Whenever the conversation turns to the possibility of R-rated movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool 3 is always the first thing that comes to mind, which isn’t surprising given that the Merc with a Mouth’s first two solo adventures earned over $1.5 billion at the box office and the proposed third installment is without a doubt one of the most hotly-anticipated comic book movies on the horizon.
However, Wade Wilson isn’t the only character Marvel have recently acquired the rights to that lends themselves to a more mature and adult-orientated outing, with Blade, the Punisher and Daredevil all well-suited to headlining an R-rated adaptation for a variety of different reasons. While Mahershala Ali’s reboot of the Daywalker is already in the early stages of active development, Marvel Studios have yet to formally announce what they plan on doing with the two former Netflix residents.
Daredevil has found himself the subject of much speculation though that ranges from a cameo in Jon Watts’ Spider-Man 3 as Peter Parker’s lawyer to having his solo series resurrected on either Disney Plus or Hulu. While the possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to rebooting the members of the Defenders into the MCU, we’ve heard that one thing Marvel wants is for Daredevil to get an R-rated solo movie, but only if the studio decides to head in that direction with Deadpool 3.
According to our sources – the same ones that told us that both Ms. Marvel and She-Hulk shows were in the works for Disney Plus before either was officially confirmed, and that National Treasure 3 was in development last year – Kevin Feige sees Deadpool 3 as the litmus test for how R-rated MCU movies will be received by audiences, and if they decide to go with an R-rating for the Merc and it goes down well, then Daredevil will reportedly follow suit.
Of course, the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen is no stranger to the R-rated realm after headlining three seasons of bone-crunching action on Netflix, while the Director’s Cut of Ben Affleck’s brief stint under the costume improved the much-maligned movie dramatically. A character like Daredevil obviously lends themselves much better to a darker and more mature interpretation, but we’ll have to wait and see how Deadpool 3 turns out before discovering whether Kevin Feige agrees with that sentiment or not.