Fans can’t wait to see Deadpool folded into the MCU, yet some are still worried that the family-friendly franchise isn’t the right place for the Merc with a Mouth. Fox’s X-Men universe might be heavily criticized these days, but you have to hand it to the studio for taking a risk on making the Deadpool movies R-rated. The big question, though, is will Marvel branch out into producing films for mature audiences or will DP be watered down to become PG-13?
Deadpool 2 director David Leitch, who’s previously discussed his hopes to continue with the franchise under Disney, touched on the issue with Yahoo Movies UK. The filmmaker doesn’t see this causing too much of a problem as he imagines the studio will reach a “happy ground” with the character that will please both Marvel execs and the fans.
“It’s rated R so that’s not necessarily the [MCU] brand, but he doesn’t necessarily need to be R and [Disney] don’t necessarily need to only make PG-13 movies. I think we’ll find a happy ground.”
We’ve previously heard similar sentiments from Disney and Marvel, with the Mouse House’s CEO Bob Iger teasing that they may be open to making R-rated movies following the Fox merger. Meanwhile, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has said he wouldn’t want to change anything about the DP films and presumably, this would include the rating.
The biggest clue that Deadpool might remain his rude, ultra-violent self in the MCU though is that the franchise might even have another R-rated movie before he gets there. Mahershala Ali’s Blade reboot was announced to be coming in Phase 5 last month. Seeing as the original Wesley Snipes trilogy was rated R, it’s possible that Marvel plans to continue that for Ali’s version. If that’s the case, audiences might be already used to the idea before Ryan Reynolds comes along to smash through the fourth wall while dropping F-bombs.