Cameron FrewEver since Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, people have wondered how Deadpool will fit into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Kevin Feige recently announced Phase Four of the MCU, while also unveiling a Blade reboot, and confirming that plans were in motion for X-Men and Fantastic Four. But for sweary, crude, spandex-clad anti-hero Deadpool, there’s still a lot of mystery.
Known for being an R-rated (generally 15-rated, occasionally 18-rated) character, dropping f-bombs and dismembering his foes. The MCU’s brand, so far, is family-friendly. But director David Leitch says it isn’t the end of the world if Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool has to be sanitised.
20th Century FoxIn an interview with Yahoo, Leitch said:
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. I think we’ll find a happy ground.
The idea of Deadpool being a PG-13 (12A) hero isn’t completely alien. Last year, Deadpool 2 was retooled for younger audiences with Once Upon a Deadpool. Although, fans would likely be disappointed if the character was censored too much.
One Twitter user said: ‘I really don’t think I’d bother with a non R-rated Deadpool, who wants to see handcuffs put on what made the first two so great?’ Another user said: ‘I thought the whole point of Deadpool was to be R-rated. That’s what sets him apart from other Marvel characters…like what?’
vancityreynolds/InstagramHowever, this Twitter user wasn’t so opposed to the idea:
PG-13 Deadpool 3 >>>>>>>>>>> Rated R Deadpool 3. The writers need to be reigned in, and maybe with a PG 13 rating, they might, I dunno, learn how to tell jokes instead of just saying the fuck word and calling it a day
— Birthday Ari 🎂 (@AKARELK) August 6, 2019
Leitch said Deadpool, compared to the Fantastic Four or X-Men, is harder to work with:
There’s a lot of mystery still surrounding what they want to do with Deadpool in [Disney’s] Marvel world but 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.
Leitch added that he loves Deadpool and hopes to return to direct any future installments. He also said that the idea of a crossover with Blade is ‘very cool’ as they’re both swordsmen – Blade’s previous outings have all been R-rated, also.
Deadpool’s first two outings have been major critical and financial successes; as reported by Collider, 2016’s first film is the second highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time (behind Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ).
Regardless of concerns over whether he’ll be as profane and violent as before, hopefully it won’t be too long before Deadpool makes a superhero landing into the MCU.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.