It boggles the mind that Deadpool spent a over a dozen years in development hell, with the studio showing very little interest in bringing the self-aware superhero to the big screen for the longest time. Ryan Reynolds first attached himself to the title role in 2004, half a decade before he even debuted as Wade Wilson in X-Men: Origins Wolverine, and it would be another seven years after that until the Merc with a Mouth headlined his own solo movie.
When the dust finally settled, though, Deadpool had become one of the most profitable comic book blockbusters ever made after earning $782 million at the box office on a budget of $58 million, which was positively minuscule by the standards of the genre. The sequel may have cost almost twice as much at $110 million and only made $3 million more in theaters, but the first two installments both became the highest-grossing R-rated titles in history, although they’ve since been dislodged by Joker.
You can guarantee that Reynolds and Kevin Feige will be looking to reclaim the top spot once again when the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Deadpool 3 eventually arrives, though, and we’ve now heard from our sources – the same ones that told us Jaimie Alexander would be back as Sif in Thor: Love and Thunder long before it was confirmed – that the character’s first adventure at his new home will be the most expensive Deadpool film yet.
Of course, that shouldn’t come as much surprise given the MCU’s status as the biggest and most lucrative game in town, and if you combined the budgets of the first two movies, then the $168 million total would still be less than what Marvel Studios have spent on thirteen of their 23 features to date, with the average cost of a production working out to roughly $195 million, which sounds about right for Deadpool 3.
