Following two Critics' Choice Awards wins and a pair of Golden Globe nominations, Fox's "Deadpool" can see Oscar gold just within its reach. Sure, it's for makeup and hairstyling, but it's still an Academy Award.

On Wednesday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences released its list of seven finalists in the 35-year-old category, which in addition to "Deadpool" includes "Suicide Squad," "Star Trek Beyond," "The Dressmaker," "Florence Foster Jenkins," "Hail, Caesar!" and "A Man Called Ove."

RELATED: Can "Deadpool" Break the Superhero Movie Oscar Curse?

This is one of those Oscar categories with different stages of nominations: On Jan. 7 the members of the Academy's makeup and hairstylists branch will be asked to view a 10-minute submission from each of the seven contenders, and then whittle down the list to three finalists.

Established in 1981, the makeup and hairstyling award was first presented to Rick Baker for his work on "An American Werewolf in London." It's difficult to say which of the contenders have an advantage, as over the past three and half decades the Academy has honored more traditional fare in this category as frequently as it has genre works. For instance, in 1985 "Mask" beat out "The Color Purple," and in 1997, "Men in Black" edged out "Mrs. Brown" and "Titanic.

However, while "Batman Returns" was nominated in 1992, and "The Dark Knight" in 2008, no superhero movie has won for makeup and hairstyling. So it may be up to Task Force X and Ryan Reynolds' Merc With a Mouth to end that particular Oscar drought.

(via Variety)