10 Superhero Movies That Broke All The Rules

The merc with a mouth was first brought to the big screen by Ryan Reynolds in the disappointing X-Men Origins: Wolverine. While the character and Reynolds’ performance was a highlight, Wade Wilson’s presence was stymied by the picture’s PG-13 rating, as well as the bizarre decision to sew the character's mouth shut.

Deadpool was finally allowed to come alive in his titular 2016 outing, and this R rated wild ride gleefully tore up the rulebook of superhero movies. As a character, that’s sort of the point of Deadpool - he’s a mercenary who acts without a code, will cheerfully kill and maim, and knows full well that he’s a comic character, gleefully breaking the fourth wall.

Reynolds and director Tim Miller stayed true to the source material, and as such Deadpool was a gore-and-profanity filled blast, not to be mistaken for the kind of family fare ordinarily associated with comic book movies.

Adding pop culture references and swearing to a comic book feel may not be big or clever, but it was certainly profitable, with Deadpool breaking box office records for both R rated and X-Men movies. This anarchic film was a shock to the system, and just what adult audiences wanted.