20 Most WTF Movie Moments Of 2020

19. Black Mask Assaults Erica - Birds Of Prey

Capone Tom Hardy
Warner Bros.

Birds of Prey was the irreverent, R-rated superhero movie the DCEU desperately needed, though the film's most disturbing scene caught plenty of blowback from fans who were divided on its necessity.

The infamous scene sees Roman Sionis aka Black Mask (Ewan McGregor) throwing a tantrum at his club and humiliating a woman who laughs at him, Erika (Bojana Novakovic), by forcing her to dance on top of a table at knifepoint.

To make matters worse, he has her dress ripped to reveal her underwear underneath. Though this serves as the turning point for Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) to leave his employ, that didn't stop some deeming the scene excessive. In her own defense, director Cathy Yan said:

"I'll be honest: We had to fight to keep that scene because it was uncomfortable... It was risky, and we had to fight to keep it at all. There are cuts of the movie without it. I think it's a huge turning point for Roman; it's a huge turning point for Canary, and the way that we shot it was hopefully not about the sexual violence upon the woman. It was more about Roman, what he's capable of and Canary seeing him for who he really is for the first time. Now, she can fully cut herself off from him, and I thought it was a really important scene. So, we fought for it."

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Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.