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One night at a local strip joint, Wilson meets an escort named Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), and their first date, or appointment rather, finds them playing Skee-ball. After that, it’s nothing but love and credit must be given to the filmmakers and studio for giving Deadpool an R-rating so that we might actually see the hero and his girl naked and having sex (too often superhero movies are shy about this sort of thing).

Wilson and Vanessa eventually exchange the “L” word but soon after he proposes marriage, Wilson collapses and learns he has terminal cancer. A mysterious recruiter (Jed Rees) shows up and offers him the opportunity to take part in an experimental procedure that could cure him. Wilson concedes and meets Francis Freeman, a.k.a. Ajax (Ed Skrein), who injects him with a serum that triggers a mutation, leaving Wilson permanently burnt and disfigured, although the other side effect is that it renders him immortal, with fast-acting healing powers (essentially the same power as Wolverine; it’s just not applicable to his skin). After discovering Freeman’s true intentions were to turn him into a slave and sell him off to the highest bidder, Wilson blows up the laboratory and embarks on his mission to carry of revenge and decide whether or not he can face Vanessa in his current state. Weasel tells him to get a mask, which results in one of those classic montages in which the hero makes a variety of different costumes and tests out their efficacy while hunting bad guys.

While I’m sure Deadpool will become yet another longstanding superhero franchise (Weasel makes a point of saying so), I doubt its silly and flippant nature will ever make us really care about its plots. We’re more interested in the characters and their droll, irreverent behavior, not to mention their interaction with the audience. And as long as the filmmakers can continue to develop them and maintain the derisive humor without allowing it to grow stale, this could turn into a formidable “anti-superhero” superhero series, one that’s more dependent on wit than events.

With that said, anyone looking for a superhero movie will still get their money’s worth. Despite its subversive attitude, Deadpool delivers everything typical of the genre, including car chases; fight scenes; the hero jumping off bridges; and one of those “hanging on for dear life” endings. It’s a superhero film, yes, but a radical one that serves to be light and funny instead of serious and melodramatic. I’m grateful to director Tim Miller, Reynolds (who also serves as producer) and the studio for not caving and trying to make it deeper than necessary. And even though it won’t be taken as seriously as, say, Spider-Man, The Dark Knight or The Avengers, what the film accomplishes isn’t any less easy. Comedy is just as difficult to pull off as drama, but Deadpool comes together sensationally, and it’s wickedly entertaining.

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