Black Widow Should Have Been The MCU’s First R-Rated Movie

Over its 13-year history, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has yet to release an R-rated movie, though 2021’s Black Widow would have served well as the franchise’s first. The debut solo film of its titular character aka Natasha Romanoff, Black Widow delves into the assassin-turned-Avenger’s troubled past, as she reunites with her adopted sister Yelena Belova and surrogate parents Melina Vostokoff and Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian. The makeshift family of Russian spies collaborates after 21 years apart to eliminate the villainous General Dreykov and the Red Room.

Marvel has long established its lighthearted and family-friendly take on the superhero genre, attracting moviegoers to theaters in record numbers. As five MCU films rank in the top-15 all-time box office grosses, the studio’s massive profits heavily rely on its film’s accessibility as a result of their PG-13 ratings. In January, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige confirmed Deadpool 3 as the MCU’s first R-rated movie but denied any plans for future works to deviate from the standard PG-13 rating. Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn expressed certainty that the MCU will more frequently venture beyond PG-13 territory going forward—albeit outside of his Guardians trilogy.

After an introduction depicting Natasha and Yelena’s childhood, Black Widow features a harrowing opening credits sequence, in which the young girls’ parents relinquish them to Dreykov’s Red Room to undergo chemical subjugation and rigorous assassin training. Set to a haunting rendition of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” Natasha, Yelena, and dozens of other girls are shown terrified as Dreykov’s soldiers take them into custody. However, the remainder of the film assumes a more restrained grimness with notes of humor throughout—typical of the MCU’s trademark formula. Black Widow‘s lightheartedness is a gift in itself, but it’s impossible not to imagine the movie’s heightened potential had it retained a sinister tone the whole way through.

Black Widow’s predominant themes revolve around child trafficking and violent misogyny, rendering the film into one of the most somber in the MCU and, thus, more befitting of an R-rating than a Guardians of the Galaxy or Spider-Man movie. Black Widow’s humor works well to offset the movie’s heavy themes, as well as maintain a PG-13 rating. For example, moments such as Yelena joking about her forced hysterectomy provide excellent entertainment value, but a more serious approach to the subject would have made for more impactful social commentary on the patriarchal control of women’s reproductive rights. Additionally, Black Widow’s action sequences differ from the MCU’s typical CGI superpower-ridden fight scenes, more so resembling a James Bond-type spy thriller than a superhero film. Black Widow could have taken its violence up a notch with more gritty and graphic combat, better coinciding with the movie’s showcasing of deadly assassins.

An R-rated Black Widow would have also given director Cate Shortland more creative freedom to develop the Red Room and its lasting effects on the widows. A PG-13 rating effectively prevents any explicit imagery or language related to the movie’s sensitive topics, which, in turn, confines Shortland to a toned-down examination of Black Widow‘s main personas. A deeper, unfiltered exploration of Natasha, Yelena, and Melina’s lasting trauma from their experience under Dreykov’s control would have ameliorated the film’s already compelling plot and paid better tribute to the now-deceased Avenger. Black Widow‘s central characters have profoundly brutal backstories which cannot adequately develop without entering into R-rated territory.

In spite of Black Widow‘s generally positive reception, the movie could have aimed for a higher ceiling. Due to Natasha’s death in Avengers: Endgame, along with the absence of a solo film for the super-spy in the 10 years since her MCU introduction, Black Widow already stood at a disadvantage. Some viewers considered Black Widow as unnecessary and unremarkable, therefore its status as the MCU’s first R-rated movie would have greatly benefited the movie’s relevance and made it stand out more prominently among the franchise’s first 25 films.