Deadpool lives. Marvel's Merc with the Mouth will finally get his own solo movie after years in production limbo according to an announcement by Twentieth Century Fox, which has scheduled the picture for a February 2016 release -- on Valentine's Day weekend, no less. Deadpool is love.

Tim Miller is attached to direct, and Ryan Reynolds is expected to reprise his role from X-Men Origins: Wolverine, though no official deal has been announced. Fox also pushed back its Josh Trank-directed Fantastic Four movie from June 19th 2015 to August 7th, to cover for a Michael Fassbender Assassin's Creed movie that's been bumped off the calendar due to production delays.

The presence of Miller at the helm on Deadpool is good news for anyone who enjoyed the test footage that leaked back in July. That footage was created by Miller and Reynolds back in 2012 in an effort to revive interest in the dormant project. It didn't have the desired effect at the time, but the cleverly timed leak in the aftermath of San Diego Comic-Con seems to have had more impact.

Miller has few directing credits to his name, but his work will be familiar to fans of Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, for which he served as creative supervisor for visual effects. The leaked footage suggests that Miller has the right sense of humor and the right sense of carnage to bring Deadpool to life, and his interpretation is a welcome change from the way character was mangled in the Wolverine movie, where they removed the Merc with the Mouth's mouth because they thought it would be hilariously ironic or... something?

A Deadpool script from the Zombieland and GI Joe: Retaliation team of Rhett Reese and Paul Warnick is completed and ready to go.

 

Never again.
Never again.
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Ryan Reynolds hasn't had much luck with comic book adaptations. In addition to X-Men Origins: Wolverine, his track record includes Blade: Trinity, Green Lantern, and RIPD. Those last two seemed to almost bury his career, but the Deadpool role still feels like a perfect match of actor and character -- just so long as they don't do anything stupid like stitch up his mouth.

The test footage used extensive CGI to create Deadpool, which makes a kind of sense given that the character is basically a cartoon, but whether the movie will do the same and use Reynolds primarily as a voice actor is unclear.

Deadpool will be Fox's second X-Men-related property in 2016, with Bryan Singer's X-Men: Apocalypse set for a May release in the same year. 2016 will also see the release of Captain America 3, Shazam, Sinister Six, Doctor Strange, and Batman Vs Superman: Dawn Of The Planet Of The Justice. Sure, seven seems like a pitiful number of comics movies compared to this year's nine, but next year we're only getting six, so that's going to be really rough. (Yes, we're spoiled now.)

Fox also plans another Wolverine movie for 2017, a second Fantastic Four movie in 2018, a possible X-Force movie, and a Channing Tatum Gambit movie whenever Santa or God or whoever decides we've been good enough to deserve such a wonder. Go tidy your room.

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