Out of all the questions that come with two major film studios combining into one mega-studio, Marvel fans seem to really only care about a couple things with the upcoming Disney/Fox purchase: 1) When will the X-Men show up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? And 2) Will the “Deadpool” franchise continue to be R-rated? Well, according to Disney boss Bob Iger, it appears we know the answer to question #2.
In today’s (pretty boring) Q1 FY19 Shareholders conference call, Iger was asked a question about the upcoming Disney/Fox merger, particularly with how it might affect some of the latter’s more adult-oriented franchises, such as the multitude of great FX series and, of course, “Deadpool.”
READ MORE: FX CEO Puts 100% Of Blame For ‘Deadpool’ Animated Series Cancellation On Marvel TV
First, Iger wanted to make sure that everyone knows that he feels that out of the entire current library of Fox titles, there isn’t anything (from a Standards perspective) that goes against the Disney brand, as long as it’s marketed correctly. In other words, don’t expect “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia” to show up on Disney+.
However, he did give an example that involves everyone’s foul-mouthed superhero, Deadpool. Iger said that Disney recognizes the fan interest (aka massive amounts of box office money) with the “Deadpool” franchise, and he says that the Mouse House is going to continue in the business of R-Rated “Deadpool.”
“We do believe there is room for the Fox properties to exist without significant Disney influence over the nature of the content,” he explained of “Deadpool” and Fox’s R-rated films. “Meaning that we see that there certainly popularity amongst Marvel fans for the R-rated Deadpool films, for instance, we’re going to continue in that business, and there might be room for more of that.”
While it’s not necessarily the clear-cut confirmation that “Deadpool 3” is on the way and the R-rated humor and violence is guaranteed to show up, it’s the first major confirmation from the top of the Disney food chain that the studio knows that the character works best in an R-rated space and will likely continue that way, with the option of expanding that sort of Marvel R-rated output, albeit not marketed the same way that the regular Disney, family-oriented projects currently are. However, this does go against the FX CEO’s recent comments about why the “Deadpool” animated series was canceled.
The Disney/Fox merger is still waiting for the “last few” approvals before becoming finalized. At that point, we’ll probably learn a lot more about the upcoming Marvel film landscape.