Though it happened so many years ago now it feels like ancient history, there was a long and arduous process involved in getting Deadpool onto the big screen. Technically, it happened back in 2009, inX-Men Origins: Wolverine, but thatwasn’t really Deadpool, even ifRyan Reynoldswas involved. The use/misuse of the character was widely criticized in that film, though Reynolds maintained a passion for playing the character for real, preferably by starring in a solo movie without too much extra X-Men and/or Wolverine baggage. The potential was conveyed through some test footage that found itself leaked online, which naturally increased enthusiasm for a feature-lengthDeadpoolmovie to exist; all the ingredients were there, and it just needed a budget. That happenedso long ago that Colliderreported on such news way back in 2014, which was truly a different time on the Internet. The years have changed things.
2016 was the year when a “proper”Deadpoolmovie finally got released, and it was a monumental success, paving the way for other R-rated superhero/comic book movies to excel at the box office almost as much as PG-13 fare had in years before. This was solidified whenJokereven managed to break $1 billion at the box office, withDeadpooland its sequels proving similarly impressive. But, box office aside, which of the threeDeadpoolmovies is the best?All have a good deal to offer for those who like their superhero movies violent, profanity-filled, and self-deprecating, but not allDeadpoolmovies have been created equally. The character has, as of 2024, journeyed into the MCU with a third film, so there’s no better time to look back on what is – for now – a trilogy, and rank those three movies from worst to best. As Deadpool himself might say: “How original! Another list article!”
3’Deadpool & Wolverine' (2024)
Director: Shawn Levy
Befitting the title,Deadpool & Wolverineisn’t just aDeadpoolmovie, asHugh Jackman’s a big part of this one, reprising his role of Logan/Wolverineafter getting an excellent send-offin the form of 2017’sLogan. Right from the get-go,Deadpool & Wolverineacknowledges how great that film was, and then proceeds to somehow both mock it and kind of respect it, given the events ofLoganaren’t undermined or rewritten; there’s another route that’s taken for Wolverine to reappear that doesn’t involve resurrection. Maybe that’s a “having a cake and eating it too” kind of situation (but that’s a saying which is an overall pretty stupid one. Why have a cake if you’re not going to eat it? No one ever asks the real questions. Everyone’s too afraid, in these divided and volatile times).
Speaking of divided times: the titular characters here have a strained relationship throughoutDeadpool & Wolverine, with the team-up movie excelling most of all when it feels like a buddy comedy. Jackman and Reynolds both have impeccable chemistry on screen, and when the former gets the odd chance here and there to have a slightly more dramatic scene, he shines.So, the comedy can be funny, the two leads are good, and most of the action satisfies… butDeadpool & Wolverineis also undeniably messy, and arguably the shakiestDeadpoolmovie to date (again, certainly not countingX-Men Origins: Wolverinehere).The improv comedy is both a blessingand a curse. A blessing in the sense that there are some very funny one-liners, but a curse in that it throws off an overall sense of rhythm that’s severely lacking inDeadpool & Wolverinecompared to the more direct and satisfying first twoDeadpoolmovies. The messiness is emphasized becauseDeadpool & Wolverineis trying to do so much in two hours, introducing Deadpool to the MCU, bringing Wolverine back into the fold,and showcasing an abundance of cameos. Alongside being a newDeadpoolmovie, it also has to continue the ever-shaky Multiverse arc for what was once an untouchable cinematic universe (andnot untouchable in aKevin Costnerway.)
Deadpool & Wolverine
Wolverine joins the “merc with a mouth” in the third installment of the Deadpool film franchise.
Watch in theaters
2’Deadpool 2' (2018)
Director: David Leitch
Sorry, it should be admitted right now that it’s so surprising that things are just going in reverse chronological order for this ranking. Like, noSith, Sherlock; the first movie is the best, and the sequels get gradually worse. Just like any trilogy that’s not abouta war in the starsor alord of some rings. But if you want to pretend there’s some suspense, it might as well be worthwhile taking this seriously… well, as seriously as possible for a superhero movie series that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Anyway,Deadpool 2is a very good sequelthat reliably delivers much of what the first movie already delivered, for better or worse. For all intents and purposes, it is pretty much moreDeadpool, plus a little extra by way of spectacle and cameos, owing to an increased budget. If you’re a fan of the first movie, that should be enough, but it won’t convert anyDeadpoolnon-believers.
After the original served as something of an origin story (albeit a sometimes subversive and oftentimes crude one),Deadpool 2expands things by having a narrative that focuses on revenge, time travel, and a confrontation between – and eventual alliance with – Cable (Josh Brolinjust couldn’t help himself,playing two intimidating/buffed-up Marvel characters in one year, could he?). It’s all a touch messy, but certainly not as messy asDeadpool & Wolverine, making it noticeably better than that one.Also, it contains the incredible X-Force sequence, which might be the very best scene from anyDeadpoolmovie to date, so that helps. In hindsight, it’s also clever how itforeshadows the nextDeadpoolmovie, in a way, and there are some welcome new cast members like Brolin andZazie Beetz… both of whom were missed in the admittedly already overstuffedDeadpool & Wolverine(it shouldn’t be too much of a punching bag, but that movie is in such great company that it feels sort of inevitable).
Deadpool 2
Foul-mouthed mutant mercenary Wade Wilson (a.k.a. Deadpool) assembles a team of fellow mutant rogues to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the brutal, time-traveling cyborg Cable.
Watch on Disney+
1’Deadpool' (2016)
Director: Tim Miller
This was the one. The one that showed aDeadpoolmovie was not only possible, but also able to accumulate a vast amount of money. (And that’s what it’s all about, at the end of the day.People love talking about money and reading about money. Maybe it’s simply all in the game). But beyond the financial success of the firstDeadpool,this 2016 movie was also a critical hit, and deservedly so. There was something that felt genuinely dangerous about making an irreverent and very much R-rated superhero movie on this scale, as the latter hadn’t really been done (again, on such a scale) since 2009’sWatchmen, which was a very different movie.Deadpoolis easily the crudest and most subversive movie of the series to date, becauseDeadpool & Wolverinedid feel a little milder, and for the worse. Disney allowed the bloodshed and profanity to remain, but it was a pretty clean film regarding sexual content and nudity.
Regarding that third movie, the sexual content was contained to verbal references, and anything by way of nudity was lacking entirely… neither are statements that could be made about 2016’sDeadpool. But, beyond the shock value – not to mention the shock to the cinematic system the film represented –Deadpool(2016) also succeeds the most when it comes to narrative and character development,working oddly well as an unlikely romance/Valentine’s Day movie(it was released in February, after all). Beyond just explaining howWade Wilson became the antihero known as Deadpool, the first film to bear his name is a little light on narrative, but that’s okay. It absolutely works as something straightforward and daring, and it’s that risk factor that makes the firstDeadpoolthe easiest to admire, when looking back on the series as a whole. As easy as it is to point out how predictable it is to call the first movie the best of the three, that’s just how it is. There’s just no snarking your way out of the reality of the situation.You couldn’t really ask for a better cinematic introduction to Deadpool, and it may well be a fact that this one from 2016 will never be topped; not in this universe, and not in any other across the multiverse.
