Something strange is happening with the X-Men movies. What started as a very serious and stony-faced treatise on inequality and humanity's fear of the unknown (with laser beam eyes and a flying Ian McKellen) has tipped over into something that's a lot more, well, fun. The sixties-set prequel X-Men: First Class had a lot of fun with historical jokes, a zany caper tone and period fashions and music. That continued with X-Men: Days Of Future Past, a time-travelling jaunt to the seventies which bridged the gap between the unflappable and the quippy, rebooting the franchise's timeline along with it. The next instalment proper will be another period one, the eighties-set X-Men: Apocalypse. There's also the spin-off movies coming along with it. One is Gambit, starring Channing Tatum, which will probably be fairly straight-down-the-line hero fare like the Wolverine films. The other is Deadpool, a character who is certifiably insane in the comics, wears a bright and colourful costume, isn't totally bogged down in angst or decades of confusing continuity, and...already appeared in an X-Men film? The movie's not out until the beginning of next year but filming is a fair bit underway and the stars and director have been sharing plenty of titbits from the project, so whether you're a fan who needs catching up or a newbie to the character who wants in on this, here is everything you need to know about the upcoming Deadpool film.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
