Having been woefully underused in the already barely memorable Wolverine: Origins, the chance of Marvel fan favourite Deadpool getting his own big screen outing had looked slim.
But it turns out fan power, or at least geek power, in Hollywood still counts for something. 20th Century Fox has officially announced a Deadpool film for 12 February, 2016 - a relative studio no-brainer after recently leaked test footage of the film went down a storm with fans.
Ryan Reynolds is odds on to reprise his role as Wade Wilson, AKA the Merc With A Mouth. Talking about the reaction from fans to the footage, the actor has been quoted as saying, “it’s awe-inspiring, actually. And it’s neat that Twitter and Facebook and Instagram can move mountains when used in the right way.”
And he’ll be in safe hands. The script has been whipped up by Zombieland’s writing duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, and VFX whizz Tim Miller is on directing duties, giving Reynolds a perfect platform on which to crack wise and crack skulls as only he can.
Though if there’s any major incentive for Reynolds to play this superhero, it’s surely getting the chance to get the nasty taste of The Green Lantern out of his mouth.
Deadpool is out February 2016