'Deadpool' fans fete movie's opening with cast

NEW YORK - After years in the making, "Deadpool" hits cinema screens this week and fans of Marvel's anti-hero got to interact with the movie's cast at a special event in New York.

Ryan Reynolds, Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein star in the movie, which, with dark humor, violence and offensive language, has an "R" rating. "I just felt like it was a character in a comic book universe that could occupy a space that no one else could and no one else could ever in the future as well," Reynolds, who plays Deadpool, said.

"So I was always really excited about it. He's able to operate in an 'X-Men' universe in a way which other characters could never do that. So I just liked this idea of a protagonist that's morally flexible."

According to the movie's synopsis, the film tells the story of former Special Forces agent turned mercenary Wade Wilson, who undergoes a rogue experiment to treat his cancer.

The operation leaves him scarred but also with powers that allow him to heal quickly and Wilson, soon Deadpool, seeks revenge on the man who carried out the experiment. "There is a lot of Deadpool in me. I have a much better editing system in my mind then Deadpool does," Reynolds said.

The movie comes with a legion of fans -- a surprise for Tony Award winner Leslie Uggams who plays "Blind Al". "This is awesome. This is a whole world that I didn't know existed," she said. "And my son ... He's a Deadpool fan, so for him, no matter what other stuff I did, this is the one." -Reuters