Despite its R-rating, director Tim Miller's Deadpool should really be a lot like a cartoon. At his core, what makes the titular character so delightful is how ridiculous and silly he can be at times, regularly talking to the audience like a deadly mercenary version of Bugs Bunny. Only time will tell if the feature takes that route, but that tone is definitely present in this Ryan Reynolds-approved fan art:
It's probably going to be a while until we actually get to see an official, 20th Century Fox-released poster for Deadpool - as the movie won't actually be released until next year - but we can only hope that whatever the marketing team comes up with will be half as delightful as this ridiculous image. It doesn't get much better than the sight of the Merc With The Mouth pulling a Mary Poppins and trying to fly with an umbrella, and Ryan Reynolds clearly approves.
Not only is the image great, but the unfortunately uncredited Photoshop artist also picked what is really a solid tagline - even if it is a tiny bit too on the nose. For those unaware, "With Great Power Comes Great Irresponsibility" is a riff on the classic Spider-Man quote - the advice that Uncle Ben gives to his young nephew - but it works on a couple levels. For starters, over-the-top antics and general irresponsibility is definitely Deadpool's thing, making it an apt slogan. But there is also a long-running joke in Marvel comics that the costumes of Deadpool and Spider-Man get regularly confused, making the connecting and slant all the better. The folks at Fox should be taking notes!
While one can predict that this fan poster will be better than anything officially released by the studio, I'm honestly hoping that doesn't wind up being the case - mostly because the marketing so far has been top notch. Not only was the first look image that came out last month absolutely perfect, but the same could be said about the organized April Fools prank that was played earlier this month.Hopefully Fox won't give up on this honestly fun approach, because it will only generate good will towards the final product.
Deadpool is based on a script written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, and the movie is currently in production up in Vancouver, Canada. In addition to starring Ryan Reynolds as the titular amoral mercenary, the film also stars T.J. Miller as Weasel, Morena Baccarin as Vanessa a.k.a. Copycat, Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead and Ed Skrien as the villainous Ajax a.k.a. Francis. Updates about the project seem to be coming in on the regular, so stay tuned for more as we slowly march on towards the blockbuster's February 12, 2016 release date.
