Twentieth Century Fox's Deadpool may have been stuck in development for years, but it was officially given the green light last fall after positive fan reaction to some leaked test footage. Set to debut early in 2016, production wrapped a little over a month ago on the Merc with the Mouth's solo outing (which will be the studio's first R-rated Marvel film).
Ryan Reynolds is reprising his role as Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool from X-Men Origins: Wolverine - though that version of the character will be disregarded in the film's universe. In a new image from Deadpool, the Merc with a Mouth is joined by the mutant Negasonic Teenage Warhead.
Empire released the first official look at Ellie Phimister a.k.a. Negasonic Teenage Warhead (played by newcomer Brianna Hildebrand), alongside Deadpool. Though the new mutant's costume was mostly revealed in a set photo tweeted by Reynolds earlier this year, Negasonic Teenage Warhead is also sporting a scowl worthy of her name.
Joining Reynolds and Hildebrand in the cast is T.J. Miller (Silicon Valley) as Deadpool's friend Weasel; Morena Baccarin (Gotham) as Wilson's love interest Vanessa Carlysle a.k.a. Copycat; and Ed Skrein (The Transporter Refueled) as the enemy Ajax. Deadpool was written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland) and will be the feature-length directorial debut of visual effects specialist Tim Miller, who also directed the test footage that was leaked last year.
Take a look at the first official photo of Deadpool and NTW, below:
Another new image from the film, released by EW, focuses on the titular anti-hero and seems to be a recreation of the test footage. The footage began with Deadpool sitting on a highway overpass drawing crayon artwork of himself decapitating a thug, before he does just that. However, the drawing in the new official image seems to be foretelling the gunfight revealed in the photo released by EW yesterday.
You can have a look at that image for yourself, below:
Although Fox hasn't released any footage from the upcoming Deadpool film, the studio will be attending Comic-Con International in San Diego next week, and has an almost two hour presentation planned for attendees in Hall H on Saturday. Although Fox's more imminent release, Fantastic Four, will likely be the focus of much of the presentation, X-Men: Apocalypse director Bryan Singer teased "some stuff" from next year's X-Men entry.
If Fox is prepared to show footage or images from the still-filming X-Men: Apocalypse, it's almost certain the studio will release something for Deadpool fans. In fact, Miller's leaked footage hit the internet last summer on the heels of SDCC 2014, gaining traction with fans. Official footage from the upcoming film could make just as big of a splash at this year's Comic-Con - that is, if any is shown.
NEXT: Hugh Jackman Talks Deadpool, X-Men: Apocalypse & Retiring As Wolverine
Fantastic Four opens August 7th, 2015, Deadpool on February 12th, 2016, X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27th, 2016, Gambit on October 7th, 2016, Wolverine 3 (not the official title) on March 3rd, 2017, Fantastic Four 2 on June 9th, 2017, and some as-yet unspecified X-Men film on July 13th, 2018.
Source: Empire, EW [via Coming Soon]