Its hard to imagine Marvel Studios as an underdog.
But, over the past few years, Marvel looked slightly vulnerable.
Its not every day one of Disneys brands goes againstits family-friendly stylebutDeadpool & Wolverinewas Marvels first R-rated film.
© Marvel
And a hard R at that.
The risk paid off though.
Think about all the R-rated movies youve watched over your lifetime.Deadpool & Wolverinehas outgrossed all of them.
But, in the years that followed, the huge successes have been as numerous as the disappointments.
So, not a total win.
Those missteps necessitated a refocus that resulted inDeadpool & Wolverinebeing the only Marvel movie released in 2024.
Which, as we just stated, was a success.
Things also largely worked on the TV side too.
What was all of this building up to?
And there was no mention of its eventual 2024 saviors Deadpool, Wolverine, or the X-Men.
By the time San Diego Comic-Con 2024 came around, Marvel had reloaded and then some.
We got to see footage from 2025sThe Fantastic Four: First Steps, which had barely started filming.
Later in the year, plans for a fourth Spider-Man with Tom Holland also added to the goodwill.
Finally, things had a direction.
Finally, things we wanted to see were happening.
Let the games begin.
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