DEADPOOL: The Snark Knight Rises (And he's R-Rated)

Hello, geeks and geekettes! Let's talk Deadpool.

For anyone that's busy living under their rock, this week, Marvel and 20th Century Fox released Deadpool this weekend after what was apparently a sixteen year journey to production. Deadpool is a Marvel Comics character, known for his edgy humor and tendency to break the fourth wall. And he is glorious to behold. He's become a cultural phenomenon. If there isn't at least one Deadpool cosplay at any given convention, attendees should assume something is wrong. That said, Deadpool is a very controversial character. There is no political correctness in Deadpool. As such, there shouldn't be any surprise that some find him offensive or gratuitous. It comes with the territory of being a walking farce with guns, katanas, and an inability to die. Of course, that always brought on a concerning question for genuine Deadpool fans around the world. How would they do a Deadpool movie? Naturally the only way to do Deadpool any justice would be to make the film R-Rated, yes? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Deadpool is not a character that can fit into a PG-13 box and truly shine. There's just one problem with that. Studios like money. They want to make sure as many people will go to see a movie as possible in order to make that money. So considering how much money it takes to make a superhero film in the first place, the thought that a faithful Deadpool movie would ever get made lingered around the ballpark of "slim chance" and "Hell hath frozen over."

But fans have an interesting way of making things happen, it seems. Some two years ago, test footage was leaked revolving around the character, which can be seen here. After Fox's previous debacle with the character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and the ensuing backlash, this test footage began to give fans hope that the character wasn't done yet. What came of it was a massive outcry for the film that this test footage was portraying to be made. From there came rumors, buzz, phony confirmations, and Fox pretending that it intentionally released the footage. Eventually the first trailer hit. It was... basically the same as the test footage but not entirely CG. The rallying cry of the people (and the passionate people who wanted to work on the thing) made the movie happen. And the one resounding sigh of relief? It was Rated R, as it was always meant to be.

But as the movie drew closer, many were skeptical that it might be Deadpool's final hoorah upon the big screen already. So much for that. Comic Book Resources reports that Deadpool unsurprisingly shattered the February Box Office record for biggest Friday opening, previously held by Fifty Shades of Grey. In fact, IGN reports that the film has the biggest opening day weekend ever for an R-Rated movie. Not only is the film successful from a financial standpoint, but it currently has an 8.8 on IMDB and an 80% on Rotten Tomatoes (as well as a more modest 64% on MetaCritic). Granted, neither are the End-all Be-all of cinema analysis (seeing as such a thing can't exist, just by definition of the word "subjective"), but they don't hurt. I, personally, thought that the movie was very enjoyable. Colossus was a bit ham-fisted for my tastes, but I digress.

So what does this mean for the Merc with the Mouth? I have no idea. I'm not psychic. But we can all hope that it means Fox, and studios in general, won't shy away from R movies just for the sake of making a buck. If a film should be an R, let the writers make it an R. Don't try to pull punches for the sake of money or political correctness, diluting what the content's supposed to be about. After all, this did exceptionally well for Fox and it'd be a shame for them not to learn from it. But with that said, one thing it clearly means is that the film is getting a sequel. I mean, for crying out loud, the thing was announced before this film was even released. Even if they didn't learn their lesson from an ethics standpoint, they certainly learned that an R Movie can make money. So maybe this time Fox will be willing to throw a little more money Deadpool's way and continue giving him the treatment he's due.

That's all for now, geeks and geekettes. As usual, keep up the awesome and thanks for reading. Take care.