20th Century Fox announces release date for Deadpool

Ever since test footage of Deadpool was leaked online, excitement has been building on whether or not Fox was actually planning on a Deadpool movie. Well Deadpool fans rejoice, 20th Century Fox officially announced they are moving forward with giving Deadpool his own movie. Ryan Reynolds - who portrayed the self proclaimed 'Merc with a Mouth' in X-Men Origins: Wolverine - has expressed interest since then to return to the role and do a proper R-rated movie closer to the source material instead of the awful portrayal that was a part of X-Men Origins.

For those of you who don't know who Deadpool is, he is a Marvel Comics character named Wade Wilson who started out by joining the military in his late teens and later became a mercenary. For every job that he botched as a mercenary, he would perform plastic surgery on himself to change his identity. After years of being a mercenary, he was inducted into the Weapon X program (the same program where the X-Men character Wolverine received his adamantium claws), where he was given the mutant power of regeneration. Deadpool is often seen as a morally ambivalent character. He is often in stories alongside The X-Men, whether it's fighting against them or alongside them facing a common enemy. The one thing Deadpool is best known for is his insanity and sarcastic humor (hence the 'Merc with a Mouth' title). Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld and writer Fabian Nicieza made the character so that he frequently breaks the fourth wall, talking to the reader and being the only person who realizes he's in a comic book.

So far, Ryan Reynolds has expressed a desire to star in the Deadpool adaptation, but there has not been any official confirmation whether he will or not. I, for one, am hoping he does end up being cast as Deadpool. He did pretty well with what little he had to work with in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and showed in the leaked test footage that he can handle the sarcastic humor and insanity needed for the role.

While 20th Century Fox set a February 12, 2016 release date for Deadpool, they have also made a few other changes for movies coming out within the next year or two from the studio. The Assassin's Creed adaptation starring Michael Fassbender was taken out of its original August 7, 2015 date and is currently waiting for a new release date; the Fantastic Four reboot has taken its place. The young adult adaptation Paper Towns has been moved up a month from July 31 to June 19, 2015.

Deadpool will be going up against Lionsgate's Gods of Egypt, an unnamed animated project from Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. romantic comedy How to Be Single. Judging from fan reactions, something tells me Deadpool won't have any problem at the box office unless the movie itself just plain sucks.