With R-rated films like “Logan” brutalizing the box office, an insider tells TheWrap that DC Films would “100 percent” make R-rated superhero movies with the right characters. Here are a few suggestions for characters dark enough to demand an R rating.
1. Justice League Dark
Warner Bros. Animation and DC Entertainment released a successful R-rated “Justice League Dark” animated movie, and there’s no reason they can’t do the same in live action.
2. Suicide Squad 2
The first “Suicide Squad” focused on hardened criminals, but they kept things PG-13. They could do a lot more damage with an R rating.
3. Deadshot
Warner Bros. is looking to spin off Will Smith’s hardened “Suicide Squad” character. An R-rating would make a lot of sense, given that he’s a professional assassin.
4. Gotham City Sirens
Warners is also looking to spin off Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn character from “Suicide Squad.” We all know the streets of Gotham are deadly enough to deserve an R rating.
5. Lobo
A film about DC’s badass alien bounty hunter Lobo is in development, with Jason Fuchs developing a screenplay. An alien can’t be expected to abide by MPAA standards.
6. Black Adam
Dwayne Johnson is attached to star as outlaw “Black Adam” for New Line. In the comics, Black Adam rules his own nation — the fictional Middle Eastern country Kahndaq — as a beloved, if violent, dictator. R territory for sure.
7. Nightwing
Bruce Wayne’s former ward Dick Grayson set off on his own in the comics, and is expected to get his own movie as well in “Nightwing.” R is for Robin.
8. Red Hood
If DC Films is making a “Nightwing” movie, how about focusing on another Bat-underling? Ex-Robin Jason Todd came back from the dead to avenge his killing as Red Hood, and a PG-13 probably can’t contain all his rage.
9. Arkham Asylum
The video game series featuring all of Gotham City’s craziest villains could easily lend itself to a film in the vein of David Fincher’s “Seven.”
10. Deathstroke
DC Comics assassin Deathstroke is the villain in the upcoming “The Batman,” and if he merits a spinoff, it would be hard to imagine it as anything but an R movie.
11. The Batman
Making “The Batman” R-rated would send a signal that DC Films isn’t messing around. In the “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” Ultimate Edition, Batman was at his most Frank Miller violent and brutal.
If you like this gallery, check out this list of the 14 Biggest Superhero Movies Opening in 2017, From ‘Power Rangers’ to ‘Wonder Woman’ (Photos)
