Barely Related: Suicide Squad cast, Reynolds is Deadpool

This week, enjoy the good things, if you can.

Welcome to Barely Related, a conversational Friday column that presents the non-gaming news stories that we, the Joystiq staff, have been talking about over the past week. And no, we're not stopping our focus on industry and gaming news. Think of this as your casual weekly recap of interesting (and mostly geeky) news, presented just in time to fill your brain with things to discuss at all of those weekend shindigs.

Grab a fresh drink, lean back in your armchair, and get ready to talk nerdy with us.

Ryan Reynolds is Deadpool, finally

Reynolds has been Deadpool for years – he took on the role in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine (it's OK if you forgot about that – we tried to block it out, too), and since then he's been the on-screen Deadpool of our hearts. Now, it's official. Reynolds will appear in Fox's Deadpool, set to be released on February 12, 2016.

Benedict Cumberbatch is Doctor Strange, for real this time

Before Marvel dropped all of the news in October about its future film plans, there were rumors that Doctor Strange would be portrayed by esteemed (and steamy) actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Sometimes, dreams come true – Cumberbatch is confirmed for the role.

"Stephen Strange's story requires an actor capable of great depth and sincerity," Producer Kevin Feige says on Marvel's news blog. "In 2016, Benedict will show audiences what makes Doctor Strange such a unique and compelling character."

Excellent. Doctor Strange is scheduled for theatrical release on November 4, 2016.

DC's Suicide Squad movie has high-profile cast members

3, 2, 1, GO:

• Jared Leto – The Joker

• Will Smith – Deadshot

• Tom Hardy – Rick Flag

• Margot Robbie – Harley Quinn

• Jai Courtney – Boomerang

• Cara Delevingne – Enchantress

Variety reports that Jesse Eisenberg is in talks to play Lex Luthor in the film, as he's already playing everyone's favorite Mr. Clean lookalike in Batman v. Superman: Sunrise of Righteousness. Suicide Squad comes from Warner Bros and Fury director David Ayer, with a goal to be the Ocean's 11 of comic movies. It's set to begin filming in April in Toronto for theatrical release in 2016.

The Terminator Genisys trailer is better than our worst fears, at least

Our absolute worst fears included Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator wearing a BabyBjorn and calling Sarah Connor "my darling baby girl" while baking cookies. This is better than that.

About that Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer

If you haven't seen it (weirdo), here it is:

This trailer has riled up all of Nerddom over the past week, and it's racked up more views than trailers for Avengers: Age of Ultron or Jurassic World did in their first weeks. Of course there are now a ton of fan-made spin-off videos, including one that presents the trailer as directed by Wes Anderson, and @midnight breaking down the logic behind a black stormtrooper in Star Wars canon. Here's that one:

That's really all we have to say about the trailer. That, and those first few moments of the video filled us with inexplicable joy for no reason at all. Ah, Star Wars. We're glad you're back.

NASA is sending people to Mars and it's testing out the equipment now

So, this is exciting. NASA announced this week concrete plans to send astronauts to Mars by 2021 aboard an Orion spacecraft. It conducted an unmanned test launch on Thursday, December 4, and it went smoothly.

"In the not-too-distant future, astronauts destined to be the first people to walk on Mars will leave Earth aboard an Orion spacecraft," NASA writes. "Carried aloft by the tremendous power of a Space Launch System rocket, our explorers will begin their Journey to Mars from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying the spirit of humanity with them to the Red Planet."

Hell yes. NASA will continue tweaking and testing, and the second capsule is already in development at Lockheed Martin. This is all part of NASA's Next Giant Leap initiative, first outlined in July, and its ongoing Journey to Mars program.

House of Cards comes back in February

Season three of House of Cards, Netflix's political drama starring that guy in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, is due to drop on February 27, 2015. Mmm. See the short teaser here:

AMC orders a pilot for Preacher from Seth Rogen

No word on if James Franco will play Arseface (please, yes).

AMC has ordered a pilot for a show based on Garth Ennis' graphic novel Preacher, coming from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. Breaking Bad writer Sam Caitlin is showrunner, and he wrote the adaptation.

"Preacher has been our favorite comic since it first came out," Rogen and Goldberg said, according to Variety. "Garth Ennis is one of our idols and it's an incredible honor to be working on this. We promise we won't make too many dick jokes and ruin it."

Rogen further stated his dedication to the series on Twitter:

Amen.

James Bond is back with Spectre

The next 007 film is titled Spectre, director Sam Mendes announced this week. This is the 24th James Bond movie and it pits 007 against his oldest foe, SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counterintelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Spectre is due out on November 6, 2015. The synopsis reads as follows:

"A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organisation. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE. The locations for SPECTRE include Pinewood London, Mexico City, Rome, Tangier and Erfoud, Morocco. Bond is also back in the snow, this time in Sölden, Austria as well as Obertilliach and Lake Altaussee. The 24th Bond outing will also see a brand new Aston Martin designed specially for this film called the DB10."

Returning cast members include Daniel Craig, Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Rory Kinnear, and new actors include Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, David Bautista and Andrew Scott.

The Magicians transforms into a Syfy series with cast announcements

The TV adaptation of Lev Grossman's The Magicians book trilogy will star Jason Ralph as student-turned-wizard Quentin, and Sosie Bacon as Alice, a powerful mage and Quentin's love interest. The Magicians tells Quentin's story as he's whisked away to Brakebills, a school that teaches magic, and a fantastical land he'd always dreamed about as a child, Fillory. He's mostly a little shit in the first book, which is one of the main factors separating this series from Harry Potter.

On that note, we're moving to Poland to attend Hogwarts

See ya.

[Images: Mike Oncley, NASA, AP/Syfy]