Gina Carano To Kick Ass in DEADPOOL, Colossus To Appear Also

After kicking Magneto's (Michael Fassbender) ass in Steven Soderbergh's Haywire, it looks like MMA fighter-turned-movie-star Gina Carano is going to mix it up in the X-Men universe for real. THR reports that the actress has signed on to star opposite Ryan Reynolds and T.J. Miller in Deadpool, the long-brewing comic book movie adaptation that's finally heading to the big screen next year.

Carano will play a mutant named Angel Dust, and though the X-Men films have often tweaked story elements to better fit their own narratives, here's what Marvel.com says about the character:

The young woman known only as Angel Dust is a member of the small group of outcast mutants living under the streets of Chicago known as the Morlocks. These Morlocks made a pact to stay together to help each other fulfill one last "wish" left over from their lives on the surface.

In Angel Dust's case, her parents were frantic as to the whereabouts of their daughter. Seeking to provide them with some form of closure, the Morlocks helped Angel Dust reach her parents' house where she revealed to them that she was a mutant. Fearing the worst, Angel Dust was stunned to find her parents were more accepting than she gave them credit for. However, she couldn't stay with them, thanks to the threat of the giant mutant-hunting robotic Sentinels that loomed over all Morlocks.

You don't cast Carano unless you want to see her brawl on the big screen (Fast & Furious 6 can attest to that), so I'm guessing we'll see her throw down a few times. Before filming gets underway, she'll first star opposite Bruce Willis in a new thriller called Extraction. Also, THR's report says that Russian mutant Colossus will appear in Deadpool, though it's still unclear if actor Daniel Cudmore, who played the role most recently in X-Men: Days of Future Past, will reprise his role.

Carano did great work in Haywire, and I'm looking forward to seeing her career continue to bloom with her work in a comic book movie. It was only a matter of time before she was cast in one, and I'm hoping she has some nice comedic banter with Reynolds that might test her acting range a bit more than usual.