Deadpool 2: Rob Liefeld Draws New Movie Poster

The new Deadpool 2 trailer prompted the beloved mercenary's creator to re-envision a classic comic cover, and the results are impressive.

Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld created a new poster based on his well-known cover to The New Mutants #98, which was also the first appearance of everyone's favorite Merc with a Mouth. There are some changes of course, as "the mysterious Gideon" has been replaced with Colossus, and the left side of the poster is missing Boom Boom, Cannonball, and Sunspot. Still, you can definitely see the homage.

"The cover to New Mutants #98 has become an iconic image, and it is the comic that introduced Deadpool and Domino to the world," Liefeld told Fandango. "New Mutants #98 has become a key image in the comic book pantheon, so I thought it would be great to pay homage with the movie cast… and I gotta be honest, man -- it turned out better than I imagined! I teamed up with a guy named Mike Capprotti, who I have worked with several times on many Deadpool covers. He has such a beautiful palette, and so we jammed together and came up with this great piece."

"Look, at the end of the day, I'm still an artist, and I'm slow to pull that image up, or pull it out of my portfolio, or be more nervous about responses. But then when people respond well, you're like, "Yes! We hit a bullseye!"

Getting to recreated this cover with Hollywood stars who are bringing these characters to life on the big screen is a surreal moment for Liefeld and one he never expected.

"I didn't know that I was going to get a chance to recreate the cover of New Mutants #98 with actors as all these characters," Liefeld said. "That was my calling card. I brought the world Cable, Deadpool, Domino, and it changed the course of my career. It gave me the career that I've had, and so it was just a pleasure [to pay homage]. And now the fact that it's going to be a poster with Fandango! Fandango's a big deal. That's huge. It's my pinch-me moment."

Josh Brolin's Cable and Zazie Beetz' Domino joins the rest of Deadpool's X-Force, which also includes Terry Crews. Beloved characters from the original like Colossus (Stefan Kapicic), Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand), Dopinder (Karan Soni), Blind Al (Leslie Uggams), and T.J. Miller (Weasel) will also be making a return alongside Deadpool, played by Ryan Reynolds.

Deadpool 2 cruises into theaters on May 18, while X-Men: Dark Phoenix lands in theaters on November 1. The New Mutants is slated to hit theaters on February 22, 2019.