With the Marvel Cinematic Universe in full swing and the DC Extended Universe set to kick it up a notch this year, it's no surprise that 20th Century Fox - long the holder of the keys to the X-Men's cinematic kingdom - is going all in on the mutant-filled property they first brought to screens back in 2000. For a while there, it seemed as though the X-Men franchise was headed off the rails, with the one-two punch of X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine going a long way to destroy the goodwill X-Men and X2 earned at the start of the comic book movie craze at the turn of the millennium. Fortunately, though, it bounced back with First Class and Days of Future Past, the latter of which helped push a reset button on the whole franchise that has opened the door for films like Gambit, The New Mutants, X-Force, and, of course, Deadpool. As everyone knows, Deadpool first made his appearance in the franchise in X-Men Origins, which saw the character - for lack of a better word - unrecognisable and far removed from the one that has endured for nearly 25 years. Nearly seven years later, Deadpool is back for a second round, with Fox taking a gamble on an R-rated, faithful version of the character that will undoubtedly serve as the litmus test for whether or not they continue to take risks in expanding their X-Men universe. With just a few weeks left to go before the world finds out if the film can live up to its crazy marketing - and if fans can finally breathe sighs of relief instead of disappointment - let's take a spoiler-filled look at the confirmed characters Deadpool's bringing with him to the big screen to stack up which ones are worth getting excited about.
Writer, film enthusiast, part-time gamer and watcher of (mostly) good television located on the fringe of Los Angeles, who now has his own website at www.highdefgeoff.com!
