It Worked For 'Deadpool': 'X-Force' Could Be Rated-R Too

Now that ‘Deadpool’ has blown away every expectation… and all of 20th Century Fox’s existing ‘X-Men’ movies, look forward to the studio to fully exploit that. Fox already gave the go-ahead to a sequel before the movie even premiered. Then Ryan Reynolds announced that making an ‘X-Force’ movie was a top priority.

Breaking as many records as it did, it would be easy to simply think “R-rated superhero movies are the way to go.” But ‘Deadpool”s R-rating wasn’t just a random choice. Ryan Reynolds, the film’s star, lobbied Fox for years to even get the movie made and to do proper service to the irreverent tone of the comic, the adults-only rating was necessary. What does this say about the possible ‘X-Force’ movie?

Simon Kinberg, Fox’s overseer of their superhero properties, stated:

“I think there are some stories that could be R-rated. I don’t know what they are, I mean I think the mainline X-Men movies have their own tone, which is a more operatic tone. It’s more dramatic, it is more PG-13 in a way. ‘X-Force’ I could see being R-rated, and who knows?”

Fox previously had an ‘X-Force’ movie in the works, featuring comic book characters Cable, Cannonball, Domino, Feral and Warpath, which bears a closer resemblance to the original team lineup, but moving forward, expect the film version to reflect more recent depictions of the team which includes Deadpool (of course) as well as Wolverine, Psylocke (played by Olivia Munn in the upcoming ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’), Archangel (played by Ben Hardy, also in ‘Apocalypse’), Fantomex, X-23 as well as Cable, Domino, Warpath and alternate members Colossus and Nightcrawler.

Considering Colossus’ role in ‘Deadpool’, he might make a viable choice for the film version of ‘X-Force’. Kodi Smit-McPhee debuts as Nightcrawler in ‘Apocalypse’ so he is a possibility. Booboo Stewart portrayed Warpath in ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’.

Per the post-credits scene in ‘Deadpool’, Cable will be in the sequel. ‘Avatar’ baddie Stephen Lang has thrown his hat into the ring for consideration to play the cyborg mutant from the future.

Deadpool, Cable AND X-Force were all created for the comics by writer/artist Rob Liefeld, who had this to say: