It’s no secret by now that I’m not a huge fan of comic books, or the movies made depicting them. There are always exceptions, like Sin City, Guardians of the Galaxy, and the like, that end up being really good and ultimately some of my favorite films, but in general super hero movies aren’t for me. Perhaps part of it is that they’ve generally been done to death. There are at least 6 Superman films, at least 6 versions of Batman, at least 5 Spiderman movies, at least 6 X-Men films (including spinoffs) and on and on, with the promise of many more to come.
 
        I knew that Disney purchased the Marvel franchise in 2009, with the promise to do some digging and to make movies based on more obscure comic titles. What I didn’t know was that Disney didn’t purchase ALL that Marvel had to offer, leaving the door open for other people to make less Disney-esque film versions of beloved comic book characters. Apparently 20^th Century Fox owns rights to Deadpool, The Fantastic Four, X-Men and the Silver Surfer, which is why Deadpool got an R rating, instead of Disney’s limit of PG-13, and why Fox has said that the next Wolverine film will also be rated R (according to Cultjer.com).
 
        In an interview on the Today Show, Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds said that, “It’s a movie that I’ve been trying to get made for 11 years. It’s been a journey, but it had to get made this way, the right way, which is sadly an R [rating].” And Reynolds wasn’t kidding. According to Wikipedia, in 2004 New Line Cinema began development of the Deadpool script, with Reynolds already on board to play the title role. In 2005 New Line sold the rights of the film to Fox. In 2009 Deadpool makes his first big screen appearance in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, after which Fox decided to make the separate Deadpool film and in 2010 development on the current script, and eventually the film began.
 
        Perhaps what the movie going public has needed for so long is an R rating on a super hero movie. After checking the ratings of all of the recent super hero flicks, it seems that PG-13 has long been the standard. But, according to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Deadpool has made $639,979,069 worldwide after its first 24 days in theaters. It has since become the highest grossing R rated comic book film of all time.

        And that title is well deserved.  Deadpool, was far better than I expected! It was another film that I didn’t really have any interest in, but that my husband really wanted to see. Once again, I’m glad I gave in to his pressure and nudging, because this film is an action packed, laugh a minute, totally captivating anti-super hero flick that was totally worth the money and time it takes to see it. It’s a film that proves that super hero films don’t all need to be kid friendly, and one that most people, super hero and comic book fans or not, will enjoy.
        Deadpool is rated R, wasdirected by Tim Miller and stars Ryan Reynolds, Ed Skrein and Morrena Baccarin.It’s in theaters now and will be out on Blu Ray, DVD and Digital Downloadsometime in May, 2016.