The real MCU hero who saved it from total annihilation was paid pennies for the $782M-grossing ‘Deadpool’ movie and he’s not happy

On a mere $58 million budget, Tim Miller gave us one of the highest-grossing and most entertaining movies of 2016. But eight years later, he wishes he got paid more for his hard work.

If Tim Miller hadn’t worked his magic in 2016’s Deadpool, we might never have seen the rise of Marvel’s most beloved antihero. In all sincerity, watching Deadpool and Wolverine unfold on the big screen was one of my cinematic highlights of 2024. But, none of this would have been possible without 20th Century Fox’s gamble on Miller, a first-time director, back in 2011. Despite his success, Miller candidly admits that “it’s not really a profitable thing to be a first-time director in Hollywood.”

While speaking to Collider recently about his upcoming animated anthology series Secret Level, Miller reflected on his humble beginnings and how his Deadpool creation eventually became a pop culture phenom. “I got $225,000 to direct Deadpool. I know it sounds like a lot of money, but for two years of work, that’s not a ton of money,” he said, adding that he’s still “grateful” to have gotten the chance to direct the film.

Miller revealed that he was 50 when he finally got the chance to direct Deadpool after believing his whole life that he would never “direct a movie even though I’d wanted to my whole life.” Part of why he got the deal, according to The Hollywood Reporter, was because of his excellent work on the visual effects for some of the X-Men films and his experience creating animated short films.

However, a lot was holding him back from really taking up the directing chair for Deadpool. While he was in talks to do the job after Robert Rodriguez backed out, his agent warned him saying “You make more on an episode of The Walking Dead!” But we’re convinced that fate’s a thing and Miller’s destiny seemed intertwined with the Deadpool franchise to deliver the first spark that ignited its meteoric rise. When asked how he feels about this, he rejoiced,

“You know what I feel? Nothing but pride. I mean, I feel like every time I walk down the aisles out there on the floor of CCXP and I see all these Deadpool figurines, I think they wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t made that film. And I feel uniquely fortunate that I could be part of it.”

But soon, a second thought hit him and he continued, “Then, my second thought is, I wish my director deals had a piece of the merchandising so that I could get some money from all of that.” And that isn’t a selfish thought. Given how he worked day and night for two years perfecting everything for Ryan Reynolds to rise to his superhero glory, Miller should get a share in the double success Deadpool has brought to the studio, especially now that the third film has heroically re-established Marvel as the cinematic king and saved it from its bottomless downward spiral. If Miller hadn’t made the first film a true wonder, there wouldn’t have been a Merc with a Mouth to save the drowning MCU.