RYAN Reynolds has invited a bereaved dad to a screening of Deadpool 3 after he completed a mammoth walking challenge. 

John Bell, a bereaved father to Jake Bell and co-founder of Walking 4 Hope, completed a monumental 140-mile journey from his hometown of Mansfield to Wrexham in time for the game on Good Friday. 

The 45-year-old sadly lost his son Jake in 2020 and set up the charity to help support others after struggling with his own mental health.

Last week, dressed as Deadpool, John walked from Mansfield Football Club to Wrexham's SToK Cae Ras over seven days, arriving in time for the Reds clash with the Stags on Friday (March 29).

John's efforts caught the attention of Deadpool himself, who alongside Wrexham co-chairman Rob McElhenney, sent messages of support as well as donating £15,000 to the Walking 4 Hope fundraising page.

Now, John has revealed that Ryan has been in touch to invite him to the premiere of the new Deadpool film later this year. 

"I don't think everything has sunk in yet," John said. 

"I'm still buzzing from the momentum it generated, it all went crazy. It's not just the attention we've had from Rob and Ryan which has been crazy. 

"Ryan's invited me to a screening in July to watch the new Deadpool and I've had so many messages from him, it doesn't seem real. 

"What I've done has obviously touched him but what he's done over the last few weeks in terms of the messages has been unreal."

John also discussed the support he received not only from the Reds' owners, but from the Wrexham community as a whole. 

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He added: "We've raised over £27k on the GoFundMe page from last week, which is crazy. 

"We also had a load of cash donations from buckets we had carried across the week. On a couple of days we had a few hundred quid, then we arrived in Wrexham on the final day and had £1,500 donated in cash. 

"£500 of that was the Miners Rescue which is just amazing, it makes me want to move to Wrexham. I've seen the stories of Rob and Ryan and what they've done with the community and I've experienced that first hand, it's touched me. 

"I love what I do and I need to sit down and organise what we're doing next. We've got a few plans in the works, but I'd love to do something else in Wrexham. 

"There were so many amazing people there who I didn't fully get to meet because of how busy we were, but I am looking at coming back to Wrexham and getting the Miner's Rescue involved."