Deadpool Spin-Off Confirmed

Published by Jeff Leins on: May 6th, 2009

20th Century Fox has officially announced a spin-off movie for the character Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds in last weekend’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine.  As expected, Reynolds will reprise his role in a solo project focusing entirely on the “merc with a mouth.”

The opportunity is out to potential writers, which should be a real challenge for even the best screenwriters considering Fox stomped all over the character and canon in Wolverine’s spin-off.  In the comic books, Wade submits to the Weapon X program in order to cure his cancer and the genetic alteration creates a powerful, sarcastic anti-hero.

Spoilers: By the end of the film, he was disfigured with his mouth sealed shut and a few extra super powers tossed in. Oh, and his head was severed. Luckily, Wade/Deadpool inherited the regenerative mutant abilities of Wolverine so he was able to piece himself back together in a post-credits “easter egg” scene. I suppose he could miraculously lose those new skills when his head was chopped off? What is this, Crank: High Voltage?

I think every single person in the world saw this coming, so this isn’t exactly breaking news.  Reynolds has openly discussed the spin-off of a spin-off in interviews leading up to the release.  It was even kicked around as an obvious inevitability when Reynolds was announced for the role sometime around February 2008.  I also talked about possible Deadpool ideas in my “Six Comic Book Characters Who Need Their Own Spin-Off” list, including his desire to link up with the character Cable or battle the forces of Black Tom.

Fox is already developing a sequel to Wolverine, a possible Gambit spin-off, and a Magneto origin story.