ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool is one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but I’m shocked that each of his films were able to outgross the box office total of what is widely considered Fox’s best X-Men movie. Considering that the first ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool was only made after test footage leaked, as the studio did not have enough faith in the project, this is an incredible realization. In a short period of time, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool has become one of the most beloved comic book heroes, although there is at least one who is arguably more adored.

With ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool’s popularity, I was shocked that his name was missing from the Avengers: Doomsday cast. With incredible box office returns for the character, ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool is likely one of the most popular characters within the MCU’s roster. Even the incredible results of ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine are only the most recent entry in a pattern of success, as ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool’s films have consistently made money since the first one was released in 2016. Still, it’s hard to believe that each film out-grossed one of the best superhero movies ever made.

The ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Trilogy Have Consistently Been Box Office Hits

Upon Release, Each ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Film Has Become The Highest Grossing R-Rated Movie Of All Time

The first ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool felt like an unusual surprise when it was released in 2016, accompanied by a memorable creative marketing campaign from Ryan Reynolds and the team. The film was an enormous hit immediately, taking in more than double its budget in only the first weekend. With heart, humor, and a willingness to lean into self-awareness, the film captured the hearts of many audiences, endearing ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool to an entire generation, whether they read his comics or not.

This was not a fluke, as was proven by the great success of ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool 2 a few years later. While the film received a bigger budget, and brought in additional stars like Josh Brolin, the response to the film was about the same. It only made slightly more money than the first, which was still an impressive $786 million dollars, at the time becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Looking at these incredible numbers really captures how much ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool was able to get a foothold in the culture as a whole, and how big these movies really were.

Even Though Every ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Movie Has Done Well At The Box Office, Them All Beating Logan’s Box Office Feels Surreal

Logan Is Beloved, But Every ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Movie Made More Money

Logan was released in 2017, and many continue to hail it as one of the best superhero movies of all time. A darker, R-rated conclusion to Wolverine’s trilogy of films, the movie was directed by James Mangold and saw a future story that was framed like a western about the end of Logan’s life. The movie was bleak, and saw Logan taking X-23 under his care after saving a number of children from the Reavers. The film was acclaimed and holds a 93% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Shockingly, however, Logan‘s box office gross was only $619.2 million. While this is an incredible success, and the film performed vastly above both X-Men Origins: Wolverine and The Wolverine, which took in $374 million and $416 million, respectively, it is a baffling comparison to the ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool films. For a time, it seemed that Wolverine was a much bigger character than ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool, although comparing these box office receipts may confuse that. I wonder if ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool is now bigger than Wolverine ever was.

The ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool Trilogy’s Box Office Success Underlines That ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine Was The Right Move For Both Heroes

ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine Made An Incredible Amount Of Money

Years after Wolverine’s death, it seemed that the character was done with. Then a pitch came around for a ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool 3 that would see the two heroes teaming up. This wound up being the right move for another Wolverine movie, as the ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool franchise had more consistent box office success. However, it was also the right choice for another ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool movie, as the character needed a bigger hook to lure in fans of Fox’s larger X-Men universe.

The result was ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine, which quickly became one of the most popular superhero movies in recent years. The movie was fun, funny, and provided what seemed to be an excellent ending to Fox’s X-Men universe. While recent developments have suggested that X-Men characters will appear in future MCU projects, the film was an excellent close to the stories of both ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool and Wolverine, regardless of whether audiences will ever see them again.

ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool is one of the most consistently bankable characters in Marvel’s roster, but Logan is a genuinely special Marvel movie. It is important that both of these characters continue to live on in the public consciousness, but perhaps it is time for the roles to be pᴀssed down to new performers. Either way, both ᴅᴇᴀᴅpool & Wolverine and Logan seemed to say goodbye to the heroes for now, and I can’t wait to see what comes to fill their place in the near future.

Upcoming MCU Movies

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  Thunderbolts*

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