For fans of the Merc with a Mouth’s big screen outings, the impending Disney/Fox deal has been a cause for some anxiety, with many fearing that the famously family-friendly Mouse House may be a little hesitant about letting the Deadpool movies maintain their R-rated levels of swearing and violence.
Fortunately, during Disney’s quarterly earnings call with investors, CEO Bob Iger reportedly allayed these concerned when he implied that the company wasn’t going to shy away from what works for their newly acquired properties, regardless of ratings. The CEO also noted that they intend to continue with the Deadpool series under a Fox umbrella, and that Disney would brand their more adult franchises differently in order to avoid any confusion. What’s more, Iger added that nothing in Fox’s current portfolio concerned them, implying that the change in ownership will require few creative compromises for Wade Wilson and his peers.
In short, Iger basically said everything that Deadpool fans were hoping he’d say, albeit with seemingly no mention of any actual projects. It therefore remains to be seen if Disney plans to push forward with Drew Goddard’s X-Force, a film that Deadpool co-creator Rob Liefeld declared dead via social media last month. For Deadpool 3, on the other hand, things currently look promising. A few weeks ago, it was said by cowriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick that they were shooting script ideas back and forth with Ryan Reynolds, who’s also mentioned that the threequel will go “in a completely different direction” from the first two films.
Fortunately, it sounds like this new direction for Deadpool won’t involve a PG-13 rating, and while it could still be a long wait before the Merc returns to theaters, those recent reports of an R-rated Black Widow movie are starting to sound pretty plausible.