Around Comic Con time this year, a two minute clip of “test footage” of a new film was leaked onto the internet. This footage was of the much anticipated Deadpool movie.
Deadpool, for all those who do not know, is one of the many X-Men. He has never been given a cinematic rendering, unless one counts the 2009 X Men Origins: Wolverine scene. Yet even a casual Marvel fan can recognize that film as a mess, and completely missing the tone of Deadpool is perhaps that film’s nail in the coffin.
In the comics, Deadpool, or Wade Wilson, his alter ego, is a super human with remarkable healing abilities, similar to Wolverine. Yet Deadpool is not the brutish tough thug Wolverine is. He is referred to by many as the “merc with the mouth,” for Wade Wilson has a habit of running his mouth off, even breaking the fourth wall by making puns to the comic book reader. The test footage captured this perfectly.
The two minute footage, now available online, involves Deadpool thwarting some villains in a car chase. After he has defeated them, he jokingly holds up the decapitated head of one of the villains and uses it as a puppet. Obviously, Wade Wilson is not the conventional superhero seen in Captain America or Superman.
While this test footage was very exciting, it was thought just to be a shelved project by Fox, not intended for anything. However, on Sept 18, Fox announced on Twitter that a Deadpool film has been greenlit with a planned release on Feb 12, 2014.
The internet blew up with fan boys going crazy, after having felt betrayed by the butchering of Wade Wilson’s character in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Yet the positive reaction to the test footage has been so strong that now fans are eagerly anticipating a new take on the character. The only other confirmed detail about the film besides the date is that Tim Miller is the director.
If you have not heard of him, that’s because no one else has. He has only directed two other short films Rockfish and Aunt Luisa. This calls into question whether a young up and coming director should make his feature film directorial debut with a major comic book property.
Also, February is considered the dumping ground for movies, not being in the major summer blockbuster season or November-December Oscar season. This indicates two things: Deadpool might have an R-rating. To this day, there has not been an R rated superhero film as that cuts out a large demographic of the ticket buying audience who is under 17.
This could be a good thing, as Deadpool is very inappropriate in his comedic elements, as well as very gruesome in the way he takes down his adversaries. This would make sense, as the studio does not expect to take in as much in this time of year and February will have less competition than May or December would.
Also, the film might have a much lower budget than the standard $170 million for superhero blockbusters. That might be okay though, for in the comics, Deadpool does not save the planet or take on large alien spaceships. Rather, he stops drug busts or robberies in very comedic ways. These grounded conflicts have more potential for comedy as they are more relatable, so perhaps a $30 million dollar budget will be okay for a Deadpool film.
The big question is how this new movie will affect the X-Men cinematic universe. Ryan Reynolds, who played him in the 2009 film, is rumored to be returning but nothing is confirmed. If he did not return, that would not really be a continuity error given the ending of Days of Future Past, which we won’t go into for spoilers’ sake. Furthermore, another X-Men film, Age of Apocalypse, will be in theaters just five months later. So, one must wonder what tie-ins might happen.
It is likely that a trailer will drop summer 2015, perhaps before Age of Ultron, as it appeals to the same demographic of comic book fans.
Regardless, this is major news in the field of film, for one of the most heavily anticipated cinematic comic book adaptations is coming to life. Be sure to check it out Feb 12, 2016!
