Kevin Feige explained at great length why Deadpool 3 was the only one of the two dozen Marvel Cinematic Universe projects currently in development that would come burdened with an R-rating, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the franchise’s output can’t push the boundaries of PG-13 to the limit.
Anyone who knows anything about Moon Knight will be aware that Oscar Isaac’s solo series isn’t going to be all about sunshine and rainbows, while The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was slapped with the equivalent of an R-rating in many overseas territories. As per Metropolitan Media, Eternals has been deemed suitable only for audiences of 18 years or older in Russia, but there’s a rather troubling potential reason behind the decision.
The MPAA awarded the upcoming cosmic epic a PG-13 for “fantasy violence and action, some language and brief sexuality”, so why have the Russians determined that 17 year-old’s can’t see the movie? Unfortunately, it’s all to do with the LGBTQ+ representation in the story, with Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos the MCU’s first openly gay superhero.
The 18+ rating is given to content marked as “prohibited for children”, and the Power Rangers reboot was deemed worthy of the branding for the sole reason that it implied Becky Gomez’s Trini was gay. Russia enacts a law to protect youngsters from being exposed to queer themes or anything that contradicts ‘traditional’ family values, so they won’t be allowed to see Eternals for that reason.