hen it was first
announced in 2014
that Ryan Reynolds
had signed on the
dotted line to play Deadpool in
a Fox movie of the same name,
many in the industry felt it was
a potential misstep. After all,
the Merc with a Mouth – as
he’s nicknamed – isn’t your
typical superhero. Whereas
Superman is noble and
Captain America is honest,
Deadpool is foul-mouthed,
lewd and obnoxious to the
point of annoying. (He also
often breaks the fourth wall,
which means he talks directly
to the reader.) With a 15 rating
consequently guaranteed
– in the process removing
much of the usual audience
for a comic-book movie,
especially one featuring
a Marvel character – who
exactly, rival studios reasoned,
was going to watch it?
The answer, as it transpired,
was heaps of people. Plus,
heaps more on top of that.
Fuelled by Reynolds’ wildly
entertaining performance,
Deadpool took an astonishing
$53 million in the UK, an eye-
popping $363 million in the
United States and a staggering
$783 million around the world,
in the process becoming the
78th biggest film of all time
(which, when you consider the
movie’s adults-only rating and
just how many films are
released every year, is nothing
short of astonishing). Looks
like the bigwigs at Fox knew
what they were doing, after all.
Breaking the mould
Given these phenomenal
figures a sequel was a given,
and that’s exactly what we’re
getting on 15 May. Once again
starring Ryan Reynolds as
18 odeon.co.uk
Watch the trailer
Deadpool isn’t known as the Merc with
a Mouth for no reason. Here are a few of his
more memorable quips...