20th Century Fox's anti-hero movie Deadpool has been delighting fans over the holidays with plenty of clever marketing, but today's new images are select cuts pulled from the movie itself. I say "cuts" because one of the images in question features Ryan Reynolds' title character taking on Ed Skrein's villainous and ax-wielding Ajax. The other still shows Reynolds out of his signature costume, presumably before his superheroic transformation made his face look like "an avocado had sex with an older avocado."

In an EW article that features these new images, we also get a few new quotes from director Tim Miller on their approach to the off-color character, as well as Reynolds and Skrein themselves. Deadpool certainly has a fan-following from its comic book origins, but I'm very curious to see how this new live-action iteration satisfies those fans and draws in new ones. At the very least, it seems like the creative folks behind the scenes are confident in their approach.


Image via EW[/caption]

Take Tim Miller's following comment, for instance:

“Deadpool is nothing but tangents, and our attitude was just ‘Let’s embrace him.’”

Reynolds elaborated on their approach, especially when it came to tweaking the humor on set:

“[The set] was an alternate-joke factory. For one joke in the movie we wrote 16 versions.”

I'm assuming T.J. Miller had a big part to play there considering his one-liners in the trailers and his comedic background in general. As for the action side of things, Skrein and Reynolds commented on their clash that occurs on the deck of a crashed airship. Deadpool pits his katanas - named Bea and Arthur - against Ajax's dual axes. Here's what Skrein had to say about the battle:

“Ryan’s like Muhammad Ali, dancing around, whispering in my ear, and I’m George Foreman. Every blow is like a haymaker and I just want to take his head off.”


Image via EW[/caption]

Reynolds followed that comment up with one of his own:

“Ed got yoked for the movie. I saw his arms and got pretty upset at myself for not working out harder.”

You can judge for yourself just who's in better shape between Reynolds and Skrein by checking out these new images. The better evidence will be on display when Deadpool opens early next year.

Also starring Morena Baccarin as Vanessa Carlysle/Copycat, Stefan Kapicic as Colossus, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, T.J. Miller as Weasel, and Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Deadpool opens February 12th.

Here's the official synopsis for Deadpool:

Based upon Marvel Comics’ most unconventional anti-hero, DEADPOOL tells the origin story of former Special Forces operative turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who after being subjected to a rogue experiment that leaves him with accelerated healing powers, adopts the alter ego Deadpool. Armed with his new abilities and a dark, twisted sense of humor, Deadpool hunts down the man who nearly destroyed his life.

For more on Deadpool, be sure to check out some of our recent coverage below: