Deadpool 2 release date announced alongside X-Men spin-offs New Mutants and Dark Phoenix

Over the weekend, numerous films have received unexpected release dates, including all four Avatar sequels, which will reach cinemas over the next eight years.

Fox has finally dated the expected sequel to Deadpool, along with two other X-Men related films: Dark Phoenix and New Mutants.

Deadpool 2 — which will star Josh Brolin as the mutant Cable — will be released 1 June 2018, placing the film in contention with other summer blockbusters.

The original Ryan Reynolds-starring film was released in February last year; thanks to few cinematic rivals, the flick broke R-Rated doc-office records.

Meanwhile, Josh Boone’s New Mutants will touchdown 13 April 2018, and Dark Phoenix comes out 2 November 2018.

For X-Men fans, the announcement of Dark Phoenix likely seems a little odd as the famed comic-book arc — which details Jean Grey turning corrupt with power — was told in the third X-Men film, The Last Stand, released in 2006.

Sophie Turner plays the new Jean Grey, previous film X-Men: Days of Future Past having changed the X-Men timeline, rendering the poorly received The Last Stand unrelated.

“I definitely would love to take another stab at the Dark Phoenix story,” writer/producer Simon Kinberg previously said. “The seeds of Phoenix definitely are planted in [Apocalypse]. She can’t control her powers unless she either fully stops them or lets them all loose, and that’s kind of Phoenix. I think in future movies to come we’ll definitely see a bit more of that.”

It remains unclear where exactly New Mutants falls in the timeline. While it will likely come after Apocalypse and on the new timeline, the ending of Logan also lends itself to a New Mutants story.

John Wick co-director David Leitch will helm the upcoming Deadpool sequel. Zazie Beetz has already been confirmed to be playing the mutant Domino, while Brianna Hildebrand will be back as Negasonic Teenage Warhead.