Deadpool has become a comic book superhero in his own right. He has slashed his way into the hearts of millions of comic book lovers. The movie adaptation has only increased the fanbase of the ‘merc with a mouth’ zillionfold. We bring you 24 facts about Deadpool, collated from the movie bible IMDB that is sure to make you fall in love with this kickass superhero.

1 Wade Wilson was named as an homage/parody to Slade Wilson, aka the mercenary Deathstroke from DC Comics.

Deadpool was created by Rob Liefeld and Fabian Nicieza. Liefeld  was a fan of Teen Titans, he showed his new character to Nicieza who remarked, “This is the Deathstroke from Teen Titans.” Nicieza gave Deadpool ( a Marvel comic character) the name of “Wade Wilson” as an inside joke of being related to “Slade Wilson” aka Deathstroke (a DC comic character).(source)

2 In the original comic books, Deadpool gets his healing factor from an experiment involving a sample of Wolverine’s blood (Wolverine is a mutant with super healing powers). This allows Deadpool to survive further experimentation, but he cannot heal any wounds sustained before his experiment. Neither can he cure his cancer, in fact, the cancer progresses as fast as he can heal.

3 Deadpool made on a $58 million budget and shot in just 48 days became the first R-rated movie to open above $100 million at the U.S. Box office.

4 This film had a lower budget than any of the other superhero movies such as  X-Men, Iron Man, Avengers, or Captain America movies.

Deadpool, which grossed 491 USD worldwide despite the ban in China ( the world’s second largest market for Hollywood movies) was made on a shoestring budget. According to Box Office Mojo, the estimated budget for Deadpool was $58 million whereas other superhero movies such as Iron Man (2008) was made on the budget of $140 million, Thor (2011) was made on a budget of $150 million. Even the other R-Rated superhero movie ‘Watchmen’ released in 2009 had a budget of 130 million USD.(source)

5 The Deadpool costume originally had a muscle layer underneath but it had to be removed: Ryan Reynolds was so muscular, the costume was not only too tight for him, but it made him look overlarge.

6 During a talk at Google, Ryan Reynolds revealed that the taxi driver character “Dopinder” was named after “a really cool guy” he knew in elementary school, who died when he was hit by lightning. It was meant to be a tribute to him.