'Suicide Squad' Officially Receives a PG-13 Rating

Kristen Santer
image

‘Suicide Squad’ ready for action (Photo: Warner Bros)

After the financial — if not critical — success of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, all eyes turn to the next DC Comics venture, Suicide Squad, which has now officially received its PG-13 rating from the MPAA. The rating reflects the film’s “sequences of violence and action throughout, disturbing behavior, suggestive content and language.”

Related: ‘Suicide Squad’ Eyes Aggressive Rollout of Merchandise

The PG-13 rating comes as no surprise. Despite some fans’ wishes to see the anti-heroes unrestrained by boundaries of age-appropriate conduct, director David Ayer had previously stated in an interview with MTV that an R rating was never in the cards. Ayer did give some hope to fans who want to one day see the Squad run wild, telling MTV he would consider lobbying for an R rating for a sequel.

A case for a less-restrictive Suicide Squad would no doubt point to the success of Marvel’s Deadpool, which became the highest grossing R-rated movie of all time earlier this year, winning over fans and critics with its over-the-top violence, jokey sex scenes, and inappropriate language. Producer Simon Kinberg then announced that Wolverine 3 will aim for an R rating, a decision likely to cheer hardcore fans given the mutant’s violent and aggressive reputation. Back in the DC Universe, Zack Snyder will be unveiling his R-rated cut of Batman v Superman on home video later this month.

Related: ‘Suicide Squad’ Gets a Kick Out of Soccer-Style Intros

Kind of like the “Anti-Avengers,” Suicide Squad brings several classic DC supervillains together for an unlikely role reversal as crimefighters. Margot Robbie, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, and Joel Kinnaman star.

Reported early screenings of the PG-13 cut of Suicide Squad have led to mostly positive fan reactions circulating online, always to be taken with a grain of salt. The rest of us can make up our own minds when Suicide Squad comes to theaters on Aug. 5 — and leaves it to our imaginations what this crew could do if the kids were out of the room to earn the tagline “Worst. Heroes. Ever.”

‘Suicide Squad’: Meetings with Psychopaths and Other Things Jared Leto Did To Become The Joker: