'Deadpool' Spoilers: What to Expect from Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson

After years of struggles to get beloved Marvel character Deadpool his own movie, the film is finally in theaters now as part of Fox's X-Men Cinematic Universe. On it, Ryan Reynolds plays Wade Wilson, the Merc with a Mouth, a hilariously obnoxious mercenary who gets superpowers and doesn't exactly use them for good but rather to become the first R-Rated antihero in this superhero movie era.

Before reading this, it's important to remember that this film is rated R for a number of reasons, including (above all) foul language, extreme violence, some nudity and fairly graphic sex talk, including numerous references to masturbation. In all, it's not a good idea to take kids to see this film, even if it is a superhero movie.

Here's a list from Mr. Sunday Movies of every tiny reference made during the film, from Deadpool's fourth wall-breaking to other Marvel movies.

In any case, even before the first word is uttered, the film is already hilarious. Instead of introducing the actors and film crew in the opening credits, including introducing Reynolds as "God's Perfect Idiot" and director Tim Miller as "Some Overpaid Tool."

Wade Wilson (Reynolds) is a mercenary who does freelance work trying to get creepy stalkers away from teenage girls, spending most of his time at a bar attended by his best friend, Weasel (T.J. Miller). Hanging out there one night, he meets Vanessa (Morena Baccarin), an escort who frequents the venue; they bond over their similar senses of humor and fall in love, which results in numerous and fairly graphic sex scenes.

After months together, Wade proposes to Vanessa with a Ring Pop and, minutes later, passes out suddenly. The two go to the doctor, where they discover what's wrong with him: he has terminal cancer, something Vanessa has a hard time dealing with but decides to stick with him through the ordeal.

Not long after his diagnosis, a man (Jed Rees) comes up to Wade at the bar and tells him there's a program that offers an experimental cure for terminal illnesses, a place where he would not only get cured but also receive superpowers. Unable to believe him (and making fun throughout the entire ordeal by saying the recruiter looked like a pedophile), Wade leaves the bar but takes the man's card.

After being home and seeing Vanessa, he realizes he wants to take his last possible chance at survival and leaves her in the middle of the night to call this man, who takes him to a treatment facility. On it, he meets Ajax (Ed Skrein) for the first time, and they dislike each other from the start, after Ajax (real name Francis, something Wade makes fun of endlessly) gets annoyed with Wade's constant talking.

Francis and his closest minion, Angel Dust (Gina Carano) perform numerous experiments on Wade at this time, trying to get any mutant genes on his body to act up against the cancer. After weeks of torture, Wade insults Francis so badly that he straps him down to receive the most extreme of treatments: an entire weekend of oxygen deprivation in phases, which takes his cancer to the maximum and burns the entirety of his skin, ultimately curing his cancer and rendering him immortal.

Already at the edge of madness, Wade explodes the oxygen chamber by causing an explosion, then trying to kill Francis, who survives only after telling him he's the only one who can fix his skin. During their fight, Wade is impaled in a rebar as the lab collapses, so Francis leaves him for dead, figuring either the impalement or the fire will kill him.

However, due to Wade's enhanced healing powers, he lives to see another day, with a new focus in life: finding Francis, getting him to fix his face and then killing him. For this, he takes his name from an ongoing Dead Pool on Weasel's bar.

After months of chasing Francis down, Deadpool eventually finds the way to locate his nemesis and getting his hot looks back (making a joke about how Ryan Reynolds didn't get where he is because of his talent).

Following a hilarious car chase scene that leads to a lot of dead people and a fun monologue, Deadpool faces Francis and is about to go medieval on him when two X-Men show up: Colossus (Andre Tricoteux in motion capture with Stefan Kapičić's voice) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), who ask him to listen to reason and join the X-Men. Colossus' talks about morals lead Francis to escape, and when the giant mutant says they're taking him to see Professor Xavier, Deadpool asks whether it will be Patrick Stewart or James McAvoy, revealing the two storylines really confuse him.

In any case, Deadpool escapes Colossus by going 127 Hours on his hand and chopping it off. Once it's grown back, he gets a call from the bar from Weasel, who tells him Francis is looking for Vanessa, so it's time for Wade to tell her he's still alive and survived the cancer; however, when they go to the strip club where she works (and where Stan Lee makes his cameo), Francis has kidnapped her.

Recruiting Colossus and Negasonic, Deadpool reaches Francis' lair (which looks very much like a Helicarrier, an item thoroughly used in the Marvel Cinematic Universe) and faces him.

A fight ensues between Francis' men and Deadpool's two mutants, which obviously ends up in the two nemesis facing each other. When it becomes clear Deadpool has won and he asks Francis to fix his face, the villain tells him he can't fix him, so Deadpool decides to kill him; Colossus watches the scene and urges him to take the high road and spare his life, giving a beautiful speech -- that's interrupted when Deadpool simply shoots Francis in the head and Colossus throws up.

Finally, Deadpool reveals what happened to Vanessa, including how his entire body is scarred and ugly, which she says she can live through after a lot of alcohol. The two kiss and make up, and Deadpool lives to see the sequel -- and in a post-credits scene wearing a bathrobe, he reveals Deadpool 2 will also star comic book character Cable, also asking fans if they expected to see Samuel L. Jackson inviting him to join the Avengers in a hilarious MCU reference.

For a more in-depth analysis, Slash Film posted a great point-by-point review of Deadpool as an adaptation and within its cinematic universe.

The film is currently in theaters around the world.