Johnny Depp, you have been usurped.
This year, the hotness that is Ryan Reynolds was deemed the fairest of them all, scoring the title (and cover) of People's Sexiest Man Alive. Which makes it official: what with wife Scarlett Johansson fresh off her crowning as Babe of the Year, there's no hotter couple in existence.
Also included in the cornucopia of impressive specimens: Jon Hamm, George Clooney, Robert Pattinson, Kellan Lutz, Robert Downey Jr., Bradley Cooper, Jake Gyllenhaal, Matthew Morrison and...Mel Gibson?!
"Well, there was a little moment of disbelief, and then you kind of settle into it," the humble stunner Reynolds said of his Sexiest Man title. "Really, you just have to go with the flow."
And while the 34-year-old dropped a few imagination gems on his adoring fan base—he sleeps in the nude, he knows how to say every swear word in Greek—he seems to most clearly credit the maple syrup in his blood for rearing his hotness.
"We're trying to nationalize sexy. Sort of like Medicare," he said of the hotness that comes with being Canadian. "There's an inherent ability to be self-deprecating. That has served me well in my career and personal life."
The sense of humor doesn't hurt things, either.
"We can ice skate on anything. Even wood. Our accents are adorable. We can apologize virtually on demand. For anything."
Except for taking the title away from some equally worthy competitors. And saving the title from some not-so-worthy ones.
Speaking of Mel, the Lethal Weapon star merited his own sidebar in the issue—albeit one entitled, "It seemed like a good idea at the time..." in reference to naming him Sexiest Man Alive in 1985. (He actually shared the sidebar with 1992's stud du jour, Nick Nolte.)
And seeing as how this is the magazine's 25th year choosing a genetic lottery winner, the magazine is chock full of retrospectives, bundling together "The Fantastic Four" (George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon), "International Hotness" (Jude Law, Hugh Jackman and Pierce Brosnan) and then tried to add a little substance to their eye candy by justifying their ogling in "Sexy Because..." (Jon Hamm, Justin Timberlake, Patrick Dempsey, Matthew Morrison, Bradley Cooper and Robert Pattinson).
And though Depp may have relinquished the title this year, he got quite the consolation prize: the actor was voted the Sexiest Man of All Time by People.com's readers.
Meanwhile, we were very pleased to see that Joel McHale, star of Community and host of The Soup on E!, was chosen to represent the 39-year-olds who've got it goin' on in the "Sexy at Every Age" feature. (Honorable mentions go to Andrew Garfield at 27, Jon Stewart at 48 and Hugh Laurie at 51.)
Apparently Vin Diesel is the "Sexiest Man Alive on Facebook," but—no offense to Vin—we're having trouble trusting the results of a poll in which second place went to Jersey Shore's DJ Pauly D.
The magazine also features some lip-smacking photo spreads on the guys of True Blood, Twilight and The Vampire Diaries (i.e. men who play monsters) and an article penned by Conan O'Brien called "If I Were the Sexiest Man Alive."
Hey, take it up with Reynolds, CoCo.