Marvel Studios’ Deadpool 3 Gets Historic Rating In Japan

Deadpool 3 earned an audience age rating which is unique when compared to the rest of the MCU.

Marvel Studios’ lone 2024 film release Deadpool & Wolverine is inching closer to its theatrical debut this summer.

As the movie’s title indicates, Ryan Reynolds’ fan-favorite Merc with a Mouth will team up with the Ol’ Canucklehead himself, with Hugh Jackman reprising his legendary role. (Read more about Deadpool & Wolverine’s confirmed and rumored cast here).

Deadpool 3 Receives Age Rating In Japan

Marvel Japan’s website has officially confirmed that The Japanese Film Ethics Classification and Rating Organization system, called EIRIN, issued Deadpool & Wolverine an age rating of R15+, a history-making first for a Marvel Studios movie.

It is not, however, a first for the Deadpool film franchise.

Fans might be aware that the first two Deadpool movies (2016’s Deadpool and 2018’s Deadpool 2) were produced by 20th Century Fox before it was acquired by The Walt Disney Corporation in 2019.

To break things down a bit further, every single Marvel Studios movie before Deadpool & Wolverine was given a G rating in Japan, which the EIRIN website denotes as “General, suitable for all ages.“

The first two Deadpools, however, were rated R15+, making Deadpool 3’s rating very much expected.

Under the EIRIN system, R15+ films are for individuals aged 15 and older and no one younger than that can be granted admission.

As roughly translated from Japanese, the first Deadpool movie received the R15+ rating for “highly stimulating depictions of murder, bloodshed, and sexual love,” whereas the second movie garnered the rating for depicting “severe bodily injury, killing, injury, and bleeding caused by swords and firearms.” While the threequel has yet to receive official reasoning for its rating, it’s likely to have a lot of overlap in its rating justification.

Deadpool & Wolverine is rated R in the United States, which stands for “restricted” and means that children under 17 can only see it if accompanied by an adult. So, while the U.S.’s R and Japan’s R15+ are not directly equivalent, they are still trying to accomplish the same goal.

This isn’t the only historic feat that Deadpool 3 has attained, with star Ryan Reynolds setting a milestone of his own on the movie.

Why is Deadpool & Wolverine Rated R?

For Deadpool & Wolverine to have been designated unsuitable for younger audiences, then the movie clearly has a great deal of mature content in it. Looking at the trailer and Deadpool 1 & 2, though, this should come as no surprise.

The original two Deadpool movies are chock full of bloody violence, curse words, and explicitly sexual situations.

As Reynolds’ Wade Wilson quipped in the intro voiceover from the first film, “You’re probably thinking, ‘My boyfriend said this was a superhero movie but that guy in the suit just turned that other guy into a f*cking kebab!'” as he skewered a henchman with his katana in gory fashion.

Indeed, the Deadpool franchise is not exactly for kids. And by adding Wolverine into the mix, with his razor-sharp adamantium claws, audiences can likely expect even more slicing and dicing in the threequel. In addition, judging by one of the death scenes revealed by set photos, Marvel Studios is honoring the brutal violence that the Deadpool movies are known for.

To appeal to a broader market, Fox even tried its hand at re-editing Deadpool 2 into a PG-13 affair with 2018’s Once Upon a Deadpool. In that cut, much of the graphic violence and language were removed.

But a smash hit, Once Upon a Deadpool was not, which cemented the character’s status as an R-rated figure.

Although three major characters look like they’ll be missing out on the R-rated fun, Deadpool’s last stand should prove to be quite the rude, raucous romp.

Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine hits theaters on July 26.