Kevin Feige, the mastermind behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe, has confirmed that an R-rated Deadpool 3 set in the MCU is in development. Despite Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox putting a swift end to ‘Pool’s established cinematic universe and paving the way for an MCU reboot, Ryan Reynolds’ Merc with a Mouth will be crossing over into the Avengers’ world. Exactly how this will be explained is unclear, but Deadpool will be able to use his most important superpower – the ability to break the fourth wall – to find a creative way to ingratiate himself into a new franchise and fictional universe (not to mention the comedic mileage he’ll get out of being a Disney property).
While the announcement of an R-rated installment in the traditionally PG-13 MCU is somewhat surprising, rebooting Wade Wilson’s on-screen adventures without Reynolds would be a fool’s errand; going with a PG-13 rating would take ‘Pool right back to his disastrous X-Men Origins introduction, and there was no way Disney was going to leave a property as popular as Deadpool alone after spending $71.3 billion on a studio. Also, Feige did clarify that Deadpool 3 is the only R-rated MCU project on the horizon, so it’ll be a one-off, at least for now. And this is a smart move, because the worst thing Marvel could do with Deadpool right now is set a precedent for R-rated efforts.
The reason R-rated comic book movies like Logan and Joker have done so well in the past few years is that they’ve broken away from the norm. In a sea of watered-down PG-13 superhero smash-‘em-ups, these movies came along with brutal violence and challenging themes to shake things up. But ever since the success of the first Deadpool movie, the number of R-rated comic book adaptations has risen rapidly. Soon enough, R-rated comic book movies will be a new norm. Some fans have celebrated this, because R ratings allow NSFW comics to make it to the screen un-sanitized by Hollywood suits, and it also gives filmmakers less creative boundaries. But sometimes, those boundaries can be a good thing.
In recent years, the R rating has been used to create needlessly graphic comic book movies like the 2019 Hellboy reboot whose grisly, blood-drenched action didn’t have nearly as much impact as the visceral, but family-friendly PG-13 sequences in Guillermo del Toro’s original movies. Birds of Prey is filled with unnecessarily gruesome moments to cash in on the freedom of the R rating. Most of these hard-R moments involve Ewan McGregor’s Black Mask, like torturing a woman in the middle of his nightclub or gratuitously cutting off a guy’s face on-screen or being blown to smithereens by a grenade in a burst of blood and severed limbs in the final standoff. The R rating can easily be used as a crutch to shock the audience.
It’s tempting to call for more R-rated films in the MCU. Deadpool isn’t the only hard-R character in the Marvel Comics universe, after all. Blade and Wolverine are both coming to the MCU and characters like Doctor Doom could benefit from an edgy, Joker-style character study (from a director with a better command of social commentary than Todd Phillips, ideally). But, ultimately, ‘Pool is the only one who really needs an R rating. The restrictions of the PG-13 rating will end up making Blade, the Vampire Slayer a stronger film, and an R-rated Wolverine movie would risk stepping on Logan’s toes so soon after Hugh Jackman’s Oscar-nominated swansong hit theaters.
There are a number of characters currently in the MCU that fans would love to see in an R-rated context, like the Guardians of the Galaxy, but now that the Deadpool franchise is joining the MCU’s cluster of standalone franchises, Marvel doesn’t need to take a gamble on a whole R-rated Guardians movie to make that a reality – Star-Lord and co. can just show up in one of ‘Pool’s movies. Conveniently, most of the MCU characters that would be fun candidates for an R-rated cameo would also make a great foil for Reynolds’ Deadpool, like the Waititi-ized Thor or Tom Holland’s hilariously naive Peter Parker, so it’ll work out pretty well. Post-Endgame, the MCU’s world is fully established and there’s a vast network of characters who can cross over into each other’s stories at will. If WandaVision is anything to go by, fans can expect a lot of ambitious MCU crossovers in the franchise’s future.
Keeping Reynolds in the role of Deadpool and continuing his wildly successful solo series from the Fox franchise is a no-brainer for Feige – if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – but it does present a unique challenge for Deadpool 3. The Merc with a Mouth will have to explain how he’s switching franchises due to a corporate merger without going over casual fans’ heads, spiraling too far down the meta rabbit hole, or getting bogged down in dry studio politics. It’ll be a fine line to walk, but Feige and Reynolds undoubtedly have something great in store.
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