Deadpool Officially Confirms He Is Better Than Jesus Christ (At The Box Office)

It turns out the world hasn't tired of the Merc with the Mouth spouting R-rated, fourth-wall-breaking, meta-referencing filth. Now into its second week in theaters, "Deadpool & Wolverine" is still having a great old time at the box office, raking in an incredible $395 million domestically and making it the biggest R-rated movie in cinema history. In hitting this benchmark, Marvel Studios prayers have been answered (to the tune of Madonna no less), and Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds) and the Wolverine's (Hugh Jackman) road trip has taken an esteemed record away from the Son of God himself. Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" has officially lost the top spot it held for the last 20 years.

The actor-turned-director's harrowing adaptation of the last 12 hours of Jesus' life leading to his crucifixion left theaters with $370 million when it was released in 2004. Now, with Marvel's superhero road trip seated at the head of the table, "The Passion of the Christ" is in second place, just ahead of Wade's first solo film, "Deadpool," which earned over $363 million at the domestic box office in 2016. It's an impressive achievement for a threequel spawned from what might be the riskiest comic book movie franchise in history, but should come as no surprise given that Wade himself predicted taking down Jesus in his last big screen outing, "Deadpool 2."

Before the lengthy, lewd fan-service session that is "Deadpool & Wolverine" came to fruition, "Deadpool 2" had already taken shots at Mel Gibson's biblical box office hit. During an escape with Dopinder (Karan Soni) in the second chapter of Wade's adventures, the assassin revels in being named in the same sentence as Jesus, "'Passion of the Christ,' then me. At least domestically. We beat them overseas, where there's no such thing as religion." Considering the current movie's success, the franchise'll have to update the joke the next time around.

It was considered one of the movie's riskiest jokes by the writers, but perhaps not for the reason you would expect. In the commentary track (via ComicBook.com) for "Deadpool 2," Rhett Reese, who has penned all three movies, said, "It's a risky joke because it could have gone either way. We'd have to change it if something else came along." Thankfully, nothing did, and now the joke holds even greater importance since Marvel Jesus has toppled Jesus himself. But while Wade may have broken a 20-year streak, there's a chance that the superhero's recent success might be overtaken by Gibson and the next biblical epic he has planned.

Just like it's taken forever to get Wade and Logan on the screen together, so too has there been a massive waiting period for Mel Gibson to finish telling his take on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ that he began with the 2004 film. Rumors of a 2025 release date for "Passion of the Christ: Resurrection" were stirring online in 2023, but since then, nothing has been nailed down. The only significant update came from Gibson himself, who revealed in a 2023 interview that he had a pair of scripts, each of which is drastically different from the other.

"I have two scripts, and one of them is very structured and a very strong script and kind of more what should expect, and the other is like an acid trip," Gibson revealed. "Because you're going into other realms and stuff. I mean, you're in Hell, and you're watching the angels fall. It's, like, crazy." The director also assured those awaiting the sequel that Jim Caviezel will reprise his role as Jesus in a return to what was one of the actor's most demanding performances. Playing the Son of God even saw the actor suffer the rare injury of being struck by lightning during filming.

Should the production come to pass, it might mark yet another round in the fight for box office supremacy between Deadpool and the Messiah — which is a sentence we never thought we'd type. Hollywood sure is weird, sometimes.