Fans were thrilled when 20th Century Fox announced the new Deadpool movie (see "'Deadpool' Movie Gets a Date"), but now rumors have surfaced that the long-awaited film may have been green lit under the condition of a PG-13 rating.  Can the Merc with a Mouth really mind his Ps & Qs and... well, f-bombs?
 
Schmoes Know’s Mark Reilly stated on the most recent episode of the Meet The Movie Press podcast that Deadpool director Tim Miller told him (22:25) "...that they figured out how to make it PG-13 and therefore not ‘lose its soul’ (that’s a quote) of the script so they can make it."
 
With Deadpool ranking in the top five of superhero graphic novel properties (see "Top 10 Superhero Properties--Spring 2014"), and also getting big play in the periodical comics (Marvel recently announced an entire run of Anniversary variants featuring ‘Pooly inserting himself in historic covers in October, see "'Deadpool' Anniversary Variants in October"), it’s easy to see why movie execs would want to target a broader viewing audience that includes the under-17 crowd. 
 
But previous non-comic expressions of the character have been marketed to older teens and adults.  The Deadpool video game, produced by Activision for consoles and PC, was rated "M," the video game equivalent of a movie "R," for "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Mature Humor, Sexual Content, Strong Language." 
 
The (movie studio-) coveted PG-13 rating carries the warning, "Parents are urged to be cautious as the motion picture contains some material that parents might consider inappropriate for children under 13 years," which pretty much sums up Deadpool, period. 
 
The rulings of the MPAA‘s independent Classification & Ratings Administration (CARA) are often confusing and arbitrary.  They are said to be governed by the amount of violence, language, drug use and sexual content.  Language will obviously be one point of contention here, since Wade isn’t known as the Merc with a Mouth for nothing.  There used to be a one f-bomb limit to get a PG-13 rating, but that seems to be going by the wayside if the word is used in a legitimate "context or manner," according to Huffpo.  But there are other aspects of the character that will also push the envelope.  Can the producers skate the edge of the PG-13 rating and still preserve the essence of the character?  Rumor has it they think they can.