One Year From Today DEADPOOL Releases in Theaters; and Here's How it Took 6 Years to Get Green Lit



In 2009, 20th Century Fox released X-Men Origins: Wolverine which co-starred Ryan Reynolds as the big screen version of the mercenary known as Wade Wilson. Sadly, the end of the film saw Wilson transformed into a terrible version of the Marvel anti-hero hero Deadpool. This was definitely not the comic version because he's also known as the Merc With a Mouth and some studio executive said it would be okay for his mouth to be sewn shut. (Cue the "Ughs.")

Well, that version of Deadpool — albeit Reynolds was great as Wilson before he was changed into that debacle of a character at the end — has more or less been erased from movie canon thanks in part to X-Men Days of Future Past and its use of time travel to wipe the slate clean of X-Men Origins: Wolverine. (Thank you director Bryan Singer and producer Simon Kinberg.)

But let's move on from all that now non-existent stuff in the past movie canon because one year from today a solo Deadpool movie will release in theaters starring Ryan Reynolds, directed by Tim Miller and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Just a few hours ago, Reynolds tweeted a teaser image of the prototype Deadpool mask to start the hype machine for Deadpool.



And here's a brightened close-up of the prototype mask.





So how did we get to this point? It's been a long, weird six years to get this movie green lit and here's some bullet points of how it happened, bringing you up-to-date.


  • Reese and Wernick wrote the Deadpool script sometime between 2009-2010-ish and Blur Studios owner Tim Miller was excited about it that he shot CG test footage sometime in 2011-ish with Reynolds in a motion capture suit. This was done to help get a solo movie green lit by Fox.
  • Only rumors reports said the test footage actually existed for a Deadpool solo movie and nothing was confirmed by anyone involved.
  • One of the earliest copies of the Deadpool script was leaked online and made its rounds on many websites.
  • From about 2011 until summer 2013 there were media reports here and there with Reynolds saying he wanted a Deadpool solo movie and he and Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld were the two most vocal public personas telling media outlets how a Deadpool movie should to be green lit.
  • In summer 2013, Liefeld told fans at a Las Vegas Comic Con panel details about the Deadpool test footage.
  • Between summer 2013 and summer 2014 there were multiple reports about how Fox was hesitant to green light Deadpool due to its R-rated script. This was highly debated in comments sections and forums across the Internet.
  • In October 2013, director Tim Miller said a script revisions have been made and the project was even closer to being green lit.
  • In April 2014, X-Men producer Laura Shuler Donner said she is very hopeful that Deadpool will be green lit soon.
  • The day after the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International ended, the Deadpool test footage is leaked online in low resolution. The Internet nearly exploded and everyone loved it.
  • The day after the test footage is leaked, The Daily SuperHero exclusively interviewed Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld about the leaked test footage. Read that interview here.
  • Two days after the test footage was leaked in low resolution, it is leaked in HD. The Internet nearly exploded again!
  • In August 2014, writer Rhett Reese posts a behind-the-scenes image of Reynolds in his mo-cap suit filming the Deadpool test footage.
  • Also in August 2014, Miller urges fans to not be angry with Fox not green lighting a Deadpool movie and be patient while he and his crew try to get things moving forward.
  • On September 18, 2014 Fox officially green lights Deadpool and sets a release date for February 12, 2016.

What a helluva ride that was... and kudos to Miller, Reynolds, Rheese, Wernick and Liefeld for having a ridiculous amount of patience during this time. 

To read more about Deadpool, click right here.