Last March, 20th Century Fox’s Logan concluded the Wolverine trilogy with fans going wild. However, a wide majority of those fans include people over the age of 17. This means very few children or teens have seen this blockbuster without an adult. Granted, while Logan has reasons why it remains off limits to the youngsters, this move could evolve into a huge risk for the future of the superhero movie genre.

Last February’s Deadpool was the first R-rated Marvel comics movie since 2008’s mediocre Punisher remake. 2008 also marked the year that Iron Man, The Dark Knight and The Incredible Hulk hit theaters. However, those three superhero movies all got slapped with a PG-13 rating so many parents took their preteens to see the movies. These films became big hits at the box office and among critics, and even earned Heath Ledger a posthumous Oscar for his role as the Joker. From that point on, every superhero movie received a PG-13 rating, including all 12 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time. The first seven X-Men movies also have PG-13 ratings, along with the Dark Knight trilogy and Man of Steel. These days, PG-13-rated action movies contain slightly more family-friendly content, with (mostly) appropriate language, just enough clean comedy, and some subtle violence to be entertaining for every age group. Families across the country watch these movies together, and often enjoy them, as proven by ticket sales.

However, lately superhero movies have begun to take risky turns. Few children under the age of 17 have seen Logan, the DVD release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice received an R-rated cut, and the Deadpool sequel will most likely render an R-rating. If these studios continue to make their pictures less and less family-compatible by raising the age-bar, it may result in lower ticket sales at the theaters.

Millions of children grow up reading comic books and watching the TV shows, and look forward to seeing them on the big screen. When they see that some of their childhood icons have become violent and dark, they may not react favorably. If superhero movies want to continue raising their sales in toys and tickets while simultaneously keeping both viewers and critics entertained, they might want to make their films less gruesome and go back to their PG-13 ratings.