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How the 'Deadpool' R-rating will make it totally different from other superhero movies

Deadpool is a reckless and possibly insane super-assassin with an evolved form of Wolverine's healing ability. Is that enough to set him apart from the multiple Marvel and DC superhero movies taking over theaters? 

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Director Tim Miller, producer Simon Kinberg and character writer Rob Liefeld held a Q&A with Collider after a private screening in L.A. on February 3 where the trio went into detail about how the movie's R-rating will set it apart from other Marvel adaptations. ("Deadpool" is a Marvel comic, but the movie rights to the character are held by Fox. As a result, the upcoming film will be part of Fox's "X-Men" cinematic universe.)

Deadpool
Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) takes aim. 20th Century Fox

"[Marvel Studios are] owned by Disney and they can't do this [but] Fox could," Miller explained. "[Fox] said, 'Hey listen, there's a market for this and fans want to see it.' These are stories that are worth telling, so let's tell them regardless of rating."

Liefeld said he's a long-time fan of genre films like "Alien," "Terminator," "Lethal Weapon," and "Die Hard" and thinks audiences will appreciate moving away from PG-13 movies.

"I grew up on R-rated action films and you didn't blink...[and now] we've gotten into this family friend space and 'Deadpool' trashes it," Liefeld told the audience.  

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Every superhero film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been rated PG-13, beginning with 2008's "Iron Man." And while the Marvel superhero movies are known for their tightly-choreographed action sequences, "Deadpool" will have a much harder edge because Fox wanted the team to be true to the explicit nature of the character. 

"All these great Marvel films that have been coming are armored dudes battling armored dudes," Liefeld told the audience. "I dare you to close your eyes [when watching a Marvel film] and you're going to hear 'clank clank clank' and this movie...he cuts a dude's head off and kicks it into another dude! You haven't seen that." 

Miller revealed a very early version of the film had a PG-13 draft of the script. He said working under the pressure to keep the film PG-13 would've made the shoot much more difficult. "When we were on set, [we would] have to worry about that all the time [and] it would really inhibit us in a lot of ways," he said.

Miller hinted that there were a few moments that didn't make the film, an extended fight sequence and a few of Reynolds and Miller's adlibs. "For the Blu-Ray, it's going to be great," he teased.

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"Deadpool" will be one of only a small handful of recent R-rated superhero movies, including "Watchman" (2009), "Kick-Ass" (2010), "Kick-Ass 2" (2013), and the "Blade" trilogy (1998-2004), which also featured Reynolds. Kinberg teased there could be more.

 "I think there's some stories that could be R-rated, [but] I don't know what they are," he said towards the end of the Q&A. "X-Force I could see being R-rated." 

"Deadpool" is in theaters Febrary 12. 

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