While it’s not the first superhero movie to be rated R, Deadpool is getting a lot of attention for its rating nonetheless. This is mainly because in a time when this genre is more popular than ever, nearly every entry is PG-13, while Deadpool appears to be staying faithful to the source material with all of its gore and cursing. Should the movie be successful, other studios will might start considering taking their heroes to that upper age bracket. To that end, Ryan Reynolds suggested that the X-Force might be a good candidate to join the R-rated club.
Earlier this week at the special Deadpool fan screening, Reynolds mentioned that he’d like more superhero movies to be rated R, and the mutant strike force introduced in 1991 might fit that bill. As he put it, according to Comicbook.com:
There are a lot of superhero movies out there on the market. It’s a genre unto itself. I personally would like to see more rated R ones. I just think it’s time. We’ll see if this holds. Hollywood shamefully copycats every movie that works – so if this does work, you’ll probably see more rated R films! I don’t think you’re going to see a rated R Avengers movie, but there’s room for other ones. I think there’s room for a rated R X-Force movie!
While the X-Men are a more standard team of superheroes that battle the forces of evil, the X-Force is a black ops team that permanently takes out anyone threatening mutantkind. The first version was originally the New Mutants, but team leader Cable reorganized them into this fighting force. While there have been other iterations over the years, they’ve all had the same militaristic agenda. So, if they’re eventually brought to the big screen, there’s definitely precedence for being more violent. It works out for Reynolds as well since Deadpool has been an X-Force member in the comics, so Wade Wilson could continue his uncensored shenanigans with a whole team.
20th Century Fox hired writer Jeff Wadlow back in 2013 to pen an X-Force movie, but since then there have been no other developments, with all likelihood being that it’s dead or lingering in development hell. Concept art from last month showed the lineup might have consisted of Cable, Domino, Warpath, Cannonball, and a mysterious hooded woman who looks like Rogue. While there’s no guarantee a cinematic X-Force will ever be seen, there’s the possibility that Wade Wilson might get to team up with Cable in a potential Deadpool 2, so fans could still get to see the techno-organic mutant fully unleashed.
Moviegoers can enjoy Deadpool in all its R-rated glory on February 12.
