Marvel Comics' Deadpool is officially getting his own movie, says studio

The super-powered character Deadpool appeared in the 2009 movie 'X-Men Origins: Wolverine' and actor Ryan Reynolds, who played him in 'Wolverine,' also portrayed the character in some recent test footage. Twentieth Century Fox now says a movie about Deadpool will hit theaters in 2016.

Jonah Duhe, dressed as Deadpool, waits in line during the Preview Night event on Day 1 of the 2013 Comic-Con International Convention.

Denis Poroy/Invision/AP

September 19, 2014

The Marvel Comics character Deadpool is officially set to get his own movie.

Twentieth Century Fox recently announced that a movie centering on the hero will be released in February 2016, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The studio also said that the upcoming “Fantastic Four” reboot will be moving from June 2015 to August of next year. 

Tim Miller will be directing, according to the Hollywood Reporter, and it will be the first feature film by Miller. Actor Ryan Reynolds played the character in test footage from a few years ago that recently appeared online, but Twentieth Century Fox has not announced that he will star yet.

However, Reynolds recently discussed the footage appearing online in an interview. “The movie has been in a state of limbo for a while. There was such an overpowering reaction to the footage, you sort of feel like, 'Oh, so we weren't crazy for our reasons for loving this character, for loving this role.' It's interesting to see the power of the Internet. It's awe-inspiring, actually," he said in an interview with the Niagara Falls Review. "And it's neat that Twitter and Facebook and Instagram can move mountains when used in the right way.” 

A movie about Deadpool, who is a fourth-wall-breaking mercenary with powers that include healing quickly and is famous for being very talkative, had long been rumored and actors Reynolds and Scott Adkins portrayed the character in the 2009 movie “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (Reynolds played his human persona Wade Wilson and Adkins portrayed Deadpool).

As noted by the Guardian, Deadpool appeared to die at the end of “Wolverine,” but it was revealed in a post-credits sequence that he survived.

Reynolds is no stranger to playing those with superpowers – he portrayed the Green Lantern in the 2011 movie of the same name, but the film was not well-received critically. It currently holds a score of 39 out of 100 on the review aggregator website Metacritic