There’s always a lot of discussion about ratings when it comes to comic book movies. A PG-13 rating is the default. PG usually indicates to fans that’s baby stuff for children. But an R-rating? Now we’re talking. That’s the sort of edgy, adult fare people like us who read about grown men and women wearing spandex and shooting little rays out of their eyes deserve. Well, get ready for the opposite experience! Because Marvel chief Kevin Feige calls the R-rated Deadpool & Wolverine “wholesome” and “sweet” in a new interview.
While talking to Deadline about what to expect from Marvel Studios’s San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC 2024) panels, Feige also addressed whether the third Deadpool flick was the beginning of a new, edgier Marvel.
“I think we’ve been edgy in the past, but my favorite thing is that we span all types of genres and tones,” Feige clarified. “I think it gets a lot of attention that this is our first R-rated movie, but it is the third R-rated Deadpool movie, so we wanted to stay true to what Ryan has built over those last couple of movies and we weren’t going to undo that.”
One wonders which Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) movies were “edgy” in particular… Perhaps he’s referring to Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which was the closest Marvel has come to doing something anti-government, while still having a character wearing the American flag on his body. Or maybe he means the “sex scene” in Eternals where two characters lay on top of each other and stare into each other’s eyes without moving. Fun fact: you wouldn’t know it from this paragraph, but I actually do love these movies!
Anyway, onto the operative point of this article. While some sections of the fanbase cheer on an R-rating to the point that it becomes a part of the marketing — look no further than Aaron Taylor-Johnson proudly declaring Kraven the Hunter is R-rated, or Kevin Feige himself dropping F-bombs at Cinemacon to promote Deadpool & Wolverine to movie theater owners — it seems like that’s far from the point for this latest flick featuring the Merc With a Mouth.
“I will say — Hugh and Ryan have talked about this — and I think people can tell from the trailer and from the press tour so far, yes, it’s R-rated, yes there’s some language and blood, but the film is incredibly emotional,” Feige continued. “I keep calling it the most wholesome R-rated film that anybody can ever see. It really is a celebration of friendship and family and of found family. I don’t want to overdo it, but for all the R-rated raunchiness that gets attention, when people see the movie, it’s going to be about how heartfelt it is — in my opinion, much more than the first two Deadpool films. That’s what I’m really excited about, once people get past the ‘F’ words and the R-rating, to see how sweet it is.”
Frankly? Good. Thank you. The issue that consistently crops up with “yeah, R-rated superhero film, let’s gooooo” is that all that’s being asked for — and perhaps delivered — is a bloody, curse-filled mess that is frankly more childish than something rated PG-13. There’s a place for blood and gore, and even cursing. But you need an emotional core for the characters to make a movie function properly. That’s what made the first Deadpool movie work, too. Not the raunchy jokes, or multiple stabbings. But the strong throughline of the relationship between Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) and Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). The second movie lost sight of that for a good chunk of the runtime thanks to setting up comedy bits. Mind you, they were pretty good comedy bits. But the movie meandered without that focus.
If the third movie returns to emotion first, something Reynolds has been pushing hard in his family fare like IF, Spirited, and The Adam Project, we could be in for a pretty great movie. Or at least, something surprisingly wholesome.
Deadpool & Wolverine premieres on July 26, 2024 in theaters. If you’re at San Diego Comic-Con, you can also check out a panel with Reynolds, Feige, Hugh Jackman, and director Shawn Levy on the same day.
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