From zero to two billion

Deadpool & Wolverine, the third installment in the Deadpool saga, is out in cinemas and it is everything fans wanted it to be. It’s hilarious, irreverent, comically violent, and chock full of insane cameos. Despite some pacing problems, If you loved the first movies you are going to fall head over adamantium claws for this one.

Honouring the end of a hilarious ride with the Deadpool films, we take a look at the crazy story of how Deadpool came to be, a story so amazing it deserves a movie of its own.

The story begins in 2004 with the vampire super-hero film Blade: Trinity. In it, Wesley Snipes reprises his role as the vampire hunter, this time alongside two others: Jessica Biel and a strapping young Canadian actor called Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds’ character, Hannibal King, was a gun-toting, joke-cracking hero that reminded a lot of Deadpool.

So much so, that a studio exec called up Reynolds and told him that if the character was ever brought to film he is ideal to portray him. Reynolds had no idea about Deadpool so the exec just gifted him a bunch of comic books. According to the actor himself, in the first issue he picked up, he found a reference to himself. “I thought, this is f****** destiny”. Reynolds fell in love with the character and contacted David Goyer, the writer/producer of Blade to pitch him a Deadpool movie starring him.

Goyer loved the idea, wrote the script, and pitched it to Fox which wasn’t wild about the idea because it would have to be R-rated. Instead, they proposed that Deadpool became a character in an upcoming X-Men movie, poised to launch a score of X-Men stand-alone movies.

The movie of course was 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine. The studio told Reynolds that if he agreed to play in the movie and the character reception was good, they would seriously consider the Deadpool movie. Reynolds also found an unexpected ally in his quest, a young associate producer named Kevin Feige. The man who would in the future take over a crumbling Marvel and launch the cinematic behemoth that is today the Marvel Cinematic Universe told Reynolds that his playing Deadpool was an amazing idea and that the R rating was a blessing in disguise. It would allow Deadpool to be different from average superhero movies and do things others never even dreamt of.

Reynolds was onboard but Deadpool’s portrayal was catastrophic. X-Men absolutely botched Deadpool. The character was known as ‘The Merc with a Mouth’ so it it made sense that in the film his mouth was sawn shut. The producers completely ignored the source material and turned the character into a bad parody of himself.

X-Men: Origins performed well but Deadpool’s reception was abysmal. Everyone hated him. Still, Reynolds was not discouraged. He kept pushing for a Deadpool movie and even got Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick to write a script.

But it was not meant to be. Fox execs simply could not invest in an R-rated movie.

Then, something happened.

In 2011 a draft of the script leaked online. The fan reaction was pure excitement. Everyone took to the internet to praise what seemed to be a movie worthy of their beloved character. Studio execs were caught off guard but the response was undeniable. Reynolds, the writers and director Tim Miller were given a modest budget to produce a two-minute clip, to show the studio what their vision was.

The Reynolds team got into it and put together a now legendary video, a highway scene where Deadpool drops in a car and kills everyone while cracking jokes. They enthusiastically gave the video back to the studio and waited. And waited. And waited.

Again, the footage failed to move the needle. Deadpool was just too edgy. Failing to impress the studio that owned the rights put a gravestone on Reynolds’ lifelong dream.

Unless something else happened.

In April 2014, the test footage leaked online and fans went berserk. Everyone commented on how Reynolds was perfect for the role and how the footage promised an amazing Deadpool movie. Fox execs were strongarmed into funding the project. While Reynolds never publicly admitted it, it is widely believed that he was the one who leaked it.

Still, Fox didn’t believe in the project. They scheduled a February release, on Valentine’s Day, all but guaranteeing that the movie would flop.

It didn’t. The movie was a huge success. On a $58 million budget it made almost $800 million and launched a film franchise that is expected to surpass the $2 billion mark.

A sequel was immediately greenlit with plans for a third movie but as per usual a snag appeared. Disney purchased Fox and its assets, including rights to Deadpool. Alarms immediately went off as Disney is notoriously family-friendly and known for being offensively inoffensive.

But there was no reason for concern. Firstly, Disney would never pass on a cash cow such as Deadpool and second, the head of the MCU, also bought by Disney, is Kevin Feige, the man who believed in the film back when he was a producer for Fox. Feige also jumped on the opportunity to use Deadpool, a character known for breaking the fourth wall, to do a soft reboot of the MCU and usher in the next Phase.

In the end, everything worked out for Reynolds and you can watch the culmination of his longtime dream in theaters now!