To put it mildly, this weekend’s box office race is a no-brainer. There’s no chance in the world that Deadpool & Wolverine, which teams up the two titular Marvel legends for the first time, won’t top the box office. Even though Marvel’s been on a downward spiral in terms of box office lately, the film is bending over backward to attract fans who feel alienated by the franchise’s new direction, and the early fan reviews suggest this will be the first truly beloved Marvel film since Spider-Man: No Way Home.

To note, that Marvel movie opened at the height of the pandemic, but still grossed an insane $260 million in its opening. To be sure, no one expects the R-rated Deadpool & Wolverine to open quite that big, but it should slice and dice its way through the current record for an R-rated opening weekend, which...