The success of the original hockey film propelled Doherty into rapid-fire franchise production, but it also opened doors to subversive comedy. In 1993, he appeared in Thomas Schlamme's offbeat dark comedy So I Married an Axe Murderer, sharing the screen with Mike Myers. Doherty played Heed (William Mackee), the perpetually berated younger brother subjected to Myers' patriarch character bellowing across the living room. Delivering lines alongside comedy royalty cemented Doherty's reputation as a dependable young comedic talent.
Disney called him back immediately. He donned the signature teal-and-purple sweaters for D2: The Mighty Ducks in 1994, which pulled in $45.6 million, and returned once more for D3: The Mighty Ducks in 1996. The trilogy left a permanent mark on real-world hockey. The Walt Disney Company went so far as to found an actual NHL expansion team, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, directly tied to the intellectual property. Through that convergence, Doherty and his adolescent co-stars became synonymous with hockey's rapid southern and Midwestern growth throughout the mid-1990s.
