Why Deadpool Is Rated R

Deadpool has been gaining momentum and a strong following for months now. The marketing strategy has produced a ton of material, mostly all showing the somewhat perverted side of Deadpool. After all innuendo filled campaign, and an obscenity heavy final trailer, it is no surprise that the upcoming Deadpool is rated R. While we can do the math and surmise why an R rating might makes sense, the official reasoning behind the rating by the Motion Picture Association of America is as follows:

Strong violence and language throughout, sexual content and graphic nudity.

Oh hell yeah. While an R rating severely cuts the number of people who will be able/willing to shell out the bucks to see Deadpool, it still seems like a win for the film as a whole. After all, Deadpool as a character has the mouth of a sailor and the libido of a… sailor so in order to properly capture the integrity of the comic book character, an R rating is probably necessary.

Ryan Reynolds is both producing and starring as the titular character in Deadpool, and made the decision during filming that the movie would be made with the intention of an R release. This rating intention resulted in a significantly lower budget, as producers were no longer guaranteed as many butts in the seats. Since comic books were originally aimed at kids, this cuts out the young adult audience entirely- unless they have some cool parent who will take them to a movie that is rated R.

The latest NSFW trailer for Deadpool seems to really capture everything that the mutant is about. After all, his most common nickname is the Merc With A Mouth, and Ryan Reynolds certainly delivered with a slew of curse words that has thus far been completely lacking in superhero movies. He curses in conversations with antagonists, he curses with conversations with himself, and he curses in his narration to the audience. Overall, Reynolds might need his mouth washed out with soap by the time Deadpool is released.

While I’m psyched to have Deadpool be a cursing, sexually deviant loon, I’m perhaps the most excited for the violence in the upcoming movie. That might make me sound crazy, but Deadpool as a character is an unapologetic killer. Violence in superhero movies is overall pretty tame, but Deadpool isn’t afraid to shoot and stab his way through enemies. I’m looking forward to the violence being gritty and graphic, rather than the sometimes lame way that Wolverine used his deadly claws in the X-Men movies.

Check out the trailer for Deadpool below, in all of its R-rated glory. Deadpool has a release date of February 12th, 2016.

Corey Chichizola
Movies Editor

Corey was born and raised in New Jersey. Graduated with degrees theater and literature from Ramapo College of New Jersey. After working in administrative theater for a year in New York, he started as the Weekend Editor at CinemaBlend. He's since been able to work himself up to reviews, phoners, and press junkets-- and is now able to appear on camera with some of his favorite actors... just not as he would have predicted as a kid. He's particularly proud of covering horror franchises like Scream and Halloween, as well as movie musicals like West Side Story. Favorite interviews include Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Jamie Lee Curtis, and more.