding Deadpool in his arms, or most importantly, whether or not Avengers: Doomsday will really open in theaters on the same day as Dune: Part Three, but all of those questions will be answered by December 18th.
It also remains a mystery as to what we can expect from Marvel and Disney when it comes to more solo films with Deadpool where we get to see him being the sword-wielding, gun-toting chatterbox that he is. Judging from how much he enjoys playing the role, and how its success earns him more money and more bragging rights to keep him firmly seated in Hollywood's A-List, it's safe to say that much like Jackman as Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds is very likely to keep playing his best-known character until his 90th birthday. Which is a very long way from his days of starring in the classic sitcom that was Two Guys, A Girl, and a Pizza Place.
Deadpool is now streaming on Disney Plus. If you're still reading this, and you're able to visit some medical professionals to receive a cancer screening, so that you don't have to end up joining any mysterious organizations for a possible cure? Please do so.
