Vanity Fair published a terrific article describing how Deadpool's box office success puts it in a great position to eventually introduce--in the greenlit sequel--the first openly male LGBT hero in a comic book film.
The initiative and willingness from the creative side is definitely there. The comic books have numerous references to Deadpool's omnisexual flirtations, which make it harder for closed-minded audiences to burden a queer film adaptation with the whole "diversity for diversity's sake" garbage. And more specifically, Tim Miller, the film's director, described Deadpool as pansexual, and Ryan Reynolds has previously remarked that depicting Deadpool in the future with a boyfriend "would be great."
But more importantly, the dollar signs are there. As mentioned previously, one of the major studio concerns with LGBT central protagonists is China's restrictive cultural policies that censor or ban positive images of LGBT people in media. China is a huge consumer of U.S. films, so jeopardizing a film's success there with an LGBT main character makes major studios skittish.
Deadpool was banned in China for violence and sexuality, but Fox still made PILES OF MONEY in opening weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, Deadpool had a staggering $150 million opening four day domestic weekend, with a $264.8 million worldwide debut as of last Sunday. This makes Deadpool Fox's biggest opening weekend ever (beating second best Episode III: Revenge of the Sith's domestic opening by about $25 million).
So basically? China's anti-gay media policies can suck it.
I really hope this emboldens Fox to make Deadpool's bisexuality a more meaningful character trait in the sequel, as opposed to just making it a part of the humor. And if that happens, we would have the first cinematic LGBT hero in a comic book film. And in turn, I hope that Disney/Lucasfilm is emboldened to consider an LGBT heroic main character for the cinematic Star Wars franchise.
