DEADPOOL.

A SEWN-SHUT MOUTH IN 2009, A STUDIO SAYING NO AND A LEAK IN 2014

HOW DEADPOOL GOT MADE AFTER FOX SAID NO

Ryan Reynolds had already played Wade Wilson once. In X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) the character became Weapon XI, a mutant given several powers and, in the famous choice, a sewn-shut mouth. Reynolds said in July 2024 that sewing up Deadpool’s mouth was “one of the all-time foolish studio notes.”

The standalone film’s director was Tim Miller, who co-founded the animation and effects house Blur Studio and had been Oscar-nominated for the short Gopher Broke. Deadpool was his feature directing debut. Fox commissioned a two-minute test reel with a modest budget to pitch the feature, but studio chairman Tom Rothman rejected the project, reportedly telling the filmmakers they did not get it.

The reel reached the internet on 27 July 2014, the last day of San Diego Comic-Con. Miller said that he was horrified and immediately contacted Fox to deny involvement. “Within two months we were greenlit,” he said. In September 2025 Reynolds told a Toronto International Film Festival audience that he had done it. He said the internet forced the studio to say it would make the movie, and that 24 hours later the movie had a green light. His own timeline is much faster than Miller’s, so the exact gap between leak and approval is best treated as recalled rather than documented.

“Yes, I cheated a little”

Ryan Reynolds, at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2025, on leaking the Deadpool test footage

A BUDGET CUT IN A 48-HOUR WINDOW AND A RATING THE WRITERS HAD GIVEN UP ON

HOW A $58 MILLION BUDGET SHAPED THE SCRIPT, AND WHY THE FILM KEPT ITS R

The film’s modest scale was partly a late decision. Writer Rhett Reese said that the team had to carve something like $7 million to $8 million out of the budget in a 48-hour window, days before the official green light, by removing roughly nine pages from a 110-page script. Three characters, Garrison Kane, Sluggo and Wire, were merged into Angel Dust, played by Gina Carano. A freeway motorcycle chase and a large third-act gunfight were cut, and Deadpool simply forgets his guns. Reese believed the leaner script helped the film pace nicely. The final budget was $58 million.

The R rating was not a given either. Reese said that the writers had crafted the script as R, then wrote a PG-13 version at Fox’s request because some of the audience cannot or will not pay to see an R-rated film, while still hoping for an R. When Simon Kinberg reviewed both versions, Reese said, he saw a hole in the marketplace for a hard-R comedy. In July 2015 Kinberg said that the film was “a hard R,” and Miller compared the tone to Fight Club, set in strip clubs, dive bars and modest apartments to keep distance from the usual X-Men look.

Reynolds still sounded surprised at the outcome. He called it “an absolute miracle” that a studio let the team make the film. The R rating was given for language, graphic nudity, sexual content and strong violence.

A STRAIGHT MAN IN STEEL AND A TEENAGER WITH A NEW SET OF POWERS

WHY COLOSSUS AND NEGASONIC TEENAGE WARHEAD ARE IN THE FILM

The film is a Fox X-Men property, and Reese said it fits into the larger universe, though it stays largely stand-alone. In the first film Colossus is self-serious and something of a goody-two-shoes, a counterpart to Deadpool’s irreverence.

Negasonic Teenage Warhead was added as a student of Colossus. Reese said that Miller wanted to see more traditional superpowers, which made her a fit, and that her distinctive name was a factor. The film changed her from a telepathic character into one with explosive, energy-based powers. Paul Wernick later said Marvel gave the okay to change her powers but in turn had to give Fox something, and that the trade involved Ego the Living Planet, who appears in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. James Gunn later confirmed the arrangement on social media.

Casting was moving in early 2015. By 19 January 2015, T.J. Miller and Ed Skrein were in talks to join the film, shooting was due to start in Vancouver in late March, and it was still unclear whether the rating would be PG-13 or R. Brianna Hildebrand, who plays Negasonic, said that she could give the character whatever she wanted her to be.

A BILLBOARD WITH A SKULL, A POO EMOJI AND AN L

HOW FOX SOLD DEADPOOL ON A MODEST BUDGET

The campaign copied the character’s attitude. Fox put up an intentionally absurd Los Angeles billboard showing a skull, a pile-of-poo emoji and the letter L. Comedian Patton Oswalt tweeted that the “idiotic/brilliant” billboard was why he was all in on the film. Fox also ran cheeky Valentine’s Day teasers, such as a parody of 50 Shades of Slay.

Fox’s plans for Super Bowl weekend included Reynolds taking over a food truck to hand out chimichangas, Fox and Marvel Studios transforming a stadium-area venue into Sister Margaret’s Bar from the film, and Deadpool commandeering Fox’s Snapchat account during the game. The audience skewed young and male: 62% of the opening audience was male and 47% was under 25, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an A.

THE REWATCH

A $132.4 MILLION OPENING, A $782.8 MILLION TOTAL AND A SEQUEL ORDER

Deadpool opened to $132.4 million in the US and finished with $363.1 million domestically and $419.8 million internationally, for $782.8 million worldwide against a $58 million budget. The totals include a small 2020 re-release in the Asia-Pacific region. It beat the previous R-rated opening record, set by The Matrix Reloaded at $91.8 million, and early estimates also made it the biggest February opening and the biggest opening in Fox’s history.

Reviews were strong, with a few dissents. Rotten Tomatoes lists an 85% critics’ score from 345 reviews, and its consensus calls the film fast, funny and gleefully profane. Metacritic’s Metascore is 65 from 49 critic reviews. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw called it “an innocent pleasure,” while Time’s Stephanie Zacharek said it “ends up impaling only itself.” At the 2017 Golden Globes, the film was nominated for Best Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, and Reynolds for Best Actor in that category. It won neither. The Producers Guild of America also named it one of its 10 nominees, which ScreenCrush called the most surprising title on the list.

Fox confirmed a sequel at CinemaCon in April 2016, with Reynolds and Miller returning. Deadpool 2 followed in 2018.

For a first watch, Deadpool sits in the Marvel movies in release order guide directly after Fantastic Four (2015), with Captain America: Civil War next. In the X-Men movies in order guide it comes directly after X-Men: Days of Future Past, with X-Men: Apocalypse next.