Deadpool 3 Director Confirms Disney and Marvel Support R-Rated, Self-Referential Tone

“F— yes.” That’s what Deadpool 3 director Shawn Levy said when asked if the sequel, produced by Disney and Kevin Feige’s typically PG-13 Marvel Studios, can be R-rated. Starring Ryan Reynolds as the foul-mouthed merc Wade Wilson and X-Men vet Hugh Jackman as the metal-clawed mutant Wolverine, Deadpool 3 will be the first R-rated feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. A raunchy rating isn’t the only carryover from the former Fox franchise now under Disney: like 2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2, Disney’s Deadpool will retain his habit of breaking the fourth wall with a “super meta, self-referential self-awareness.” 

“Not only have Kevin Feige and Marvel and Disney supported this extremely Deadpool-ian, audacious, R-rated tone, they’ve also supported our super meta, self-referential self-awareness,” Levy told Wired. “Some of the jokes are dirty, some of them are cultural observations, but that’s what we love about Deadpool, that he knows he’s in a movie, even though the stakes are real. Our movie is very loyal to that DNA too, with tremendous Marvel and Disney support, in making fun of and being self-aware about everything, including themselves.”

Writers Rhett Reese an Paul Wernick, who scripted all three Deadpool movies, assured fans in 2022 that the first Deadpool movie produced under Disney would not be “Disney-fied.”

“It’s these [Disney] people and these people do things their way,” Reese told The Playlist.”And we were used to doing things our way, so there are differences,but I think the great part is that Marvel’s been incredibly supportive.They are gonna let Deadpool be Deadpool, you know? It’s not like anyparticular joke may be the one that they say, ‘You know, that’s toofar,’ that could happen, but to this point, it’s been nothing butsupport.”

Reese continued, “It’s been nothing but, ‘How can we help you?’ What from our universewould you like to use? How can we make your life easy? And we’re gonnalet Deadpool be Deadpool. This is not going to be theDisney-fied Deadpool. So they’re awesome, and now it’s up to us to come through andjustify that faith.”

As far back as 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger and Marvel CCO Feige have insisted that Marvel Studios’ takeover of the Deadpool franchise would maintain what audiences have come to expect: violence, gore, and language not typically used in Marvel’s more family-friendly fare.

“[Deadpool] clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. Butwe think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand forsomething like Deadpool,” Iger said at the time. “As long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine.”

Deadpool 3 — which may or may not be titled “Deadpool 3“ — is currently without a calendar spot after Disney delayed the anticipated threequel from its May 3, 2024, release date.