Ryan Reynolds will reprise his role as Deadpool from the 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine in a standalone movie for Fox-Marvel. Reynolds, who previously portrayed the Green Lantern in the 2011 flop, announced the news on Twitter.

Ryan ReynoldsRyan Reynolds will play Deadpool in Fox-Marvel's 2016 movie

Reynolds posted an image of his Deadpool character, made up from bullet cartridges with the caption "it's chimichanga time" - in reference to the hero's favourite food. 

Fox have been working on the spin-off for several years though Reynolds was never in danger of losing his leading birth, despite a flurry of poorly reviewed movies. Back in the summer, a leaked short action sequence directed by Miller, featured a CGI Deadpool with voice-acting and motion-capture by Reynolds. It was essentially test footage as a proof of concept for Fox, as the studio apparently weren't impressed enough to green-light the project.

More: X:Men: Deadpool set for 2016 - Ryan Reynolds to star

Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld initially poured cold water on the prospect of an immediate movie after the leaking of the footage.

"DP is One of Marvel's TOP 3 popular characters of the last 20 years AND a prominent member of the X-MEN library-My 1 kernal of optimism. Is that DP will happen eventually, 5-6 years, and as frustrating as that sounds it would still be faster to screen that Spidey, X-Men and FF. Please just manage expectations, thats all I'm saying in regards to Deadpool. Nothing moves fast in Hollywood.. Except Divergent," he said, on Twitter.

A disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary, Deadpool is famous for his talkative nature and his tendency to break the fourth wall. 

Tim Miller is directing the movie - set for release on February 12, 2016 - from a script from Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The duo penned the surprise comedy hit Zombieland.

More: Fox gives winter 2016 release date for X-Men spin-off