When Deadpool 3 was first announced to be in active development at Marvel Studios, a lot of fans were worried that the staunchly family-friendly Disney would force a PG-13 rating upon the foul-mouthed, self-aware and fourth wall-breaking superhero, but that thankfully hasn’t been the case.
Kevin Feige even went to great lengths explaining why Ryan Reynolds’ eventual return as the Merc with a Mouth is the only one of the two dozen Marvel Cinematic Universe projects on the horizon to skew towards an adult audience. It also helps that the first two installments combined to earn over $1.5 billion at the box office to prove that the R-rating isn’t a hindrance in the slightest to the commercial prospects of the Deadpool franchise.
However, we’re hearing from our sources – the same ones who told us Abomination would be returning for She-Hulk long before Tim Roth’s unexpected comeback was confirmed – that the Mouse House are reportedly toying with the idea of two cuts, giving people the option of Deadpool 3 in either PG-13 or R-rated form.
Fox did something similar via Once Upon a Deadpool, only for it to draw mixed reactions from both critics and fans, so you’d have to imagine Disney wouldn’t want to repeat those same mistakes. Further details remain unclear for now, but one feasible option could be a re-edited all-ages version of Deadpool 3 that can be added to Disney Plus as part of the MCU collection given that it’s official canon, with the R-rated theatrical release locked behind a parental control to make sure the little ones don’t accidentally stumble upon Wade Wilson slicing and dicing his way through the bad guys mouthing a string of creatively-worded profanity-laced insults.
