Kevin Feige Confirms ‘Black Widow’ Won’t Be R-Rated

Once upon a time, Disney CEO Bob Iger addressed the idea of the R-Rated film when talking about the 20^th Century Fox purchase and “Deadpool.” In short, the Ryan Reynolds-starring filthy series would stay R-Rated. He then added, “We think there might be an opportunity for a Marvel-R brand for something like ‘Deadpool,’ as long as we let the audiences know what’s coming, we think we can manage that fine.” And this quickly turned into “Black Widow” would be Marvel’s first R-Rated film thanks to Internet chatter and discourse.

READ MORE: Disney’s Bob Iger Says ‘Deadpool’ Will Stay R-Rated

Not happening. Speaking to ComicBook.com, Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige said today “Black Widow” will not be an R-Rated film. “It never was going to be. Somebody writes, ‘I hear it’s R-rated!’ And then everybody writes it up.” As it turns out, the rumor was never anything more than just that.”

READ MORE: ‘Zama’ Director Lucrecia Martel Talks Being Approached For Marvel Studios’ ‘Black Widow’ Film

In short, people desperately wanted an R-Rated Marvel movie, and the rumors morphed into that, but not happening. That’s not to say there won’t be an R-Rated Marvel movie one day, but if someone like Disney’s Alan Horn is still concerned about smoking in movies and just recently articulating how that’s not going to be possible in Disney movies, it’s very likely that if there is an R-Rated Marvel film, it’s gonna come from Fox, the studio that Horn and Iger have both said can stay for adult and mature audiences.

READ MORE: Scarlett Johansson Finally Catches Up With The Other Avengers With Massive ‘Black Widow’ Payday

“With Fox, we can make movies that right now I say no to,” he told THR this week. “Take ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which is PG-13. It’s a hit movie and very, very good. But there’s no way we could make it under the Disney label because the characters smoke cigarettes and other content. Nor could we have made [Warner Bros.’ R-rated] Oscar-winning ‘Argo‘ because the characters smoke and use the F-word. We always have to think about the smoking policy. The audience for a Disney movie may not know what they are going to see, but they know what they aren’t going to see. There are certain things we just can’t include because we’ll get letters.”

READ MORE: Scarlett Johansson Details What She Wants In A ‘Black Widow’ Film

In short, R-Rated Marvel movies? Under the Fox banner. That solves that.

READ MORE: Kevin Feige Talks R-Rated Marvel Movies, Says ‘Venom’ Not Part Of MCU

“Black Widow” is expected to shoot soon later this year, and the movie just hired Ned Benson (“The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby“) to rewrite the script. Not much is known about the film, but is it being directed by Aussie filmmaker Cate Shortland (“Berlin Syndrome,” “Somersault“) and is expected to be a prequel set in her days as a Russian spy before joining “The Avengers.” No date has been given for the film, but it’s safe to say if it shoots this summer or the fall, it’ll likely come out around the same time in 2020. No other cast has been announced, but names will likely surface later this year.