20 HUGE Hit Movies NOBODY Saw Coming

14. Deadpool

Looking back over our shoulders at the Deadpool trilogy, it's incredibly easy to lose sight of how humble expectations were for the original Ryan Reynolds-starring superhero flick.

The box office red flags were numerous - its R rating, the risky meta tone, a limited $60 million budget that placed a ceiling on its scope, and Ryan Reynolds' string of flops and underwhelming projects leading up to it.

But a riotous marketing campaign combined with strong word-of-mouth allowed Deadpool to blow past even the most optimistic of expectations.

It ultimately grossed a stonking $782.6 million worldwide, which most shockingly of all made it the highest-grossing film in the X-Men series at the time - until both of its sequels bested that figure, of course.

Deadpool could've so easily been a mere modest success that was fortunate to get a sequel or two, but the character basically became an overnight pop-culture mainstay.