Ryan Reynolds Signs on as the Green Lantern

Who could have guessed that Ryan Reynolds would be cast as the "Green Lantern"? A few years ago and the answer to that question would have been no one. In fact, the answer still may have been no one until he played the character Deadpool in Hugh Jackman's "Wolverine: X-Men Origins." Deadpool apparently opened Ryan Reynolds up to becoming other comic book heroes (albeit in a different comic book universe, Green Lantern's DC universe as opposed to Deadpool's Marvel). And Green Lantern he became.

Ryan Reynolds, 32, was probably better known for his role as "Van Wilder" movies, where he plays the lead role, more than anything else he had done up until he hired on to become Deadpool. That and the cult classic "Waiting," which seems to play on Comedy Central every other day or so. He also starred in "The Amityville Horror" remake in 2005 and showed up in the "Harold and Kumar" movies. But if people still didn't know who he was, that certainly changed when he was cast oppositie Sandra Bullock in "The Proposal," a movie that topped the box office charts the weekend of June 22.

Marrying Scarlett Johansen probably got him picked up on a few other radars in 2008 as well.

But Ryan Reynolds has been acting for quite some time. He made his big screen debut back in 1995 in "Ordinary Magic." He's also done some television work (his first acting role was on the WB series "Hillside" in 1990), appearing in "Scrubs," "The John Laroquette Show," "The Outer Limits," and "The X-Files."

Ryan Reynolds is also no stranger to the comic book-to-screen character role. Green Lantern is just the latest. He worked with Wesley Snipes in "Blade: Trinity." It is rumored that Reynolds also has made attempts at bringing the DC Comics classic character Flash to the big screen. (How that would work now that he will be known as Green Lantern is for them to figure out or really work doubly hard at suspending people's disbelief.)

According to BBC News, Ryan Reynolds beat out Justin Timberlake and Bradley Cooper ("The Hangover") for the part of the green clad superhero.

The movie adaptation of Green Lantern also looks to be an action-packed one as well. Martin Campbell, the director of the James Bond film "Casino Royale," has signed on to put Reynolds through his superheroic paces.

And when he's done with Green Lantern (or perhaps while he's filming the Green Lantern film), Ryan Reynolds might just be filming his spin-off from "Wolverine: X-Men Origins," where he reprises his role as Deadpool.

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Sources:

"Ryan Reynolds," IMDb.com
BBC.co.uk