Earlier this month, Disney CEO Bob Iger mentioned at the quarterly earnings call that the company is open to making Marvel movies that go beyond a PG-13 rating. Iger’s comments added fuel to the preexisting rumor that the upcoming Black Widow film would be the MCU’s first R-rated feature, but now it seems that Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has laid this hearsay to rest.
In an interview with ComicBook.com, Feige was asked if the rumors of an R-rated Black Widow can officially be squashed, to which he said, “Yes. Correct.” The producer went on to explain that it was never even in discussion that the movie would receive a more mature rating than the usual PG-13.
“It never was going to be,” Feige said. “Somebody writes, ‘I hear it’s R-rated!’ And then everybody writes it up.”
So, there you have it. Though Iger’s prior comments strongly suggest that Marvel Studios may one day deliver an R-rated film, it seems that Natasha Romanoff’s solo debut isn’t it.
While reports indicate that the Black Widow movie will begin filming in June with Cate Shortland at the helm, the project has yet to be formally be announced by Marvel, with the MCU’s official release calendar beyond this July’s Spider-Man: Far From Home remaining blank for the time being. Consequently, in his interview with ComicBook.com, Feige offered only the vaguest of remarks on the shape of their schedule from 2020 onwards.
“There are no mandates to make any more than two films a year,” Feige revealed. “As we’ve seen in the last couple years, when it naturally happens and when there are ideas and when there are teams ready to go, we’re not going to hold something back. We’ll make it.”
Though Feige evidently isn’t ready to give the schedule away, it’s currently believed that Black Widow will be one of two MCU films coming out next year, the other being Chloé Zhao’s The Eternals. Beyond that, we already know of a few further projects in the works, including sequels to Doctor Strange and Black Panther, but so long as Marvel’s Phase 3 is still in progress, it looks like the studio is keeping its cards close its chest.
