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Ryan Reynolds and 'Deadpool' could end Marvel's superhero slump for good
By Olivia Singh,
7 hours ago
Marvel Studios; Getty Images; Natalie Ammari/BI
"Deadpool & Wolverine" is the only MCU film coming out this year.
The film is already a box office hit, earning $438 million globally in its opening weekend.
The Ryan Reynolds-led franchise could be the key to combatting mounting superhero fatigue.
In an early scene in " Deadpool & Wolverine ," Ryan Reynolds ' Wade Wilson/Deadpool accepts an enticing offer to save the "sacred timeline" — aka the perfect, Marvel Cinematic Universe one — and proclaims, "I am Marvel Jesus."
The line is treated as a recurring joke in the film, but perhaps it has some weight. With the movie's already massive box-office success , Reynolds just might be the Marvel Cinematic Universe's messiah, ushering in a new and improved era for the beleaguered superhero genre.
"Deadpool & Wolverine," costarring Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, is the only MCU film hitting theaters this year. The film serves as a litmus test for Marvel's new quality-over-quantity approach . It's also the first "Deadpool" movie released as part of the MCU following the 2019 Disney-Fox merger .
While it might seem risky for the studio conglomerate to put all its eggs into one R-rated basket, Reynolds' Deadpool franchise — and Reynolds himself — are uniquely positioned to revitalize the genre.
The 'Deadpool' franchise has been consistently lucrative
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool in "Deadpool & Wolverine."
20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios
Though the last decade of Marvel movies has encompassed both hits and misses, Reynolds' "Deadpool" movies have all been major box office victories.
In 2016, the first stand-alone "Deadpool" movie landed an 85% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and grossed $782 worldwide. The 2018 sequel saw similar success, with an 84% critics' score and a gross of $785 globally.
"Deadpool & Wolverine" is performing just as well, if not better. It racked up $205 million at the domestic box office this weekend, the eighth-biggest opening of all time and the biggest R-rated opening weekend ever (it dethroned the original "Deadpool" for that honor). Globally, it's already made $438 million .
At the time of this article's publication, the movie has a 79% critics' score and 97% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
This all bodes well for Marvel.
Marvel is risk-averse — but Deadpool has become a known quantity that audiences still find exciting
Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in "Deadpool & Wolverine."
Jay Maidment/Marvel Studios
In the past, Marvel movies that strayed from the traditional superhero formula haven't been well-received. Sam Raimi's horror-indebted "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" received mixed reviews, while Oscar-winner Chloé Zhao's polarizing "Eternals" became the lowest-rated MCU film (that is, before "Quantumania" took its spot with a critics' score of 46% on Rotten Tomatoes).
The studio conglomerate has historically been risk-averse, and recent controversies have only heightened that response. Marvel's bet on Jonathan Majors , who made appearances in the Disney+ series "Loki" and "Quantumania" and was set to become the MCU's next overarching villain, Kang the Conqueror, in the next Avengers film, turned sour when the actor was found guilty of assault and harassment in December 2023. Marvel dropped him and pivoted to embrace a beloved actor who was instrumental in the MCU's early success: Robert Downey Jr. He'll play the iconic villain Doctor Doom in the renamed "Avengers: Doomsday."
While it would stand to reason that the Deadpool franchise, with its foul-mouthed protagonist, R rating, and deliberately self-referential in-jokes, would register as too "different" to succeed, box-office numbers and the franchise's fervent fan base have proven that isn't the case.
The original "Deadpool" may have been considered a risk to get made — it took Reynolds 11 years to get the character onscreen — but at this point, the franchise has proven it's safely bankable. What makes Deadpool different is that while the character and tone are consistent enough that Hollywood bigwigs know what they're getting when they greenlight a Deadpool movie, the raunchy content never registers as "safe" to viewers — even if, to some degree, it is.
Ryan Reynolds' business acumen has helped Deadpool thrive
Ryan Reynolds has turned the Deadpool character into a shrewd marketing play.
Nicholas Hunt/Getty Images
The benefit of developing a character for more than a decade is a true clarity of vision. Reynolds' crystal clear grasp of the character, plus his creative oversight as an executive producer and business-minded approach, have made him an ideal steward for all things Deadpool.
He's perhaps the only Marvel star who's also a gifted ad man — his production company, Maximum Effort, creates content for many of Reynolds' investments, including Aviation Gin, Mint Mobile, and Welsh football team Wrexham AFC — making him uniquely positioned to sell the hell out of his own movie.
And sell he did. In addition to making the standard press stops like late-night talk shows and San Diego Comic-Con, Reynolds leaned into the more fun and unexpected interview concepts and press opportunities, like going on the often-viral web series "Hot Ones" and "Chicken Shop Date." His good friend Taylor Swift even wrote a gushing post on her Instagram Stories about "Deadpool & Wolverine" with a link to buy tickets.
All of it has kept the hype around "Deadpool & Wolverine" interesting and exciting — exactly the opposite of the long and often joyless-seeming slog of promotion around recent Marvel offerings like "Eternals" and "Quantumania."
With its box-office success, "Deadpool & Wolverine" is proving that an R-rated character can integrate into the MCU mold without sacrificing quality and uniqueness — and maybe there is room for the lovable antihero to play in the larger superhero sandbox.
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