Fox’s Deadpool 2 depicts the first LGBT+ couple in the history of superhero cinema; the female supporting character Teenage Negasonic Warhead appears with her girlfriend Yukio throughout the film. Film industry analyst Scott Mendelson argues in Forbes that Deadpool 2 has been able to break this barrier because unlike many other superhero blockbusters, it was not relying heavily on overseas grosses for its profits.
Culturally conservative countries including Russia and China have banned movies that include LGBT+ relationships, which results in creative pressures and restrictions the biggest-budgeted blockbusters must follow in order to open in the most possible markets. Film studios like Warner Bros. make 69% of their global profit outside of North America; the family-friendly live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast was rated the equivalent of NC-17 in Russia because it contained a much-vaunted “gay moment.’
Budgeted at a relatively modest $110 million, and therefore under less pressure to perform (or even be released) in conservative markets, Deadpool 2 was able to take a risk in depicting an LGBT+ relationship.
Read more at Forbes