Deadpool, which opened in theaters, Friday, February 12, dominated the box office. It broke the box office records for R-rated movies, grossing $132.7  million in the first weekend (Fri. – Sun.).

Deadpool is another superhero movie by Marvel that follows the story of Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds), a former special forces operative turned mercenary.

He becomes diagnosed with terminal cancer throughout his body, which leads him to take part in an experiment that could potentially cure his cancer, but could leave him with horrible side effects, such as a disfigured body and amazing powers.

This is the first time Marvel has made a movie about the superhero, Deadpool, who originally dated back to Marvel comics. Although most Marvel movies aren’t rated R, Deadpool focuses on something different by using raunchy comedy and bloody violence. Ryan Reynolds pushed Marvel to make the movie R-rated, and I personally think that paid off.

Throughout the experimentation, Wilson goes through a series of painful and horrific testing, all being inflicted by a cruel caretaker who goes by the name Ajax. The point of harming the patient is to push his or her body to the limit, which the body reacts by creating last resort powers when near death.

After months of this experimentation on Wilson, his “powers” are unlocked, but he is left with a disfigured body, including a quite hideous face. He gains superhuman strength, enhanced reflexes and agility, and healing abilities.

Although Wilson thought he would be free after the cure of his cancer, he is told he is not and will be a slave for the rest of his life. In the night, Wilson lights a match and throws it into a vent, causing a chain reaction of explosions and his eventual escape from his enslavement. He is about to go back to his wife, Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), but realizes he is extremely ugly.

Wilson then dedicates himself to hunt down Francis and find a cure for his ugly, disfigured body, and then go back for the love of his life. I won’t tell you the entire story, but Wilson creates his alter ego, “Deadpool,” and faces a series of challenges that eventually lead him to Francis.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, expect some vulgar comedy and graphic violence throughout the movie. This is some of the material that differentiates this superhero movie from others. I think that this is definitely a step up for Marvel that’s headed in the right direction.

Instead of focusing on younger crowds, this movie focuses more on young adults and older. This definitely decreases its viewer base because parents will not want their younger teens seeing a R-rated movie, regardless of it being about a superhero.

Even though Marvel could have possibly made more of a profit making it PG-13, I think Marvel’s decision to make it R-rated is definitely a good change to the company.