Deadpool 2 gets a premiere date

Deadpool 2 is coming June 1, 2018, 20th Century Fox said yesterday morning.

The sequel to the breakout 2016 hit, which validated producer and star Ryan Reynolds' faith in the Merc With a Mouth's mainstream appeal, will premiere about six weeks after New Mutants. Fox dated that for April 13, 2018, and the follow-up Dark Phoenix for Nov. 2, 2018.

The first Deadpool premiered Feb. 12, 2016 and was a tremendous success out of the gate, especially against low expectations of such an offbeat superhero character. It became the highest-grossing R-rated film (worldwide) at $783.1 million, a jackpot against its budget of $58 million. A sequel was announced two months after Deadpool's premiere.

Deadpool also was a critical success, earning two Golden Globe nominations for best motion picture and best motion picture actor, comedy or musical.

Reynolds reprises his role as Deadpool in the sequel, and will be joined by Josh Brolin as Cable, who play Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War. That movie premieres May 4, 2018. (Correction: I got Brolin’s role in Infinity War wrong in an earlier version. It’s been fixed for the record here.)

Deadpool's original writers, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, also return for the sequel. David Leitch is the director, taking over from Tim Miller.