Black Panther
When Black Panther was first announced, it was hyped for its cultural significance. Heck, Marvel thought it would probably pull in numbers similar to the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. Anything north of $600 million would’ve been deemed a success for everyone involved in the $200 million production.
Fast-forward a few months later though and it’s the second-highest-grossing film of 2018 and the ninth-highest-grossing film of all-time, having pulled in a tremendous $1.347 billion at the global box office. No one could’ve projected these sorts of numbers and it established T’Challa as a key figure of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) going forward.
A sequel was quickly announced with the majority of the creative team brought back for round two. Forget about Thanos turning the titular hero into dust in Avengers: Infinity War, though, because there’s no way that Marvel’s about to turn away all the money it stands to make from future Black Panther productions.
Deadpool
The history of bringing Deadpool to the big screen is well-documented. It’s a production that took many years of conversation and persuasion to pull off. For Fox, the studio refused to believe there would be a demand for an R-rated superhero film, let alone one about some character that looked like a low-budget Spider-Man with a foul mouth and ninja swords.
Establishing the known fact that studios know nothing about their audiences or properties, Ryan Reynolds and the creative team behind Deadpool made movie magic in 2016. Not only did it become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, beating out Fifty Shades of Grey, but it also brought in $783 million against a measly $58 million budget.
Even the team involved in Deadpool couldn’t believe the impact it had. The Merc with a Mouth quickly turned into many people’s new favorite superhero and dismissed the belief that comic books are only for kids once and for all.