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Kevin Feige confirms 'Deadpool 3' will be the only R-rated MCU film, unhappy fans ask 'what about 'Blade'?'

'We’ve told all the stories that we wanted to with the tonality and the rating we have now,' said Marvel boss Kevin Feige

Head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige confirmed that 'Deadpool 3' would be the only R-rated MCU film, for now at least. Speaking at a Disney session at the Television Critics Association  (TCA) tour, Feige left many fans disappointed with his announcement. The 25-minute Q&A session left fans with a lot more questions than answers, but at least there's one thing we do know for sure. Wade Wilson's wisecracking merc will be an outlier. 

"We haven’t encountered a story or a storyline or a character’s journey that a PG-13, or the tone, or the ratings we’ve been using up to this point has prevented us," he said. Feige did leave the door open for an R-rated feature in the future, adding "there can be a discussion that can be had. But that just hasn’t been the case. We’ve told all the stories that we wanted to with the tonality and the rating we have now.” 

Feige did confirm that 'Deadpool 3' was very much in the works, but it seems like it will be the only R-rated film in the MCU for now.

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What About Blade?

Marvel's vampire hunter got his own movie way back in 1998, when Wesley Snipes played the titular hero in a trilogy. The horror thriller earned a cult-like following long before the MCU machine came along. In 2019, Feige announced Mahershala Ali would play Blade in the MCU version. Many fans were hoping the character would get a similar treatment to Snipes' version, but now Feige has confirmed that won't be the case.

The R-rated trilogy ended up grossing around $416 million on an estimated budget of $164 million.

Rumors of an R-rated version of 'Blade' began after Stacey Osei-Kuffour was confirmed to be writing the film. Having written for shows like Hunters and Watchman, many fans expected her to bring a sense of violence to Blade. It was more hyped up after rumors that 'Deadpool 3' would indeed be R-rated, which Feige confirmed at the TCA session.

Fans Take to Social Media to Vent Furstration

The news was met with a lot of disapointment on social media. "It's Disney. What did ya'll expect?? I hope they don't change their mind with Deadpool 3" one user tweeted. @jbarsody added "Marvel avoiding the R ratings outside of #Deadpool3 is also losing the potential for #Blade (among others) to be something as mature and dark as #Logan. There's an enourmous (sic) market being ignored." 

@KienanLane tweeted: "The fact they will make Deadpool 3 R-Rated (which is amazing) but not Blade is beyond stupid. Blade needs to be R-rated."

Another user summed up his feelings with a GIF from the show The Boys and said "So Deadpool 3 is R-rated but Bladre isn't".

Speculating what a PG-13 version of the film would be like, one user joked "So Deadpool 3 can be Rated R and part of the MCU, but Blade can't be R? That's honestly some bullshit because they about to downplay Blade so hard. Vampires about to be sucking jelly out people necks instead of blood. Blade about to be a goofy wise cracking character."

Will Feige change course? It seems unlikely, but some fans are holding out hope. One tweeted: "Guys, we should all just take a breather and think, FOX made Logan Rated R due to the success of Deadpool. Marvel might just be doing the same thing, testing the water since Deadpool 3 is technically now under Disney. If it's successful, THEN Blade may come into the equation." Another user tweeted: "I always said it would be PG-13, never said I was happy by the idea. Hopefully Deadpool 3 gives them a change of heart".

It is certainly possible that Feige could change direction and make 'Blade' an R-rated feature, but for now, that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems like fans will have to accept a toned-down reboot. But it also raises some interesting questions of how R-rated films will feature in the MCU, and if characters like Deadpool will cross over to other films/shows. Unfortunately, we won't be getting any answers any time soon!