Most Marvel movies are fairly benign as far as their content goes. There’s very little in the way of swearing, no nudity, mostly comic violence and zero drug use. So, it was fairly shocking to learn that ‘The Avengers‘ was rated R by the MPAA when Marvel initially submitted it for review. What scene caused the problem and what did director Joss Whedon have to cut to get a PG-13? Let’s find out.

Captain America 2‘ is one of the more violent of the Marvel movies, with its violence feeling more “real world” than some of the comic violence of previous films. We’re not seeing a god, like Thor, smash an alien with his magical hammer, we’re seeing an assassin shoot innocent people multiple times with a really big gun.

But, Movies.com spoke to Marvel head Kevin Feige who surprisingly said that ‘Captain America 2' had no problem obtaining it’s PG-13 rating, revealing that the only time they had a beef with the MPAA was during ‘The Avengers.’ That film was actually submitted twice and received an R-rating both times, before Whedon finally made the appropriate edits.

Says Feige of the scene that got them into hot water:

Well, whenever you impale somebody from their back and the blade comes out their chest, there are issues.

The scene in which Agent Coulson is killed by Loki with his scepter was originally too graphic and bloody to warrant a PG-13. In the theatrical release version, you don’t see Loki impale Coulson, but you do see the aftermath and the blade sticking out of his chest briefly. Even that proved to be too much for some countries, who digitally edited out the blade entirely and the stabbing is left to the imagination.

Considering that almost all the actors involved in ‘Avengers 2‘ have spoken about how “dark” the script is for the sequel, we can’t imagine where it will go if the original film was rated R.

We’ll guess there will be a time in the future when Marvel Studios releases an R-rated film (both ‘Blade’ and the two ‘Punisher’ films were rated R, but weren’t produced by Marvel), but we’ll guess that’s some ways off, once they’ve finished this current arc of storytelling that ends with ‘The Avengers 3.’

What do you think? What Marvel movie should be rated R? Would you like to see more superhero movies aimed at adults?

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