Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds, pictured here last September, beat out Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto for the coveted role of the Green Lantern.Vancouver's Ryan Reynolds, pictured here last September, beat out Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto for the coveted role of the Green Lantern. (Canadian Press)

Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds will be donning the costume in the role of the comic book hero the Green Lantern.

Production on the major motion picture, based on the DC Comics title, is slated to begin in January 2010, according to Hollywood trade paper Variety.

Reynolds — currently onscreen in the romantic comedy The Proposal starring Sandra Bullock — had been in the running along with actors Bradley Cooper and Jared Leto.

The 32-year-old Vancouverite has had a stellar year so far: The Proposal hit the $100-million box office mark this week, and Reynolds got a spinoff movie of his own after his turn as the assassin Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Reynolds's previous movies include Blade: Trinity, Smoking Aces, Adventureland and Definitely, Maybe.

The actor, who married actress Scarlett Johansson last year, has another movie coming out soon, Paper Man, which also stars Jeff Daniels.