Disney Reportedly Debating Whether Deadpool Can Move Between R-Rated Solo Movies and PG-13 MCU Movies

What to do with Deadpool? This has become one of the biggest questions hanging over the Marvel […]

August 7, 2019, 3:20pm

What to do with Deadpool? This has become one of the biggest questions hanging over the Marvel movie franchise, following Disney’s acquisition of 20th Century Fox. Now a new report suggests that meetings are taking place to determine if Deadpool is a character who jump between the PG-13 realities of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and R-Rated movie where the “Merc With a Mouth” can be his full, uncensored self.

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Here’s what Variety’s Brent Lang has to report, on the latest talks about Deadpool’s place in and around the MCU, after listening to Disney’s latest investors meeting with studio head Bob Iger:

Iger notes X-Men, Deadpool, Fantastic 4 are now under Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s control. Hear from sources that there are debates about whether Deadpool can move seamlessly between R-rated solo outings and PG-13 rated MCU movies.
— Brent Lang (@BrentALang) August 6, 2019

“Iger notes X-Men, Deadpool, Fantastic 4 are now under Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige’s control. Hear from sources that there are debates about whether Deadpool can move seamlessly between R-rated solo outings and PG-13 rated MCU movies.”

These discussions are picking up on what many fans and industry figures have been predicting for months now, ever since the Disney-Fox merger went through. In fact, months ago Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld laid out the following prediction about how Disney-Fox would handle the character, down the line:

“You guys ask me about Deadpool’s future on film all the time and while Bob Iger is a really nice guy, seriously, he is the nicest man, I’m not invited to the board room for all the obvious reasons. However, I believe Deadpool’s future is BRIGHT. If I had to predict, venture a GUESS, just a guess…DP will appear in pg-13 Marvel films on a limited basis, interacting with Marvel pals while retaining his own R rated film franchise releases under the Fox banner. Those shenanigans with Vanessa can’t be released under that Disney Castle banner, y’know?? We will all find out soon enough.”

While having both the PG-13 and “R” options for Deadpool seems logical enough, it’s not a guarantee. Even Liefeld himself has acknowledged that Deadpool in hard-edged PG-13 works well enough, and Deadpool 2 director David Leitch recently echoed that very sentiment.

“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,” Leitch told Yahoo Movies UK… “I think, from discussions that I’ve heard, it’s all positive. I think that they’re just trying to figure a way in as Deadpool’s hard.”

Would you like to see Deadpool play nice (PG-13) in the MCU, and still have his hard-R solo films, or do you think the upper limits of PG-13 are enough to keep Deadpool hip with fans? Let us know in the comments!

Upcoming Marvel Studios projects include Black Widow on May 1, 2020, The Falcon and The Winter Soldier in fall 2020, The Eternals on November 6, 2020, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on February 12, 2021, WandaVision in spring 2021, Loki in spring 2021, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness on May 7, 2021, What If? In summer 2021, Hawkeye in fall 2021, and Thor: Love and Thunder on November 5, 2021.