Director David Leitch thinks Deadpool 3 may not have an R-rating. Marvel Studios unveiled their Phase 4 slate at San Diego Comic-Con, and even teased the introduction of mutants. But Marvel president Kevin Feige was notably silent about Deadpool.

Although Fox’s X-Men movies are generally viewed as mixed in terms of quality, the Deadpool films were popular and critical successes. Disney CEO Bob Iger has repeatedly stressed that he wants to continue making R-rated Deadpool films, and Feige has agreed, insisting that Marvel won’t be changing Deadpool. That would, however, likely mean that Deadpool would be cut from the MCU, which is decidedly not R-rated.

In an interview with Yahoo! Movies, Deadpool 2 director David Leitch has suggested he believes the Merc With A Mouth can work at a lower age-rating. “It’s rated R so that’s not necessarily the [MCU] brand but he doesn’t necessarily need to be R and [Disney] don’t necessarily need to only make PG-13 movies,” he explained. “I think we’ll find a happy ground.”

Deadpool is one of the trickiest propositions for the MCU. On the one hand, the franchise has proven to be tremendously popular, and there’s a massive demand for more R-rated Deadpool films. At the same time, though, Marvel will undoubtedly want to try to find a way to weave Deadpool into the MCU. In the comics, Deadpool is renowned for his hilarious interactions with other superheroes; he tends to regularly cross paths with the likes of Spider-Man and the X-Men. The MCU is literally designed to allow that kind of crossover, team-up, or cameo, but Deadpool is very much off-brand for that. Leitch seems to believe that conversations about Deadpool are still in their early stages over at Marvel Studios. “I think, from discussions that I’ve heard, it’s all positive,” he noted. “I think that they’re just trying to figure a way in as Deadpool’s hard.” That would certainly explain why Marvel Studios is keeping quiet; they’re still trying to decide where their priorities lie for Deadpool.

Leitch appears to be suggesting that a compromise position can be found, with Deadpool toned down a little in order to fit into the MCU, but not too much so as to avoid damaging the brand. It’s unclear how much Leitch has been kept in the loop by Marvel, but for him the focus appears to be on the team-up potential; he told Yahoo that he’d be particularly interested in seeing a Deadpool-Blade crossover, now that Mahershala Ali has been cast as the MCU’s Blade. The question will be whether or not Marvel Studios shares Leitch’s focus; while the success of Once Upon A Deadpool arguably provides a template for a lower-rated Deadpool film, Marvel may instead choose to take an approach of “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Only time will tell.

More: Everything We Know About The X-Men’s Movie Future After Dark Phoenix

Source: Yahoo Movies