It’s no secret that R-rated superhero films have a dedicated audience if the recently released The Suicide Squad isn’t enough to prove that you need simply look at the success Fox had producing the two Deadpool films.
According to a report from Giant Freakin Robot, Disney isn’t totally on board with the idea of R-rated Marvel films and this has caused conflict between them and Marvel Studios head, Kevin Feige.
The report says that Feige believes having a PG-13 rating on films within the MCU feels as though he’s running into a wall. While Disney has agreed to let the Deadpool franchise continue with its R-rating this is allegedly where they are drawing the line despite Feige’s desire to create more Marvel movies with the rating.
Following the acquisition of Fox and reclaiming some of their characters from Netflix, there are plenty of characters in the hands of Disney Marvel that have plenty of extremely violent and graphic source material that would require an R-rating to be portrayed perfectly.
Some of these characters include The Punisher and Jessica Jones who Disney just reclaimed the rights to, along with many of the X-Men members.
While Giant Freakin Robot wasn’t able to learn what projects Feige had pitched for an R-rating, it was likely names listed above or similar. Feige has previously stated that if his ability to tell a story within the Marvel universe were to be held back due to a rating then he and Disney would have a chat about it, and this seems to have been the case.
Disney maintaining a PG-13 rating does benefit the reach of their movies but if Deadpool 3 proves to be another hit it could sway the company into handing out the R-rating on a more lenient basis.
