As much as Deadpool is a straight up cult comic icon, there’s no doubt that the characters abilities, history, and just Deadpool himself aren’t clear or known by the regular movie-going audience. For those of you who don’t know, he’s a Marvel character who is for the most part a part of the X-Men universe, where his abilities draw extreme similarity to Wolverine. But instead of that straight up animal style instinct like Wolverine, his trademark is his world famous humor.

Deadpool is a deadly assassin with superhuman strength and reflexes, one who can regenerate almost immediately giving him that invincibility factor. You can see how the comparison to Wolverine plays in.

While it was pretty hard to think that a movie like Deadpool would ever see the light of day, that’s all brushed under the rug now because of all those fans who went effing nuts for that ‘leaked’ test footage last year, and rightfully so! But ever since then we haven’t really heard anything on it other than unhelpful comments hear and there from director Tim Miller and star Ryan Reynolds – until now that is. As I’m sure many of you already know, two days ago marked the one year date from when we will see the merc with a mouth on the big screen, and luckily for us Ryan Reynolds gave us one awesome tease to celebrate when we’ll see him as Wade Wilson.

For the last several years, both director Tim Miller and star Ryan Reynolds have always believed in this movie, and then adding in the hardcore fans this is without a doubt a pure passion project. But with that, we all still want to see it do incredibly well and make butt loads of money like it should.

As for the image, it’s a unanimous vote by, well, everyone that Reynolds was put on this earth to play this character. The image specifically says ‘prototype’, which means two things. One, don’t get to excited as it’s basically just ‘testing’, and two, it means that the team is taking their time to get it right. Trying to find the right suit with the right fit, and look that will both respect the character and be a good fit for Reynolds. And if they are able to duplicate the action, comedy, fun, and style that was in that test footage, then we are in for one hell of ride for sure.

On to the casting news! Following the cool news that Deadpool won’t be the only superhero to show up in Deadpool and the leading lady shortlist that was revealed last week (see HERE), we now have official casting announcements, which includes a X-Men character from the past.

The Hollywood Reporter has reported that Piotr Rasputin a.k.a. Colossus, played by Daniel Cudmore, will appear in the movie. It’s unclear how big of a role he will have, but a cameo is all that matters. Bringing a character like Colossus who has taken a back seat to the bigger characters in the X-Men movies gives him a chance to be seen more, to did deeper into the character. It’s also nice to see that Fox is approaching this movie as part of their X-Men Cinematic Universe instead just of a standalone. Now that we know a character from the original X-Men movies and Days of Future Past will appear in Deadpool, it’ll now be interesting to see how the story ties into the larger X-Men universe.

In other news, it’s been announced that Gina Carano has joined in on the Deadpool fun. And not just as a leading or supporting lady, but as Christine a.k.a. Angel Dust. Most of you most likely have no idea who or what that is. From the comics, Angel Dust is a mutant capable of unleashing adrenaline into her system, giving her superhuman abilities such as strength, speed, agility, and more for short periods of time. It’s unclear at this time how big of a role she will have, but with the kind of abilities Angel Dust has and with her comic history, it only makes sense that the role would be pretty prominent.

It’s also worth mentioning that Angel Dust is a member of the Morlocks, an underground society of mutants who believe they are outcasts. It’s been expected for some time that the Morlocks would show up in the X-Men universe if the movies were to continue, it looks like we could be seeing the seeds planted for a future Morlocks tie-in in Deadpool.

It’s pretty exciting to see Deadpool coming together quickly and pretty nicely after its announcement last year. With both director Tim Miller and star Ryan Reynolds always believing in the project, the movie was always going to start on a good note if it ever got the okay. Now that it has and they are trying to fill in the pieces around Reynolds, bringing on T.J. Miller for what’s expected to be comedic relief, Daniel Cudmore’s Colossus to begin the movies connection, Gina Carano as a new mutant character who can open up a really cool storyline, and one of the names from the leading lady shortlist is a fantastic start.

I thought it couldn’t get any better than the announcement of Deadpool which stars Ryan Reynolds as the merc with a mouth, but I guess I was (happily) wrong. Do you like the idea of more Colossus? How about Carano as Angel Dust and the Morlocks possibly showing up at some point?

Deadpool will be released on February 12th, 2016. Directed by Tim Miller starring Ryan Reynolds, Gina Carano, Daniel Cudmore, and T.J. Miller.