2016 will be a big year for superhero movies, and February’s release of Deadpool will kick it all off. The movie’s viral marketing has arguably been some of the best of its kind ever produced, with Ryan Reynolds’ self-aware Merc With a Mouth blaming Australia for X-Men Origins: Wolverine and consistently reminding us that Deadpool will be a very different kind of comic book movie.
More action than prom night, guaranteed. https://t.co/g8zbryIQIk— Deadpool Movie (@deadpoolmovie) January 24, 2016
Deadpool has the unique position of resurrecting a fan-favorite character in an R-rated superhero film featuring graphic violence and a fourth-wall breaking protagonist. It will be the first solo movie for a character associated with the X-Men film franchise who isn’t Wolverine – and the fate of future such projects (such as the often-delayed Gambit) may depend on Deadpool’s success.
Reactions to early screenings have been overwhelmingly positive, the character’s creator, Rob Liefeld, has high praise for director Tim Miller’s adaptation, and Deadpool is on track for a $50 million opening weekend. Various TV spots have slowly introduced more and more new footage and now a new television trailer for Deadpool delivers quite a bit of new footage, along with some new stills from the movie (hat tip to CBM).
Check out the first new TV spot above and take a look at the other two below these newly released stills.
There’s some previously unseen footage in this new spot: Ed Skrein’s Ajax telling Reynolds’ Wade Wilson that they’re not making him a superhero but a “super-slave.” The spot also offers several new action shots, including Deadpool taking out a thug on a motorcycle and Angel Dust (Gina Carano) holding her own quite nicely in a fight with X-Man Colossus (Stefan Kapicic). There’s also a glimpse of Negasonic Teenage Warhead’s explosion powers as well, as she runs headlong toward a target and (presumably but not necessarily) launches Deadpool into the air.
The other two spots show off plenty more action, but primarily offer more of an official introduction to Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), who the Merc describes as “Robin to my Batman, except she’s blind.” There is also more of T.J. Miller’s Weasel character, who so far has been Wade Wilson’s insult-spewing equal, matching Deadpool’s remarks about his appearance with verbal jabs of his own. Finally, there is a brief shot of Colossus presumably accessing the room Cerebro is housed in, and then a glimpse of the X-Men’s Blackbird. Whether this means we’ll be seeing a lot more of Xavier’s School For Gifted Youngsters than previously expected remains to be seen, but the reveals are intriguing nonetheless.
At this point, Deadpool is tracking so well that expectations have risen higher than many thought possible. The movie’s unique status as an R-rated comic book movie has surely helped raise casual audiences’ awareness, but by most accounts Deadpool is so faithful to the source material that it may well erase our memories of how the character was depicted in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Everything we’ve seen so far seems to back this up. The movie’s marketing has not missed a step at this point (something that cannot be said for some other upcoming offerings in the genre), and with the premiere just around the corner, fans have plenty to look forward to.
More: Deadpool on Wolverine and Hugh Jackman
Deadpool opens in theaters on February 12, 2016, followed by X-Men: Apocalypse on May 27, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; and an untitled X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants is also currently in development.
