‘Deadpool’ might be the dark horse of superhero movies.  While ‘Captain America: Civil War‘, ‘Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice‘ and even ‘X-Men: Apocalypse‘ have gotten most of the mainstream media attention, Ryan Reynold’s comedy/action flick about an off-kilter assassin has been winning fans with its edgier red band trailer.  Indeed, with its R-rating, it’s the first superhero movie since Wesley Snipes’ ‘Blade’ series that isn’t even remotely aimed at kids of all ages.

The movie is sure to deliver the yuks, as has been heavily showcased in the promotional materials, but also expect some gorier violence than in the traditional superhero flicks.  Deadpool will face off against a bevvy of comic book opponents, including the X-Men’s Colossus.  But his major foe in the film will be Ajax, portrayed by Ed Skrein.

In this new image from the movie, you can see Deadpool pitting his twin sabers against Ajax’s hefty-looking axes.

Despite his wacky demeanor, Deadpool IS actually a skilled killer, with the ability to employ a lot of finesse.  On the other hand, Ajax is all about pure power, as explained by Skrein who opened up a bit on what it was like filming their fight scenes:

“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.”

Reynolds marveled at Skrein’s physical conditioning for the film, stating:

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

Oh I don’t know.  Judging by this next photo, which shows Reynold’s Wade Wilson pre-transformation, he worked plenty hard to get in shape:

But it’s not all muscles and fisticuffs of course.  Reynolds described the effort that the cast and crew put into making the film as LOL as possible:

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

What are you most excited about seeing: An adult-skewing comedic super hero movie, or a more violent one?  Or are you happy to have both in one film?

Directed by Tim Miller from a script by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, ‘Deadpool’ stars Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller, Gina Carano and Brianna Hildebrand and breaks into theaters on February 12, 2016!

Sources: Collider, ComicBook.com