Everything Known About the MCU’s R-Rated Deadpool 3
When Ryan Reynolds officially confirmed that he and Marvel Studios are working on Deadpool 3 this past week, naturally all sorts of questions popped up again.
Despite the ratings question and the MCU question having been answered multiple times in the past, people still are curious about where Deadpool 3 will land in terms of the MCU and if it’ll be Rated R. I’ve gathered all of the evidence and compiled it all in one article so everyone can see the answers to both questions.
Hopefully this will be helpful and can be referred back to for all of those answers…
Will Deadpool 3 Be Rated R?
This the biggest question everyone has, and it’s actually been answered from the day that Disney announced they were buying Fox. On that day back in 2017, Disney held a conference call with investors, and one specifically asked Bob Iger about Deadpool and its R rating. The Disney CEO replied by saying:
“It clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. But we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool. As long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine.”
And there’s precedent for this. Despite some people having the belief that Disney has never released an R-Rated movie. While the “Walt Disney Pictures” label never did, they produced other names to release R-Rated films. In the 80s Touchstone Pictures was created specifically to release those type of movies, but they’ve had other brands over the years such as Hollywood Pictures, Dimension, and of course Miramax in the 90s.
The the modern era, only Touchstone stuck around for a while (Disney used it to release the Dreamworks movies they distributed), but like Iger said there’s an opportunity for a specific R-Rated Marvel brand. They did that in the comics, with Marvel MAX, so it’s something that could happen with the movies.
Iger reiterated this just recently when on an earnings call in February of 2019 he hinted that they could be making more R-Rated movies beyond Deadpool:
“We do believe there is room for the Fox properties to exist without significant Disney influence over the nature of the content. Meaning that we see that there is certainly popularity amongst Marvel fans for the R-rated Deadpool films, for instance we’re going to continue in that business, and there might be room for more of that.”
But the CEO of the company isn’t the only one to confirm that Deadpool would remain R-Rated in the MCU. When doing press for Zombieland: Double Tap, the Deadpool writers confirmed they’ve been talking to Marvel and were promised that they could remain R-Rated:
“I think the party line and truth is we’re all still figuring it out. Marvel has promised to continue to let us play in the R-rated Deadpool universe, and the hope is that they will also let us veer into the MCU a little bit as well and play in that sandbox.”
Paul Wernick to Entertainment Weekly, October 14, 2019
There you have not one, but three separate confirmations that Deadpool will remain R-Rated at Marvel; two of which come from the CEO of Disney.
Will Deadpool 3 Be Part of the MCU?
With the ratings question out of the way, then everyone wants to know if Deadpool 3 would be part of the MCU or a separate Marvel universe.
Disney CEO Bob Iger first addressed this in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in September of 2018, saying that there will only be one Marvel:
“I think it only makes sense. I want to be careful here because of what’s been communicated to the Fox folks, but I think they know. It only makes sense for Marvel to be supervised by one entity. There shouldn’t be two Marvels.”
Bob Iger to The Hollywood Reporter, September 20 2018
A year after that, in Disney’s 3rd Quarter earnings call back in August of 2019, Iger confirmed that Kevin Feige is overseeing Deadpool:
“We see great long term value in a broad collection of theatrical IP we acquired from Fox, including iconic movie franchises such as Avatar and Planet of the Apes. As well as Marvel’s X-Men, Fantastic Four, and Deadpool. Which are now part of Marvel Studios, under the leadership of Kevin Feige; the architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which now includes twenty-three movies with a global box office of more than twenty-two billion dollars to date.”
Once again, it’s not just the CEO of Disney confirming that Deadpool is part of the MCU. The writers of the movies have confirmed that they’re excited to play in the MCU sandbox:
“We definitely we want to play in the sandbox,” Reese said. “One of the great things about the MCU is how rich and broad it is. For instance, just think about the world of villains, how great the world of villains are. We’re never able to use a lot of those villains because they were on the MCU. Well, now we can. So, right away, we’re definitely excited about getting the shot to do that. I think Ryan is too. I think the MCU people are too, just the idea of throwing Deadpool into the mix is exciting to them.”
Rhett Reese to ComicBook.com, October 17 2019
Beyond those three confirmations, Deadpool 3 is being produced by Kevin Feige and Ryan Reynolds. In the Marvel Studios era, if a movie or TV show is produced by Feige; that means it’s part of the MCU.
Are Deadpool and Deadpool 2 Canon to the MCU Now?
Honestly this is kind of a dumb question and really seems like one people try to use to discredit the MCU one above.
Deadpool is a “meta” character, meaning he exists outside the normal continuity in his solo adventures (team-ups are different; obviously). It’s true in the comics, and it’s definitely true in the movies.
The two Fox Deadpool movies were set in the X-Men universe, but they were definitely out of continuity. Deadpool 2 was set in modern day, but it features the 90s Dark Phoenix X-Men cast as a cameo gag.
And honestly, even coming from the Fox universe, it isn’t hard to integrate Deadpool as-is to the MCU. The first Deadpool featured an old-style S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier in the film’s climax, and also guest-starred fan-favorite stooge Hydra Bob. Then Deadpool 2 was filled with MCU references and jokes.
That means you shouldn’t expect Deadpool 3 to be a reboot, but don’t count on the old movies affecting MCU canon as they already existed outside of continuity.
Again, hopefully this article collected enough evidence to show you that the upcoming Deadpool 3 is both going to be Rated-R and part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.