Wondering whether this summer’s Deadpool & Wolverine is suitable for your teenager? Find out everything you need to know before you head to the cinema.

What is the age rating for Deadpool & Wolverine? 

We rated Deadpool & Wolverine 15 for strong bloody violence, injury detail, sex references, very strong language. This means that no one under the age of 15 may see the film in the cinema. You can find the full content advice alongside a handy visual guide of key content themes here. 

Deadpool & Wolverine at a glance

Six years on from the events of Deadpool 2, Wade Wilson is living as a civilian and is retired from his role as the mercenary Deadpool. Well, he was, that is, until he crosses paths with Wolverine. The two form an unlikely partnership and the pair agree to work together to defeat a common enemy.

The first and second instalments of the franchise – Deadpool and Deadpool 2 – were both rated 15, so many of the issues listed in the content advice for the latest release will be very familiar to fans of the first two movies. Although a comic and fantastical tone colours this film, as it has the others, the language, crude sex references and the focus on strong bloody violence all fed into our decision to classify Deadpool & Wolverine 15 for strong bloody violence, injury detail, sex references, very strong language.

What can I expect from Deadpool & Wolverine?  

(Please note: this section may contain spoilers!)

Our latest research to inform our Classification Guidelines, which we published in May 2024, confirmed that people, including parents, continue to worry about depictions of violence on screen, even in movies like Deadpool & Wolverine that sit at the higher end of the age rating system. 

Violent sequences in the film include bloody shootings, stabbings, knife slashings, fight-scenes, decapitations and characters exploding. The violence is relentless and often very bloody. Though the comic lessens the impact of the action on screen, the visual detail of the violence goes well beyond that which people tell us they’d expect to see in a movie rated below 15. 

Our research also tells us that people respond more strongly to violence that takes place in a more realistic context. While the world in which this film is set is recognisable to us as viewers, it’s nonetheless still peppered with fantastical aspects which help to reduce the impact of some of the strong violence and injury detail that is present on screen. In one scene, a series of brutal killings occur with each person being slaughtered in a more bloody and outrageous fashion than the last. This is a gruesome sequence. However, the injured people regenerate, reinforcing to viewers that this is clearly not a real world scenario, lessening the impact of the violence that we’re watching. Contextual factors like this are an essential part of the way in which we age rate movies and, in this instance, is one of the key reasons that enabled Deadpool & Wolverine to receive a 15, as opposed to an 18 age rating.

Our team of expert compliance officers also considered the strength of the sex references when deciding on the age rating. In typical Deadpool style, this new instalment in the franchise features crude strong sex references including mentions of masturbation and other sexual acts. In one scene, there is even a verbal reference to necrophilia. While the references in the movie lack the level of detail that would take the film to 18, they do clearly surpass what people tell us they want to see in content rated 12.

Language is another key issue that determined the age rating of the movie. The film features uses of very strong language ('c**t') a term that people have repeatedly told us they do not want to see in movies rated below 15. Additionally there are frequent uses of other strong terms such as 'f**k' and 'motherf**ker' which exceed our guidelines for acceptable language at 12, and we therefore classified the film 15 accordingly. 

You can find our updated Classification Guidelines – which we rate all content in line with – in full here.