Warning: SPOILERS for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 are ahead!
As I watched Rocket Raccoon brutally claw at the face of The High Evolutionary during Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, I realized I'd made a mistake. Seated next to me, taking in the scene silently while munching popcorn and Buncha Crunch, was my five-year-old daughter. I knew going in the movie was PG-13, but in justifying the family movie night to my wife, I said, "It's a Marvel movie. How violent could it be?"
Lesson learned, and thankfully, my daughter was relatively unscarred by the experience. In fact, she's watched the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie for the first time since then and is interested in seeing more Marvel content. As happy as I am this day has finally arrived, it's really made me rethink the level of violence in the MCU as a parent.
Did Guardians Of The Galaxy 3 Need Graphic Violence?
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 isn't over-the-top violent, but there are a handful of scenes that are way more violent in tone compared to the first two installments. Again, it's not anyone's fault but my own that I took a child in blindly, assuming she wouldn't see anything over the top. At the same time, why was there such brutality in this final movie that the previous movies lacked?
From a story perspective, I can completely understand the clawing of the High Evolutionary's face and maybe even the reveal of his true face at the end. However, that's not the only disturbing bit of this movie, which borders on some of the most uncomfortable imagery we've seen in the MCU to date.
Rocket's initial injury sequence, for example, is horrifically graphic. We see him go into convulsions and even foaming at the mouth as the team unsuccessfully tries to heal his injuries. That, in addition to the surgeries that transformed him from a normal raccoon to what he became, was hard for me to watch.
I also was a bit shocked by the killing of Recorder Theel and the shot that hung on his dead corpse under the water. At first, I thought it was being played for a joke, but it ultimately just became an overly long and disturbing look at someone Star-Lord just killed.
Obviously my experience was tainted by the fact my kid was there next to me. I do wonder, thugh, if I would've felt the same way had I not been concerned about sitting up with my daughter for any nightmares she would've had as a result.
Ultimately, I feel like it still would've bugged me, because that isn't what I show up to Guardians of the Galaxy for. For me, the strengths GOTG brought to the MCU was comedy, great music and a stellar ensemble cast. To inject excessive violence into that felt super jarring, and it has me worried it may be a growing trend in future MCU projects.
I'm Worried About What Marvel Movies I Can Watch With My Daughter In The Future
Trust me, I know I sound unbelievably lame when I say this, but I'm concerned that excessive violence in the MCU may bar me from enjoying more movies with my young daughter in the immediate future. To be clear, I'm worried about the increased intensity of what's being shown, and not necessarily the violence itself.
I'm not going to flip out by fists flying or even a blast of energy blowing an alien to bits. It's mainly in the context and the goriness of how it's executed, and with few exceptions, Marvel has done well about keeping the violence relatively sterile. Before Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, I think the most brutal scene I can remember off the top of my head in the MCU was when Tony Stark blew out that guy's chest in Iron Man 3.
That will soon change as the MCU gets more mature with the official arrivals of Deadpool, Wolverine and Blade. Now, there's no chance in hell I'm going to be showing my daughter any of those movies anytime soon, but the MCU is a connected universe. If the bar for violence is being raised with those projects, should I just assume it's going up across the board? If one of reportedly multiple Wolverines is appearing in the MCU, I have to assume it'll be more violent
Looking at the upcoming Marvel movies on the board, it seems like the offerings for movies will skew pretty adult for a while. The Marvels definitely seems like a strong contender for a film a little girl will like, but my responses range from "I'm not sure" to "Hell no" when it comes to Captain America: New World Order, Thunderbolts, Blade, and Deadpool 3.
The Vastness Of PG-13 Makes Theater Showings Iffy
Ultimately, the reality is that Marvel makes most all of its movies PG-13, and there's a lot of wiggle room in that rating. I recently watched Spider-Man: Homecoming with my daughter, for example, and the violence and language is pretty mild. It's definitely less intense than the similarly-rated Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and way less gory than Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Some believed Doctor Strange 3 deserved an R-rating, so it's wild to believe it's in the same category.
I learned my lesson with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. I would've still shown my daughter the movie when it premiered to Disney+ subscribers, but I probably would've found a way to skip past some of the more extreme parts of the movie I couldn't really stop when viewing it in theaters. Obviously I'll be looking more closely at future movies to see which ones to take her to and to avoid, but as mentioned, it's really a crapshoot to look at the ratings.
I'm not requesting Marvel ease up on the violence of their content or really do anything differently. This is more just an acknowledgment on my end that while I thought the MCU was the ultimate franchise and perfect for family movie night, I quickly realized that's not the case. Of course, I have a five-year-old who will ultimately mature and be ready for more of these movies in a few short years. Who knows, maybe she'll end up hating superheroes because of how into it we all are. Hey, the MCU has to end with some generation, right?
For now, I'm going to keep up the good fight and continue to show my daughter Marvel movies on Disney+. And while watching Marvel might not be a family affair for me for a while, I'm still very excited about all the great movies that are on the way later this year and beyond.
