The only good thing to come out of 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, rumours of a Ryan Reynolds fronted Deadpool movie have refused to go away, even after the X-Men franchise underwent a reboot of sorts with First Class. It's a project the hardcore fans have held on to even when it seemed to get further and further way from actually happening (the leak of test footage during the Summer had me finally giving up). But now their patience has finally paid off, with 20th Century Fox announcing that Deadpool is indeed happening, with a February 12th 2016, three months before X-Men: Apocalypse hits the big screen. It seems a bit rushed for a project that was seemingly going nowhere only a few months ago, but we can only assume that whatever work done on the project over the years was good enough for Fox to fast track it.
Visual effects supervisor Tim Miller, responsible for the awesome opening credits of David Fincher's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, will be making his directorial debut working from a script from Zombieland's Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (the same script that has been circulating for years). While it hasn't been confirmed, Ryan Reynolds is expected to take the lead role as the psychotic, fourth wall breaking mercenary, having proved his deadpan patter and comic timing was perfect for the role in the opening of X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Scott Adkins replaced him for the finale which totally mishandled the character), and the computer animated test footage, which he voiced. Nothing is set in stone yet, but hopefully he does commit to the project. While Green Lantern may have sullied him when it comes to comic book adaptions, Deadpool is a character that he has been attached to for years, so much so you can't imagine anyone else in the role.
