Ryan Reynolds banks on another cartoon character ‘Detective Pikachu’

Ryan Reynolds could well end up with a second major film franchise adapted from popular graphic characters.

The "Deadpool" star has signed on to top-line the live-action "Detective Pikachu" and will begin shooting next month, the Hollywood Reporter first reported.

The Legendary film, based on the video game-sprung multimedia juggernaut, already has director Rob Letterman ("Goosebumps") and actors Justice Smith ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom") and Kathryn Newton ("Lady Bird") already in place, with Alex Hirsch ("Gravity Falls") and Nicole Perlman ("Guardians of the Galaxy") handling the script.

Reynolds will play the title gumshoe who helps a boy find his father within this world of mighty Pokémon beasts. The film has a build-in global fan appeal, with Pokémon games having sold in the hundreds of millions and an animated series spanning two decades.

The move marks Reynolds's continued faith in projects based on bright visual characters. He began the decade with the infamous "Green Lantern" and the animated "The Croods," right after 2009's misguided "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

Now he's got a "Deadpool" sequel due out next June, an "X-Force" film announced – and even "The Croods 2? slated for 2020.

The casting rings as positive news except among those fans who had campaigned for Danny DeVito to land the role

– even though he had little interest and even less knowledge of Pokémon.