Several R-rated MCU superheroes are already confirmed to return in 2026. Marvel Studios has a whole slate of content ready for the next 365. This includes everything from universe-hopping big-screen blockbusters to epic streaming adventures coming to Disney+. While most of these titles will be built around the studios' various PG-13 characters, there will be a particular focus on those deemed a little more mature over the coming month.
After years of avoiding R-rated content entirely, Marvel Studios has opened the door to the idea as of late. This has allowed more mature-leaning heroes to play within the super-powered toy box that is the MCU, without compromising what gives them their R-rated branding.
2026 will see several of these R-rated heroes return to the franchise, both in and out of content with an R-rating.
Every R-Rated MCU Hero Coming in 2026
Daredevil
Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock/Daredevil has been an R-rated staple of the MCU since his debut back in 2015. The lawyer-turned-masked vigilante has been scrapping with foes on the gritty New York City streets for over a decade, but only recently started doing so on Disney+.
Daredevil returned to the super-powered universe last spring with the release of Daredevil: Born Again, and is set to do so again this year with Born Again Season 2. Cox's iconic Marvel hero is known for his bone-breaking tactics and darker tone than most of the Marvel Studios franchise, making Born Again's R-rating an absolute must for the character.
Jessica Jones
Joining Charlie Cox's Daredevil in Born Again Season 2 will be fellow R-rated hero Jessica Jones. Once again brought to life by Krysten Ritter, the powered-up private investigator will join forces with Cox's scarlet scrapper to take on the terrifying Mayor Wilson Fisk and his Anti-Vigilante Task Force cronies.
Jones may not have the violent streak of someone like Daredevil or Punisher, but she is R-rated in her own right, specifically when it comes to her colorful language, which can border on X-rated at times.
Punisher
Jon Bernthal's Frank Castle is an R-rated atom bomb just waiting to go off. Fans got another taste of his signature battered and bloodied style in Daredevil: Born Again Season 1 (something that will reportedly also return for Born Again Season 2), but he is also set to lead a project of his own over the next 12 months.
Bernthal will return as Punisher in The Punisher Special Presentation sometime later this year, as he embarks on a skull-cracking quest to take down a female crime boss who wronged him in a previous life (specifically from Netflix's former Defenders Saga).
White Tiger
The last Daredevil-adjacent hero to appear on this list may come as a surprise to some. White Tiger has been rumored to return as a part of the upcoming Daredevil: Born Again Season 2. Fans may remember that the character was brutally murdered during the events of Season 1, but someone will pick up the mantle and run with it in Season 2.
The daughter of the original White Tiger, Agela Del Toro, teased her potential superhero future in the Born Again Season 1 finale, taking on her father Hector's legacy while joining the down-in-the-dirt fight against Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin.
Gambit
One of two R-rated MCU heroes to appear in what will almost surely be a PG-13 Marvel project in 2026 is Channing Tatum's Gambit. After making his on-screen debut in 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, Tatum's ragin' cajun will team up with the Avengers in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday to take on the dastardly Doctor Doom.
It is unclear whether the Gambit that will appear in Doomsday will be the same one that popped up in Deadpool 3, or another from the classic Fox X-Men universe, but fans can expect this R-rated hero's return to be an exciting one, nonetheless.
Deadpool
While notably missing from the now-iconic Avengers: Doomsday chair stream, it has since been reported that Ryan Reynolds will return in the upcoming Marvel mega-movie as the foul-mouthed Deadpool. Deadpool is R-rated Marvel personified with a proclivity for all things violent, foul, and downright disgusting.
Deadpool's Doomsday role will be a curious one, as it will be the first time the character appears in a movie assumed to be PG-13. That means fans can expect the fourth-wall-breaking supe to almost surely poke fun at the fact that he cannot be his full R-rated self, which should be a fun wrinkle for the film.
