Batman has caused many a controversy over his 80-odd year reign. Whether it's the OTT violence seen in Zack Snyder's Justice League movies or the suit that gave him 'bat nipples' in the much derided Batman And Robin.
But this latest controversy concerns the small screen and an intimate act between him and Catwoman that we are almost definitely never going to see.
The brilliant Harley Quinn animated show - which uses the voice talents of Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk and Tony Hale - is one that certainly pushes the boundaries. It's a very adult-only look at DC's villains and is hilarious, despite its humour getting pretty dark in places and its brutal fight scenes.
While DC has allowed many things to happen in the show, there is a line that it just won't cross and it involves oral sex.
According to a piece in Variety, the makers of the show wanted Batman to perform oral sex on Catwoman. Speaking to writer-producer Justin Halpern, in a wider article about how a number of shows are subverting the superhero genre, explained about that freedom they have writing about the characters, but there are times when DC does push back.
“It’s incredibly gratifying and free to be using characters that are considered villains because you just have so much more leeway,” says Halpern.
“A perfect example of that is in this third season of ‘Harley’ [when] we had a moment where Batman was going down on Catwoman. And DC was like, ‘You can’t do that. You absolutely cannot do that.’ They’re like, ‘Heroes don’t do that.’ So, we said, ‘Are you saying heroes are just selfish lovers?’ They were like, ‘No, it’s that we sell consumer toys for heroes. It’s hard to sell a toy if Batman is also going down on someone.’”
Heroes don't do that. Hmm.
Unsurprisingly, quite a lot of people have had something to say about this, including Kevin Smith who reminded people that he managed to get something similar into his Green Lantern series.
There was also a little pushback when we did the Green Arrow/Black Canary oral sex scenes in my run with @philhester and @andeparks 20 years ago. But my point to @DCComics editorial was “Oliver Queen just knows how to make the ladies Quiver. Especially when he hits the bullseye.” https://t.co/wXwt93z2kPpic.twitter.com/mXZDTJUg4A
— KevinSmith (@ThatKevinSmith) June 14, 2021
Whatever comes out of this mini controversy, it's great that the Harley Quinn show is getting so much attention as it is definitely one of the best things DC has done in a long time.
Who is the best Batman? You decide.
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