61% Of Fans Agree This Is The Best R-Rated Superhero Movie
R-rated superhero movies are rare but are becoming more prevalent as the genre continues to grow. PG-13 seems to be the standard rating for superhero movies, often to ensure bigger box office numbers. Many superhero films — or comic book movies more broadly — straddle the line of PG-13 and R but tend to lean toward the former to make sure a wider audience can buy tickets. This was especially true of The Dark Knight trilogy, as well as Venom, which easily could have been rated R if the studios wanted to go in that direction.
Sometimes, studios take a chance by pushing the limits and producing these R-rated gems which then cement themselves as some of the greatest superhero movies of all time. These films tend to up the gore compared to PG-13 flicks, in addition to having a hefty amount of vulgar language.
We wanted to know what the most-loved R-rated superhero movie is, so we asked over 358,000 movie fans to vote on it. There was a definite favorite, and it blew all of its competition out of the water.
Deadpool is the most-loved R-rated superhero movie
Over 61 percent of our respondents voted for Deadpool as their favorite R-rated superhero film. This comes as no surprise, given the massive success the Ryan Reynolds-led movie had in the box office. According to Box Office Mojo, the dark comedy brought in over $782 million worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, behind two other comic book-themed flicks (Joker and Deadpool 2). Fans fell in love with the Merc with a Mouth who only could have been played by Reynolds himself. The actor's adoration of and commitment to the character and the story made the movie the massive success it was, and his passion passed on to the fans.
Landing in the number-two spot with 22 percent of the vote was 2017's Logan. The critically acclaimed film was the last time moviegoers saw Hugh Jackman play Logan since he first took on the mantle of Wolverine in 2000. Many have hailed Logan as the greatest superhero film ever made, and it has a 93-percent Rotten Tomatoes score to back it up.
Coming in third in our poll was Zack Snyder's Watchmen, with eight percent of the vote. The cult classic continues to grow its fanbase as the years go on, especially after the superhero movie genre absolutely exploded over the last decade. New fans are also finding the film after Snyder's triumph with his Justice League cut, which has brought attention to his older projects.
Seven percent of the voters chose Blade as their favorite R-rated superhero movie. Comic book fans were ecstatic when the vampire slayer nabbed his own movie in 1998 and two subsequent movies thereafter.
In the comments section of our poll, movie fans didn't offer many other suggestions on their favorite R-rated superhero films but argued over the results. The consensus among many commenters was that not enough people have seen Watchmen or Blade and need to in order to make a more informed decision.