By George Haerle

For The Daily World

A bit of a history lesson: “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” will be 10 years old next year. Somehow, the worst film in the X-Men franchise indirectly spawned some of its best and most successful movies: “The Wolverine,” “Logan” and both “Deadpool” films.

Hugh Jackman wasn’t the only one who felt burned by “Origins,” as the perfectly cast Ryan Reynolds was given a chance to shine as Wade Wilson/Deadpool, but the character was essentially ruined in the end. While Jackman had enough star power that his franchise had as much of a healing factor as Wolverine, Reynolds had to fight for years for 20th Century Fox to even consider the possibility of a Deadpool film, let alone a hard R-rated adult comedy.

But here we are today, kids! Fox decided to reheat the proverbial chimichanga in 2016 with a low enough budget and the same clueless shrug they gave to the original “Star Wars” before Reynolds’ comedy opened and had a run of over $700 million at the international box office. Now we have not one, but two hilarious “Deadpool” movies, and the second one is even better than the first.

Ryan Reynolds reprises his role as Wade Wilson/Deadpool in this funnier and significantly more action-packed sequel that introduces newcomers in the form of Cable (Josh Brolin as his second hit superhero character of the year) and Domino (Zazie Beetz). After several misadventures and a tragedy or two, Deadpool hits rock bottom and considers joining the X-Men — and for the life of him still can’t figure out why only Colossus and Nega­sonic Teenage Warhead are the only ones he ever sees at the X mansion.

When they respond to an incident involving the young and very destructive mutant Firefist (Julian Dennison, who is great here and adds plenty of laughs himself), the shenanigans get real when the Terminator — er, I mean Cable — comes back to kill John Connor — I mean uh, Firefist.

To vanquish his foes and save the realm, Wade forms his own super and totally “non-derivative” group known as the X-Force to fight the brutal time-traveling cyborg.

If you even just somewhat enjoyed the first film’s hilarious and sometimes gross antics involving stuffed unicorns, extreme violence and pop culture gags, then “Deadpool 2” will keep you in stitches. The second movie is arguably better than the first, and you should try to avoid too many spoilers before seeing it. The sequel actually has a lot of fun and advancement with its own plot, something that’s usually not imperative in many comedy films.

Also, despite the overload of superhero films we receive every year, “DP2” is also a bit refreshing because of how much it ridicules its own sub-genre. There are so many jabs at the X-Men, Wolverine and even Avengers franchises that it’s almost nice to see a movie essentially point at its ilk with us and say “Look, this has gotten ridiculous.” (But seriously, when are we getting “Deadpool 3”?)

Several other characters return, including taxi driver Dopinder (Karan Soni) who thankfully gets to shine and deliver some great laughs; Vanessa (Morena Baccarin); Colossus (Stefan Kapicic); and Negasonic (Brianna Hildebrand), all of whom round out the movie well with their parts.

But the real supporting cast members here are the aforementioned newcomers Cable and Domino. Brolin is awesome and funny as the nearly unstoppable Cable, and Beetz’s Domino is a scene-stealer with the superpower of … well, just being lucky, which becomes a pretty great running gag throughout, and somewhat of a jab at the ridiculousness of the idea of superpowers in general.

The audience that would see “Deadpool 2” knows what they are in for and won’t be disappointed at all. It’s a ton of fun, and definitely a bit more spirit-lifting than our last superhero outing with “Avengers: Infinity War.” (Not that “Avengers” wasn’t fantastic, but it’s not a happy movie by any means.)

Also, just like all the other Marvel films, stay for the credits. One of the best mid-credits stingers of all time awaits you.

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“Deadpool 2” is currently playing at the Riverside Cinemas, 1017 S. Boone St. in Aberdeen.

George Haerle holds a bachelor’s degree in creative writing for media and lives in Cosmopolis.

Zazie Beetz is a scene-stealer as Domino in “Deadpool 2.”