'Deadpool' Will Have Ryan Reynolds’ New ‘Merc With The Mouth’ Superhero Truer to the Character of the Comic Book Original

Twentieth Century Fox and Marvel Comics have announced they are moving ahead with the production of the Deadpool film, their long-gestating X-Men spinoff project. Tim Miller is set to direct, while Ryan Reynolds, who played the part in the 2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine movie, is reportedly confirmed to star. Reynolds even tweeted fans, "Uh... It's Chimichanga Time" back in December. The screenwriting duo Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick of Zombieland fame have long been attached to write the script has already come up with an initial draft.

A leaked first draft of the Reese and Wernick script reveals a Deadpool character who is more in keeping with the occasional superhero otherwise known as the "Merc With The Mouth" from the original Marvel comic books. As any fan who is familiar with the character knows, Deadpool never stops talking, is nearly indestructible, keeps his disfigured, cancer-ridden face always hidden from view with his red and black mask, doesn't take himself nor anything else seriously, and, as is his wont, constantly breaks the fourth wall by addressing the audience directly from time to time.

Clearly then, the script deviates totally from the origin story of the Deadpool that was seen in the 2009 X-Men film, a guy who has no cancer, no mask nor costume and, worse of all, no mouth. No wonder then that the studio bosses kept the project mothballed for so long. That is, until fans began demanding for the film following the release of a test footage based on the script sometime in 2012.

In an interview with Coming Soon, script writer Reese revealed: "Fox gave Tim Miller, who's our director and a wonderful guy who is brilliant at what he does, some money and had him go make a test sequence. He directed about a three-minute long test sequence from the movie, all built within a computer. Ryan Reynolds did the motion capture for it. He came in and did the voice for it in an audio session. It is awesome. It is the greatest three minutes."

The test footage was leaked on the internet through social news sites and movie blogs. The reception was overwhelmingly so positive that the project just has to be given the go-signal for production. Of course, since Deadpool is one of those amoral, psychotic, homicidal, mercenary-type, not always heroic superheroes, chances are, the movie will be assigned an "R-rating."

Deadpool is scheduled for release to theaters on February 12, 2016.