Ryan Reynolds spent a decade pushing for a faithful Deadpool, and Tim Miller’s 2016 film finally delivered him. The merc with a mouth got his own movie after leaked test footage forced 20th Century Fox’s hand in 2014, and the result became the highest-grossing R-rated film at the time.
Trailer, via 20th Century Studios.
Wade Wilson Meets Vanessa
The film opens mid-ambush, Deadpool stopping a convoy on an expressway to hunt Ajax. From there it rewinds. Wade Wilson, discharged from the Canadian special forces, works as a freelance mercenary until he meets Vanessa, an escort. They fall for each other, and a year later she accepts his proposal.
Then comes the cancer diagnosis. A recruiter offers an experimental cure, and Wade walks away from Vanessa so she won’t watch him die.
The Laboratory and the Serum
Ajax and Angel Dust run the lab. They inject a serum meant to awaken latent mutant genes, then torture Wade for days. Nothing takes. When Wade learns Ajax’s real name is Francis and mocks him for it, Ajax locks him in a hypobaric chamber for a weekend, pushing him to the edge of asphyxiation.
That does it. Wade’s healing factor activates, killing the cancer and leaving burn-like tumors across his body. He escapes, attacks Ajax, and relents when told he can be cured. Ajax leaves him for dead.
A New Name and a New Roommate
Wade survives. He won’t go back to Vanessa, afraid she’ll shun his scars. Weasel picks him in a dead pool, and the name sticks. Wade moves in with Blind Al and spends a year hunting Ajax.
Release Schedule
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| March–May 2015 | Principal photography, Vancouver |
| February 8, 2016 | Premiere, Le Grand Rex, Paris |
| February 12, 2016 | U.S. release |
Reynolds Owns the Role
Reynolds is the engine here, and he knows it. His Deadpool is a performer who enjoys performing, not a comic drawing winking at the reader. Morena Baccarin gives Vanessa grit instead of victimhood. T.J. Miller’s Weasel lands the comedy, though Tim Miller was right to cut the facial tic.
The Villain Problem
Ed Skrein’s Ajax is the weak link. He’s immune to pain and stronger than Wade, but the film never gives him a reason to matter beyond the cure. He’s a hurdle, not an antagonist.
What the $782.6 Million Buys
The film earned $782.6 million against a $58 million budget. That gap is the real story. A hard R-rated superhero comedy with no A-list franchise scaffolding shouldn’t have worked, and Fox only greenlit it after the footage leaked.
Where This One Lands
Deadpool works because it’s small. The romance carries the middle, the revenge plot stays simple, and the jokes land more often than not. It’s not deep, and Ajax drags every scene he’s in. But 7.6 of 10 is fair for a film that rewrote what a superhero movie could get away with.
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