Tim Miller

Deadpool defied early predictions for a $65 million opening weekend and broke records with its $135 million box office take, validating Fox’s decision to green light a sequel before the film even properly hit theaters. The R-rated, hyper-violent, hyper-profane superhero flick is a hit, to say the least, and there’s a lesson to be learned from Fox taking a gamble on such a risky blockbuster — but Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn, like many of us, fears that studios might wind up taking the wrong lesson from Deadpool’s success.

Early tracking for Fox's Deadpool solo film suggested that Tim Miller's profanity and violence-laden superhero outing would bring in around $65 million. That number inflated over the past week, and thanks to a strong preview night on Thursday, February 11, the estimate for the risky action film ballooned to $135 million — and that's precisely how much Deadpool made in its first three days in theaters, shattering a few box office records along the way.

Deadpool star T.J. Miller recently said that there’s a more profane, more violent and more “raw” cut of the film, leading many fans to believe that we’d eventually see an unrated, extended version of the movie hit DVD and Blu-ray. Unfortunately, that won’t be happening, as director Tim Miller has revealed that he has no plans for a director’s cut of Deadpool, so you’ll just have to enjoy the one that’s out there.

Tim Miller’s R-rated adaptation of the beloved, foul-mouthed superhero was on track to make $60 million at the box office this weekend, but Deadpool is now expected to top that estimate as it has already begun breaking box office records for February. The Merc With a Mouth’s first solo outing is primed for the biggest R-rated movie opening of all time, as well as the biggest opening for a film released in the month of February.

Most comic book movies are meant to appeal to 12-year-olds. Deadpool is the first one feel like it was actually written by one. Gleefully puerile and deeply immature, it has plenty of what the MPAA calls “adult content,” but no actual content for adults; it’s just non-stop dick jokes (and ball jokes), bloody violence, and fourth wall breaks. In other words, it will be the favorite movie of 2016 of every underage boy who sneaks into it next weekend.

As promised by Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller, Deadpool is going to be much more faithful to the comics than the last time we saw the Merc With a Mouth on the big screen (the less said about that experience, the better). And to further illustrate that point, the film has officially earned an R rating, for all the reasons you might expect.

The trailers for Deadpool have shown off the anti-superhero film’s anti-superhero sense of humor, some interesting supporting characters boasting some enhanced abilities, lots of violence, plenty of one-liners, and even a few glimpses of X-Men pal Colossus. And while we’ve seen a bit of Ed Skrein’s Ajax, we haven’t seen much of the fighting that goes on between the big bad and the Merc With a Mouth.

The Merc With a Mouth really earns that nickname in the latest red band trailer for Deadpool, the profane, balls-out and very violent new superhero-adjacent film that sees Ryan Reynolds reprising his role — albeit far more faithfully — for director Tim Miller in the first X-Men spinoff that doesn’t feature Wolverine. The new red band trailer offered plenty of previously unseen footage and raised a few questions — questions that Miller and producer Simon Kinberg are happy to answer in their official breakdown of the trailer.

By all accounts, the footage we’ve seen from the Deadpool movie appears to prove that Ryan Reynolds and director Tim Miller are delivering on their promise to give us a more faithful version of the popular comic book character. Reynolds has long assured fans that they’re aiming for an R-rating, which isn’t an easy thing when it comes to the family-friendly accessibility of superhero movies. We know Deadpool is going to be far from average, but just how far are we talking?

Though Ajax (Ed Skrien) is the villain in Deadpool, he doesn’t have the name recognition of some of the other superhero movies. He’s not Ultron or Dr. Doom or Green Goblin or Joker or even Apocalypse. He’s, frankly, a character most audiences won’t know. While this movie might have a largely unrecognizable villain, expect that to change in Deadpool 2 as a major Marvel character will be facing off against the Merc With a Mouth.