Gavin Hood's 2009 superhero flick "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," the fourth film in its franchise, was widely rejected by fans and generally rejected by critics. The tone of the film was weirdly bright and "Saturday morning" for a grizzled character like Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), while the movie's steady stream of fantastical characters was more distracting and busy than intriguing and textured. The editing was also notoriously bad, with scenes where characters seem to teleport up to rooftops with no explanation. Many X-Men purists particularly objected to the depictions of characters like Gambit (Taylor Kitsch) and Wade Wilson aka Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) as they dramatically differed from their on-page counterparts.

The Deadpool changes were especially egregious, at least if the exiting crowds I overheard in 2009 were any indicator. In the comics, Deadpool is a mouthy, masked comedy character who wisecracks his way through his murders. His only superpowers were rapid healing and immortality.