By and large, comic book movies have been relegated to the family-friendly PG-13 rating. Yes, you have your exceptions, but especially in the superhero genre, studios have found that shooting for a middle-of-the-road PG-13 rating is what results in box office goodness. The rating is mature enough to allow a fitting amount of violence, but not so mature that it limits the younger audience attendance.

Studios settled into this rating 15 or so years ago, and have found very little reason to change it. Then, last February, Deadpool came in and proved that an R-rated film could succeed if handled directly. Perhaps it had less to do with making an R-rated film for an R rating’s sake, but more to do with the character being handled. Eyes then turned to Wolverine, a character, who by all accounts, should be allowed an R-rated film. Would audiences buy into it?

While that remains to be seen, 20th Century Fox, Hugh Jackman, and director James Mangold have leaned into this R-rating for the next film in the franchise, Logan. Practically from day one, they made it clear that they would remain as true to the character as they could, and they’d accept whatever rating that came with that interpretation. Given the violence and swearing we’ve seen in the two trailers so far, an R-rating seemed imminent.

And it was. According to Mangold, Logan has officially locked down an R-rating from the Motion Picture Association of America. The reason?

“Strong brutal violence and language throughout, and for brief nudity.”

That’s right. The violence we saw in the trailers wasn’t just played up to sell tickets. If this is all any indication, we’ll be getting a fittingly violent Wolverine flick. And if one mutant running around slashing baddies isn’t enough, Logan promises TWO violent offenders this time around — the other in the form of X-23, the female mutant with similar abilities to Wolverine.

The latest batch of photos, courtesy of the folks over at Empire Magazine, goes to show that X-23 can be just as deadly as Wolverine ever was…more than enough to warrant that R rating.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEW BATCH OF PHOTOS!

Are you excited to see these two clawed mutants go berserk? Let us know in the comments down below!

Logan hits theaters on March 24, 2017!

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SOURCE: Empire, James Mangold