'Deadpool & Wolverine' is the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time

The trio of Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Shawn Levy have captured lightning in a bottle with “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

Starting Thursday, the Disney and the Marvel film is the highest-grossing R-rated title of all time, surpassing Warner Bros. “Joker.”

With $516.8 million in domestic ticket sales and $568.8 million internationally, “Deadpool & Wolverine” has surpassed $1.085 billion worldwide. A “Joker” sequel is set to hit theaters in October.

The feat not only demonstrates the durability of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at the box office after a string of recent failures, but also suggests that Marvel Studios can delve into darker content in the future without alienating viewers.

“The success of their first R-rated film opens up a lot of opportunities for Disney and Marvel,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory. “It's important to remember that the rating was organic and necessary for the characters. That helped audiences and fans respond so favorably. They knew in advance that this wouldn't be a watered-down translation of a formula that's already proven itself.”

Previous Deadpool films were produced by 20th Century Fox and were also R-rated. When The Merc with a Mouth was taken over by Disney in 2019, it was unclear whether the company would embrace his fourth-wall-breaking crudeness or leave him on the shelf while it produced other Marvel projects.

So when Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed in 2021 that a third Deadpool movie would retain its R rating, there was a collective sigh of relief across the MCU fan community. Plus, Marvel gave Reynolds and Levy free rein to poke fun at company executives, the franchise as a whole, and even use the iconic “Frozen” line, “Wanna build a snowman?” to make a drug reference.

“Disney will likely be very selective in deciding which future films it feels comfortable releasing under the more mature rating because it still has to consider its huge family audience, as does Marvel, but this at least offers a model for how and when it's appropriate to do so,” Robbins said.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” hit theaters in late July after a string of hits and misses for one of Disney's most bulletproof franchises. The last film released by the studio was “The Marvels,” which arrived in November and had the lowest opening and lowest box office gross overall for an MCU film.

There's now renewed confidence in the MCU, especially since Marvel used San Diego Comic-Con and Disney's biannual D23 Expo to promote its upcoming slate of feature films and share exclusive images.

Looking ahead, the studio appears to be limiting the number of series it produces for its streaming platform, Disney+, and keeping its focus on the big screen. Previously, Marvel had produced nearly a dozen shows for the streaming platform, flooding the market and alienating some fans.

Marvel has six film titles coming out in the next three years and three TV series planned for 2025: “Agatha All Along,” “Ironheart” and “Daredevil: Born Again.”

Both Comic Con and D23 audiences cheered Marvel's movie announcements, a sign that interest in the superhero genre has not waned. That's good news for the MCU, which has generated more than $30 billion at the box office since “Iron Man” was released in 2008.