Fox steers superheroes in R-rated direction Twentieth Century Fox“Deadpool” is working up hype equal to that of “Mad Max: Fury Road.”For the first time in four years, Disney’s Marvel Studios skipped San Diego Comic Con, leaving the stage at the massive 6,500-seat Hall H wide open for a new breed of superheroes. In the absence of Marvel’s Iron Man and Avengers, raunchy “Deadpool” stepped up to the plate. It emerged as one of this year’s showstoppers, bringing the packed hall to its feet. The crowd applauded and chanted “one more time” after the trailer’s debut, prompting an encore. “The audience loved every minute of it,” said Jonathan Kuntz, a lecturer at UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television who was in Hall H when the trailer was unleashed. With “Deadpool,” 21st Century Fox Inc.’s FOX, +0.18% 20th Century Fox studio catapults its superheroes to the next level by cranking up the violence and profanity. (Fox was split off two years ago from News Corp, which owns MarketWatch.) The film is ridiculously action-packed and graphic compared with past comic-book superhero movies. It’s being described as a “meta comedy” about a military man turned mercenary named Wade Wilson, left disfigured and deranged after medical experiments gone wrong. His main superhero power is the ability to quickly heal — so he’s able to ride out everything from incineration to decapitation while hunting down his enemies. He’s also talkative. His nickname is “Merc with a Mouth,” with “Merc” short for “mercenary,” and he frequently breaks the fourth wall, talking to viewers like they’re in on the joke. “Fans connect to Deadpool because he’s a wisecracking iconoclast,” Kuntz said. “He’s the ‘villain’ turned ‘hero’ who is out for himself. He comes out of the garbage and transforms into a superhero.” He’s the anti-hero, but also actor Ryan Reynolds’ chance at redemption after 2011’s “Green Lantern,” one of the biggest-ever superhero movie flops. That film, which “squanders an impressive budget and decades of comics mythology,” according to critics on Rotten Tomatoes, took in $116 million in the U.S. but cost over $200 million to make. In the “Deadpool,” trailer, a self-aware Reynolds-as-Deadpool begs his handlers, “just don’t make the suit green — or animated!” ReutersRyan Reynolds says he wept after seeing the “Deadpool” suit finally completed. “Deadpool’s” hard R rating sets it apart from Disney’s DIS, +0.38% tame PG-13 Marvel characters such as Captain America, Iron Man and the Avengers, which significantly tone down the gore and obscenity to capture a broader teen audience. To get attention in the crowded Marvel world, a filmmaker has to add a bit of sensation, a few twists and turns, says Kuntz. While action films rated R typically struggle at the box office, Fox is hoping to draw in a whole new audience with its raunchier superhero. “It’s the next step after ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’” Kuntz says of 2014’s irreverent, zany film made by Marvel Studios that raked in more than $774 million world-wide. “But ‘Deadpool’ is more hard-core,” he says, comparing the film’s violence and profanity to that of “Guardians.” Days after the trailer made its debut at Comic Con, bootleg footage from “Deadpool” and Warner Bros.’ “Suicide Squad” leaked online, ultimately forcing Warner Bros. to release an official version. But the safe-for-work version of the “Deadpool” trailer is still weeks away; At Comic Con, Reynolds told the audience that he’s been trying to get “Deadpool” made for 11 years, and that the studio finally caved thanks to test footage that went viral on YouTube more than a year ago. The film is set for release Feb. 12. MarketWatch