Later this week, Venom fans will finally be able to see the solo film focused on the iconic Spider-Man villain that they have all been waiting for. While its position in relation to Sony’s current Spider-Man films and the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe is somewhat nebulous, Sony has so far been presenting the film as a dark and edgy take on comic book stories. However, some were disappointed to learn that the film would not be rated R, which to them would keep the film from reaching the full potential of darkness. Now the film’s director has spoken about the PG-13 rating, and the reasoning behind it.

Venom director Ruben Fleischer recently spoke to Polygon at the press rounds promoting the new film. When asked about the expectations of fans for the film to be rated R, Fleischer indicated that he was surprised by that response. As he says:

I’m not sure why [people thought that], other than maybe just a bloodthirst for Venom.”

As Fleischer further explains, it seems that it was always his intention to craft the film with the intention of it receiving a PG-13 rating. Fleischer’s reasoning for this mainly had to do with keeping younger Venom fans in mind:

We didn’t want to make a movie that excluded any fans. Venom fans actually are of all ages, and so we wanted to be inclusive to all the fans that were excited about the movie.”

Fleischer also confirms that scenes for a hypothetical R-rated version of the film were not shot, so do not expected a re-release of the film with excessive violence or f-bombs. This news may come as disappointing to some, especially given the success of R-rated superhero outings like the Deadpool films. Hopefully, the movie delivers on the gritty aspects of Venom that it can provide with an R-rating. It’s probably a shame though that the Eminem song will likely be censored during the film’s credits, but the Real Sim Shady is probably used to it at this point.

Do you guys approve of the Venom PG-13 rating? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to stay tuned for the latest Venom news, such as one fan’s custom Venom PlayStation 4, here on Don’t Feed the Gamers! Follow us on Twitter to see our updates the minute they go live!