‘Deadpool’ Movie Going PG-13 Rating Instead Of Rated R, Will A Less Gory Merc Work?

Now that the Deadpool movie is officially happening, the only question remaining is whether the violent action anti-hero will garner an R-rating or a PG-13 rating. Fox appears to be going for as broad an audience as possible based on comments from Friday’s Meet the Movie Press podcast.

The leaked CGI test footage for Deadpool generated a ton of interest in a movie featuring the “Merc with a Mouth.” The movie is currently set for a February 2016 release. There’s no word on if Ryan Reynolds has signed on for the deal, but Tim Miller is still expected to direct.

The question of what the movie will be rated came up in a conversation between Jeff Sneider of The Wrap and Mark Reilly of Schmoesknow.

“I heard from the director that they finally figured out the script, and it was right before this was announced,” Reilly said. “They figured out, and you guys are all gonna hate this, they figured out how to make it PG-13. And therefore ‘not lose its soul,’ and that’s a quote, of the script so that they can make it.”

If you’ve read a Deadpool comic, you know that the level of violence and language is typically perceived to be on the level of an R rating. There are eviscerations, decapitations, and worse, plus plenty of language and sexual situations.

However, I noted in an Inquisitr article at the time of the Deadpool test footage leak and the release of Guardians of the Galaxy that a PG-13 version of the character should work. Here’s how I described the violence in the breakout hit of the summer that was touted as a family-friendly PG-13 movie.

“As an example of the violence, the camera cuts away just before one anonymous character has his head crushed. There are also multiple instances throughout ‘Guardians’ where characters are stabbed or impaled. This includes several at once before being violently banged back and forth against walls. There are also times that random civilians are killed, characters are vaporized on screen, and one character is shown getting crushed in his ship. That’s not to the mention the pure poundings that are given. All of this violence is done in a bloodless, almost cartoon-ish or comical way, however. Sometimes the violence is punctuated by a comedic bit to lighten the mood.”

The language in Guardians of the Galaxy was not exactly puritan either.

‘Guardians’ drops pretty much every bit of foul language that I’m not allowed to drop in Inquisitr articles with the exception of variations on the F-bomb. This includes the s-bomb, the a-bomb, the d-bomb, the bulls-bomb and other ‘colorful metaphors.’

The X-Men line of films had its fair share of Wolverine getting very stabby with his claws and dropping the F-bomb in the last two movies.

Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld has been on the PG-13 bandwagon from the beginning, and has been arguing against those who called for an R-rating on Twitter.

BS!! RT @TheNetBreaker: @robertliefeld doesn’t care about the authenticity of Deadpool. The people that filled his bank account only care.

— robertliefeld (@robertliefeld) September 21, 2014

It’s an interesting debate over whether a comic book-based movie should be rated PG-13 or R. These are typically big budget flicks in recent years, so the last thing producers want to do is cut off a significant portion of revenue by going with the more restricting rating.

The test footage was easily rated PG-13, and still featured plenty of violence, an off-screen decapitation, and some swearing. A full-blown movie should be about the same level. Just don’t expect to see blood, guts, or exploding heads.

What do you think of a PG-13 rating for a Deadpool movie? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image via Thunderbolts Issue #16]