Ryan Reynolds will be back as Deadpool

The Canadian star teased he would be returning to the character he played in X-Men Origins: Wolverine after he tweeted a picture of a Deadpool portrait made of bullet cartridges by artist Mike Oncley.

“Uh… It’s Chimichanga Time,” the actor wrote alongside the picture, referring to Deadpool’s favourite food.

Both Variety and Deadline later revealed that Ryan is in closing stages of negotiations to star in Deadpool, which has been in the works for a number of years.

Directed by Tim Miller and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, production on the film is scheduled to start in March 2015, in time for a February 2016 release.

Wade “Deadpool” Wilson is an assassin and mercenary who undergoes military experiments that give him the ability to heal quickly, although he is left severely scarred.

Ryan previously told Empire he was very keen to star in his own spin-off film, saying: “I love Deadpool and there is a script that’s in development. It’s sitting there.

“I’ve always wanted to do the movie just because Deadpool would get to do his own movie trailer. So that’s a thing that we were dying to do and we would love to be a part of that.”