Deadpool vs Deadpool 2: Face Off

Which adventure of The Marc with a Mouth is better, Tim Miller’s Deadpool, or David Leitch’s big budget sequel, Deadpool 2?

In 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released to a critical bashing. The film was dragged by fans for its unfinished-looking CGI, shoddy story, and waste of important characters. That last point was especially painful as Ryan Reynolds was perfectly cast as Wade Wilson, the ‘Merc with a Mouth’, also known as Deadpool. However, the film does more than just waste Reynolds, it also ruins the character of Deadpool by sewing his mouth shut and giving him an awful makeover.

That being said, the film had a good opening weekend, and a solo Deadpool film was greenlit. Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick were hired to write the script, and eventually, Tim Miller was brought on to direct. Reynolds, in the meantime, starred in the infamous Green Lantern film, which suffered another critical bashing and was also a commercial flop. This caused studio 20th Century Fox to get cold feet on Deadpool, but they did give Miller a small budget to create some proof-of-concept test footage.

However, this footage did not convince Fox to make the film. Someone leaked the footage online, and the enormously positive response to it convinced Fox to finally greenlight the film released in 2016. The rest, as they say, is history. The film’s massive critical and commercial success guaranteed a quick sequel with a much larger budget. Deadpool 2 was unleashed in 2018 with similar success as the first film. It saw a much larger scope with a bigger cast of comic book characters. But which one gets the chimichanga? Is the original better? There’s only one way to find out! FACE OFF!!

About the Author

Chris Bumbray began his career with JoBlo as the resident film critic (and James Bond expert) way back in 2007, and he has stuck around ever since, being named editor-in-chief in 2021. A voting member of the CCA and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, you can also catch Chris discussing pop culture regularly on CTV News Channel.