“We were given the gift of an R rating,” Deadpool co-writer Paul Wernick shares on Reddit—but will the superhero film live up to its edgy, grown-up hype?

On Tuesday, Wernick and screenwriting partner Rhett Reese—previously best known for writing Zombieland—stopped by Reddit for an AMA (Ask Me Anything), in which they discussed having superfans camped out in their backyard, writing the film at a P.F. Chang’s, and how Deadpool differs from the long line of family-friendly, comic-book superhero films that precede it.

“[The R rating] allowed us to get away with things we could usually not get away with,” Wernick explains in a comment. “This was an apple among oranges. You know, bullets in the head, blood spurts, nothing was off limits.”

Since 2009, Reese and Wernick—along with Ryan Reynolds—have been fighting to get Fox to develop their script, which has undergone several rewrites, including a briefly entertained PG-13 version—which, Reese notes in a comment, “felt a little off.”

As Reddit’s Deadpool fans looked forward to the film’s debut, they took the opportunity to ask the writers all their most burning questions. Here are the highlights from their AMA.

The Most Important P.F. Chang’s in Superhero History

How Ryan Reynolds Helped Write the Film

On Deadpool‘s Most Avid Fans

Favorite Memory From Filming?

Deadpool‘s “Bad-A** Marketing” Team

Are Reese and Wernick Happy With the Goriness?

If Deadpool Went Disney

(Incidentally, a little over three years ago, one artist imagined a fictional mash-up between the merciless mercenary and the merry mouse. It was… cute-ish?)

Thoughts on Deadpool 2?

To read all of Reese and Wernick’s responses, check out the original AMA thread. Deadpool premieres in the US this Friday, February 12.