Deadpool and Logan are about to make some new friends – in the DC Extended Universe. According to the The Wrap, DC is seriously considering the idea of making R-rated films within the bounds of their cinematic universe. A “well-placed” source told them, “One hundred percent yes. With the right character(s).”
The right characters most likely means that it’s not going to be anyone you’d see under the Justice League banner. Batman is really the only character that would warrant that, and his appeal is simply way too wide to limit the audience of a movie with the Batman name on it. Instead, I could imagine Deathstroke, Nightwing, or some of the weirder characters with cult followings, like Etrigan or Deadman, in an R-rated movie.
Why do studios love PG-13 ratings so much?
A PG-13 rating opens your movie up to the widest possible audience that might have disposable incoming. If you skew any younger, you risk alienating fans of the material. If you push for an R-rating, you’re potentially cutting off a huge source of profit for a movie, or so the thinking goes. But then there’s Deadpool and Logan.
Wade Wilson and fourth-wall breaking antics made Deadpool the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever. Not Marvel, not superhero – just movie. The still-fresh Logan pulled in not only tons of critical acclaim, but has so far pulled in well-over $200 million of its own. In other words, Fox went somewhere other studios wouldn’t and proved that there is not only room for, but tons of money to be made in serious, adult-oriented superhero films.
Just like we won’t see Supes or Batman helming one anytime soon, though, we likely won’t see any of the established Marvel Cinematic Universe characters at the front of one, either. But it’d be silly to think Marvel isn’t considering the potential of such a thing themselves.
The closest we’ve had to a DCEU R-rated movie is the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice extended cut. Which wasn’t much better than the original, really. We’re hoping DC can pick a winner next time around and show us something as memorable as Deadpool.