Why Deadpool 2's Most Disturbing Scene Made Reynolds Defend His Vision

The first two installments of the "Deadpool" film franchise have featured some truly shocking and disturbing moments. From Wade Wilson's X-Force team instantly dying on their first mission in horrifying fashion, to using the bodies of those chasing him to make fun of the villain Ajax's real name in "Deadpool," to actually killing Ryan Reynolds and the "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" version of Deadpool in the post-credit scene of "Deadpool 2." However, arguably the most disturbing moment came in the second "Deadpool" film, when the Merc with a Mouth showed off his regenerating baby legs and lower body after his entire body was ripped in half during a fight with the Juggernaut.

The scene, which features Reynolds' adult torso, arms, and head with a childlike bottom half, actually required some impressive CGI usage, as production visual effects supervisor Dan Glass and VFX studio Double Negative worked closely alongside director David Leitch to make the gross-out scene come to life. Not only did the production face challenges in creating the moment, but Reynolds was worried the Motion Pictures Association of America would come calling and ask them to remove the memorable yet disturbing scene.

In "Deadpool 2," Wade Wilson and Blind Al are seen sitting on a couch together as Deadpool's legs slowly regenerate to their full size. The scene, a parody of Sharon Stone's notorious erotic thriller leg-crossing sequence in "Basic Instinct," featured Wilson's grotesque, unclothed lower half for all the world to see. Talking with The Hollywood Reporter, Ryan Reynolds said he couldn't believe that the Motion Picture Association of America rating board didn't call for him to cut the scene, saying, "I didn't know if I was going to have to go down and arbitrate with the MPAA and explain that's my tiny dick and balls, not CGI. But it wasn't a problem."

Reynolds also joked on Instagram that he wanted to clarify the "disgusting rumors" that he sat on a child in order to achieve the effect for his legs in the scene, saying, "In order to achieve this illusion, I did NOT sit on an actual baby... For more than a minute. An hour, tops."

While the scene was obviously created with CGI, seeing Reynolds poke fun at how it was made, share the possibility the MPAA could have come after him for including it in "Deadpool 2," and continue to defend the right to include it shows how much the actor cares about making a raunchy, R-Rated Deadpool film that pushes the boundaries of what you would normally see in a superhero flick. With "Deadpool 3" taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it will be interesting to see if Disney and Marvel are willing to push the threequel's R-rating as far as the second installment was willing to.