Break out your knives and pitchforks, because something just happened to a superhero movie that you might not like. Your childhood memories are forfeit. Everything you ever loved was a lie. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice is going to be rated R when it hits home video, and that means that superhero movies are doomed, and both Batman and Superman are tainted.
And if you agree with that, it also means that you’re probably getting way too invested in social media, because all of the knee-jerk reactions are pretty silly this time. Yes, the success of Deadpool probably paved the way for more R-rated superhero movies down the line, and yes, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice would probably never have been released with an R-rating in any format if that one Marvel superhero movie hadn’t just broken box office records despite or possibly because of a pegging scene. But no, it’s not the end of the world as we know it.
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For the record, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be rated PG-13 when it hits theaters. That hasn’t changed. But according to FilmRatings.com, the “Ultimate Edition” of Batman v Superman will be rated R when it arrives on home video.
So let’s assume this information is accurate. What exactly does it mean? Does it mean that Warner Bros. freaked out when Deadpool was successful and reshot a whole bunch of stuff for their movie? Of course not. They don’t have the time, they probably don’t have the inclination, and frankly it’s not like the success of Deadpool means that PG-13 movies are destined to bomb from here on out.
What we are seeing here, if true, is an “extended” version of the film that’s a bit more violent, and probably not even ultra-violent. The MPAA is full of wusses. They gave the first Transformers movie an R-rating. And nothing even changed to bring it down to a PG-13. Steven Spielberg simply gave them a talking to, and he only did that because R-ratings were for many years considered the kiss of death for action movies. If he thought an R-rating was marketable he probably wouldn’t have bothered.
Have you ever prowled the halls of a video store and noticed all of the “unrated” and “extended” cuts of popular movies littering the shelves? Studios don’t usually even rate those versions because “unrated” cuts often sell better than R-rated cuts of PG-13 movies, or NC-17 versions of R-rated movies. Then along comes Deadpool with its R-rating, ultra-violence, and jokes about fellating Hugh Jackman, and it blows that whole paradigm out of the water.
So the extended version of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice that we were probably going to see eventually, which was probably already cut down for both time and violence, will now be released with an R-rating instead of without one. Because that’s a selling point now instead of a scarlet letter. Big whoop.
So just get over it. They haven’t ruined anything yet, at least as far as we know. The movie could still suck a worse than anything ever sucked, but it probably won’t have anything to do with how many punches we see get thrown on camera, and if it’s totally awesome it probably won’t be because you saw Batman with a bloodier face than usual.
Photo: Warner Bros.
William Bibbiani (everyone calls him ‘Bibbs’) is Crave’s film content editor and critic. You can hear him every week on The B-Movies Podcast and watch him on the weekly YouTube series Most Craved and What the Flick. Follow his rantings on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
Eight Iconic Superhero Fights You Will Never See in a Movie:
Eight Iconic Superhero Fights You Will Never See in a Movie
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Avengers vs. X-Men
Marvel's biggest superhero teams came to blows in the epic, multi-series crossover Avengers vs. X-Men (a.k.a. AvX) in 2012, but the two franchises are owned by different studios - Avengers at Disney, X-Men at Fox - and it's unlike they will ever want to share the profits on what could be the biggest movie ever produced.
Photo: Marvel
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Batman vs. Guy Gardner
Warner Bros. owns the rights to both Batman and Guy Gardner, Earth's jerkiest Green Lantern, but the odds that they'll actually put Gardner in a movie - especially when Hal Jordan, John Stewart and Kyle Rayner are more popular - are pretty slim. So the iconic fight in which Batman took Guy out in a single punch will, sadly, probably never make it in front of the cameras.
Photo: DC
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Daredevil vs. Sub-Mariner
In one of the great early Marvel superhero fights, Sub-Mariner emerged from Atlantis to destroy humanity, and only Daredevil was around to stop him. Outmatched in every way, Daredevil fought until he collapsed. Sub-Mariner respected his fearlessness so much he figured humanity was worth sparing. Both characters are owned by Marvel, but the studio is still trying to get the rights to Sub-Mariner sorted out after the character was originally optioned by Universal.
Photo: Marvel
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The Hulk vs. The Thing
The strongest, most misunderstood monsters in the Marvel Universe have a long and storied history of beating the crap out of each other. Who is strongest? Who is toughest? We may never know in live-action, since Fox owns the rights to Fantastic Four and Marvel's got The Hulk under their own banner.
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Marvel vs. DC
It took decades for Marvel and DC to set aside their differences long enough for a comic book crossover between their competing superhero universes, and it will probably be at least that long before Marvel Studios and Warner Bros. seriously consider letting Batman fight Captain America, Superman fight Thor, and so on and so forth.
Photo: Marvel and DC
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Superboy vs. Superboy Prime
The teenaged clone of Superman and Lex Luthor repeatedly fought an alternate reality Superboy who was a dangerously insane mass murderer. Yeah, even though Warner Bros. obviously owns both Superboy and Superboy Prime, the odds that we'll ever see their weird, epic, head-exploding battle on the big screen are extremely low.
Photo: DC
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Superman vs. Muhammad Ali
Aliens have challenged Earth's mightiest champion, but when Superman steps forward, the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali points out that he's not really from Earth. So they fight to prove who is truly the greatest, and sure enough, Muhammad Ali kicks Superman's ass (in all fairness, the hero's powers were deactivated, and he put up a good fight). But it seems highly unlikely that Warner Bros. will decide to send Superman back in time to fight Ali in his prime, doesn't it?
Photo: DC
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Wolverine vs. Anyone Cool
In the Marvel Comics, fighting Wolverine is like a rite of passage. He's had iconic tussles with The Hulk, Captain America and Spider-Man, and was thrown head-to-head against any rookie hero that the publisher wanted to prove was a badass. But Wolverine is owned by Fox, who only have the rights to the X-Men and the Fantastic Four. We will probably never see Wolverine fight an Avenger in a live-action movie, and that sucks.
Photo: Marvel
