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'Deadpool': How the comic book movie triumphed at Comic-Con

A panel at Comic-Con about the superhero film got a rapturous response from fans. Here's how 'Deadpool' is different from just about any other comic book movie out there.

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Joe Lederer/20th Century Fox/AP
'Deadpool' stars Ryan Reynolds.

With movies and TV shows from the “Star Wars” universe and the comic book companies Marvel and DC Comics all being presented at this year’s Comic-Con event, competition was fierce to get attention from fans.

But attendees seem to have been particularly excited by a presentation for the upcoming comic book movie “Deadpool,” which is based on a Marvel character and is being released by 20th Century Fox. Industry observers are writing that the presentation for “Deadpool” “won Comic-Con” and “[had] Comic-Con on its feet,” and the footage that was shown for fans was shown twice by “very popular demand.”

Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson is a superhero who can heal himself and is good at martial arts and other forms of combat.

Actor Ryan Reynolds is taking on the role again after playing Deadpool in the 2009 film “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” a film that was not well-received by critics or fans.

The film is very different from the current superhero movies in the marketplace. It seems probable that the film will be rated R, with Reynolds saying during the Comic Con panel, “I think it’s an absolute miracle that a studio let us make Deadpool, let alone a rated-R Deadpool.” As indicated by Reynolds' comments, an R-rated superhero is very rare – the “Blade” movie series, which was released in the late '90s and early 2000s, and 2009’s “Watchmen” all earned the rating, but all the recent successful comic book movies like the “Iron Man” series, the “Captain America” movies, the “Dark Knight” trilogy, and last summer’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” were rated PG-13. The traditional thinking, of course, is that an R rating would drive away younger fans and while “Watchmen” is most likely a far different movie than “Deadpool,” the film, the most recent superhero movie to get an R, was not a financial success. 

But fans seem very excited for Deadpool to hit the big screen. We’ll see how the unusual superhero does at the multiplex when “Deadpool” comes to movie theaters this February.

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