If 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool doesn’t perform well at the box office, then it certainly won’t be for lack of effort on star Ryan Reynolds’ part, when it comes to promoting the film. The actor has made a habit of keeping the Merc With a Mouth on everyone’s mind, having posted images related to the superhero movie – ranging from Mother’s Day-themed gags to riffs on Wade Wilson’s life in the Marvel comic book universe – throughout production on the upcoming X-Men franchise installment.
The newest photo posted online by Reynolds comes from the same bridge/highway action sequence previously glimpsed in leaked set photos – and before then, depicted in the Deadpool test footage that leaked (or “leaked,” whichever you believe) online last year, helping to get the movie green-lit. Clearly, the scene in question is one of the more noteworthy featured in the Deadpool script penned by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland, G.I. Joe: Retaliation).
Reynolds’ latest Deadpool-related post (see below) offers a somewhat more polished look at special forces operative-turned mercenary (with super-powers granted by a scientific experiment) Wade Wilson in motion – doing a flip, guns blazing, in the middle of a shoot-out, with some offscreen opponents.
Stuck the landing. With my mouth. A photo posted by Ryan Reynolds (@vancityreynolds) on May 11, 2015 at 11:13am PDT
One of the more interesting discussion points surrounding Deadpool right now concerns how the movie will differ from other recent superhero feature films, and not just in terms of its R-Rated tone (though that’s certainly an important part of the larger equation being used here). The Deadpool test footage material and images like the one above suggest the movie could make it feel like the zany world of Wade Wilson has been very much lifted straight from the comic book page – as well as past cartoon TV show and/or video games – and brought to live-action form in a cartoonish, yet tangible, fashion.
Previous installments in the X-Men movie franchise have kept their feet planted in a mostly non-heightened reality (as have most comic book films of late), in order to make the abilities of their super-powered characters seem all the more extraordinary compared to your average person’s. Here, though, having Deadpool operate on another level of reality altogether (like teased in the above photo) plays up to the inherently outlandish and darkly funny vibe of the action.
Deadpool director Tim Miller comes from a visual effect background, which includes his work on Edgar Wright’s comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – a film set in a world where its heroes very much played by their own rules, when it came to the movie’s action sequences (and, in turn, overall sense of style). Most fans of the Wade Wilson character should be able to get behind a similar approach in Miller’s new film; after all, as much as people pushed for Deadpool to be Rated R, the idea that it would be “gritty” and “grounded” was never floated as part of the deal.
The relatively moderate budget allotted for Deadpool likewise allows Miller and Co. more freedom to make the crazy, zany, darkly funny superhero feature that comic book buffs are expecting. That should mean a lot more in the way of stunts and offbeat humor along the lines of what Reynolds’ has teased via social media. It may not be much like any other Fox Marvel film, but that’s a good thing – and hey, if the Daredevil Netflix series can exist in the same universe as the Guardians of the Galaxy, why can’t Deadpool exist in the already established X-Men Cinematic Universe?
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Next: Deadpool Synopsis Hints at Larger X-Men Connections
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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.
