‘Deadpool 2’ Writers Reveal Why the ‘Passion of the Christ’ Joke Was Risky

In the commentary track for Deadpool 2, co-writer Rhett Reese admitted that the Passion of the Christ joke that Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) made in the film was risky — but probably not for the reasons you’re thinking.

Team Deadpool weren’t worried about backlash from religious fans — after all, there is not much about Jesus himself that could be construed as offensive in the line. Instead, the joke — which compared Deadpool‘s box office performance to that of Mel Gibson’s controversial religious movie — was risky because if another surprise hit (like, for example, Deadpool) had come along in the time between filming and releasing the movie, the joke might have been outdated.

During a scene in Dopinder’s car, at one point Deadpool jokes, “I’m in the same sentence as Jesus,” adding that in terms of R-rated box office, it’s “Passion of the Christ, then me.”

“It’s a risky joke ’cause it could have gone either way,” Reese admitted. “We’d have to change it if somethin’ else came along.

His co-writer, Paul Wernick, agreed, but said that there was a fairly easy workaround for such an eventuality.

“The good news, speaking of changing things, [is that] Deadpool’s in a mask,” Wernick said. “We’ve said it before; we can put words into his mouth up until the very last moment, so we’re writing this movie up until it locks — two, three weeks before it comes out into theaters.”

Changes to the movie continued on, in this movie’s case, long after that, with the release of a significantly expanded cut of the movie on home video. The film hit digital video-on-demand platforms this week, and will be available on Blu-ray and DVD on August 21.

“When we got into post and we had to trim it down we started to have to have our own gut checks about what jokes are in and what jokes are out. There was a pretty close consensus for what should stay and what should go. Some of them we may see in different incarnations of the film or in the Blu-Ray, but we’re pretty happy with where it all landed,” director David Leitch explained when the Super Duper Cut was announced.

In the time since, fans have seen deleted and extended scenes, including one that showed Deadpool traveling back in time to agonize over the ethics of killing or not killing Adolph Hitler as a baby. The final extended cut will be about half an hour longer than Deadpool‘s theatrical version.