Marvel Studios now has four R-rated projects that will take the MCU spotlight over the coming years.
The superhero genre has largely been driven by PG-13-rated movies made for teens and families. This is particularly the case with the greater Marvel Universe, with the MCU specifically featuring no movies to date that earned a more mature rating from the MPAA.
The franchise has come close to pushing the envelope with a couple of Multiverse Saga projects, but in due time, Marvel Studios will change that status with an influx of more mature stories and adventures.
Marvel Studios' First Four R-Rated Projects
Blade
In November 2023, Blade director Yann Demange confirmed that his upcoming MCU film would use an R-rating, which is exactly what happened with Wesley Snipes' Blade trilogy from the late '90s and early 2000s.
This will give Mahershala Ali's antihero the chance to explore the brutal side of his nature, with the supernatural side of the story now able to be fully utilized with the blood, gore, and violence seen in past Blade adventures.
While it's faced a number of delays over the years, Blade is currently set to arrive in theaters on February 14, 2025.
Echo
With the release of the first trailer for Marvel Studios' upcoming Disney+ series Echo, Marvel confirmed that the show will be rated TV-MA, which is equivalent to an R-rating for a full-length movie.
Fans got a taste of what that will mean during the first trailer with Vincent D'Onofrio's Kingpin beating a hot dog vendor to a bloody pulp after seeing his spiritual niece disrespected.
Echo's first trailer confirmed that it will debut on Disney+ and Hulu on January 10, with all five episodes dropping on the same day.
Marvel Zombies
Acting as a spin-off from the zombie-centric episode of What If...? Season 1, Marvel Zombies was the first Disney+ show set to be rated TV-MA long before its eventual debut.
This series will bring more gore and violence than the MCU has ever had before, expanding on the zombie universe from What If...? as other major MCU characters get their crack at fighting in the apocalypse.
At the moment, the MCU's first-ever MA-TV-rated animated series is expected to debut on Disney+ sometime in 2024.
Deadpool 3
On the film side of the MCU, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman's Deadpool 3 will break the mold for Marvel Studios, becoming the franchise's first-ever R-rated big-screen project.
Continuing with the same rating that both Deadpool and Deadpool 2 used, this threequel will bring the best of Deadpool's foul mouth and violent nature into the MCU as the Multiverse brings the character into a brand-new world.
After another round of delays for the MCU's movies, Deadpool 3 is now set to hit theaters on July 26, 2024, making it the only MCU movie to release all year.
