Disney’s purchase of the majority of FOX will add a ton of characters to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but they aren’t looking to change a dynamic that’s already working…
As excited as fans were to hear that Disney would be purchasing the majority of FOX, thus returning the stable of X-Men characters as well as the Fantastic Four to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there was still some concern as well.
The prospect of finally introducing the X-Men to go alongside the Avengers is a dream come true for many movie goers but over the past few years, FOX has also developed a few more adult oriented titles from their superhero line.
The most notable was ‘Deadpool’, which was made on a small budget but ended up as the most successful ‘R’ rated film of all time with a sequel already completed and due out in 2018. There was also ‘Logan’, which was another ‘R’ rated feature, which starred Hugh Jackman as Wolverine for the final time, in a movie that was both critically and commercially a huge success for FOX.
That’s where some began to worry.
See, Disney isn’t exactly known for edgy material, especially when it comes to ‘R’ rated superheroes so what happens now that the Mouse House intends on integrating these characters into the larger Marvel Cinematic Universe. Will Deadpool suddenly become PG-13?
“It [Deadpool] clearly has been and will be Marvel branded. But we think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like Deadpool,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said after the sale.
“As long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine.”
That will be great news for fans of the ‘Deadpool’ franchise in particular considering that character would have a hard time going from the ‘R’ rating in the first film to suddenly becoming family friendly in future features with Marvel.
Marvel boss Kevin Feige has also commented in the past that he would also be open to an ‘R’ rated Marvel movie if the story and the characters made sense. Now a very popular ‘R’ rated hero has fallen directly in his lap and obviously Ryan Reynolds was excited about the news…
Apparently you can’t actually blow the Matterhorn. pic.twitter.com/2bEAAcZrUv
— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) December 14, 2017
‘Deadpool 2’ will open as scheduled on June 1, 2018 with at least two more ‘X-Men’ films already set to come out next year with ‘The New Mutants’ and ‘X-Men: The Dark Phoenix’ already filmed and set for release in 2018. From there it’s anybody’s guess what will happen long term at Disney — perhaps they reboot at least part of the X-Men universe — but it’s safe to assume that at least Deadpool and his cast of characters, which includes Josh Brolin (who plays Cable in the upcoming Deadpool sequel and he also voices Thanos in the upcoming Avengers: Infinity War) will be retained.
