Colossus Actor Says Deadpool Needs To Stay R-Rated After Disney Merger

What happens when an irreverent, foul-mouthed character like Deadpool becomes part of the studio that epitomizes the family friendly heroics that this R-rated series has been trying to subvert? It’s a question that emerges in light of Fox’s ongoing merger with Disney, as fans worry that the brutal violence and off-color humor may not make the transition in tact.

Stefan Kapicic, whose character Colossus is something of a voice of reason in the Ryan Reynolds-led franchise, now offers his optimistic take on how this could play out, telling Screen Geek the following:

We’ll see. You know those are the questions we cannot answer because we don’t know what is going to happen. But you know, Deadpool is such a successful franchise, so whoever takes over, I don’t think they’re going to change anything – and I don’t it that to be changed because you know Deadpool is Deadpool. It needs to stay R-Rated. You don’t want to destroy something that created so much money and first of all, you need to satisfy fans. So if they make that mistake, they’re going to (Colossus voice) need to fight dirty.

The Serbian actor thenwent on to stress that the Merc with a Mouth’s future still looks very bright, while also teasing forthcoming plans:

Well, we have [an] extremely successful franchise, so there [are] rumors of X-Force and Deadpool 3. We will see what’s going to happen. Just wait. But we’re not allowed to say.

Aside from the merger itself, Deadpool’s potential inclusion in the MCU could lead to further complications. While the X-Men universe has long prioritized the individual films over cinematic world-building (hence the increasingly messy continuity between projects), Marvel takes pride in the complex interconnectivity of its movies.

It’s certainly worked out well for Disney so far – the fact that Avengers: Infinity War is a movie with 18 films’ worth of pre-viewing homework didn’t stop it from becoming the biggest release of the year – but can we really imagine the more straight-laced members of the MCU simply shrugging off Wade Wilson’s morally dubious antics? Deadpool is a franchise that’s proud to be its own mischievous thing, making it hard to picture how these gleefully dark films could fit into a larger, more high-stakes, good vs. evil narrative.