The HBO Max animated ‘Harley Quinn’ animated series has been a hit with wide audiences thanks in large part to its irreverent take on the heroes and villains of the DC Universe, and for its progressive take on the relationship between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy.
It seems there is a line to how far the show is able to take some things, though, as it was revealed today that DC Comics at one point requested the show remove a scene in which Batman performs oral se* on ‘Catwoman.
In a Variety article about TV shows like ‘Harley Quinn’ and ‘WandaVision’ that “subvert the superhero genre,” Harley Quinn producer Justin Halpern spoke about the relative freedom he and co-producer Patrick Schumacher experience while working on the show, and the notable instance in which DC objected ‘Batman’ going down on ‘Catwoman’.
“‘Heroes don’t do that.'” I know many people who would argue to the contrary.
The idea that what Batman does on an adult-oriented cartoon available only on a premium streaming service could affect toy sales is somewhat laughable.
If ‘Harley Quinn’ were on Cartoon Network, it might make more sense. It does make one question whether the same would be true if the scene were of ‘Catwoman’ giving ‘Batman’ a BJ. Is the issue that heroes – which ‘Catwoman’ has arguably been for at least a decade now – don’t ‘do that,’ or that the specific scene involved a man giving a woman oral pleasure?
The whole thing reminds me of a famous Neil Gaiman quote, in which he says he was told while writing The Sandman that “people do not masturbate in the DC Universe:”
Times have changed since then, at least somewhat, though. We’ve notably seen Oliver Queen perform oral sex on Dinah Lance in the first issue of Kevin Smith‘s 2001 run on Green Arrow.
Why that was acceptable twenty years ago and ‘Batman’, performing oral sex on ‘Catwoman’ in an animated series for adults is not acceptable now is another question. It has also been a little under three years since DC published a comic (again, adult-oriented) that caused a stir for including Batman’s penis, so it could just be that the publisher is a little shy about these things.
Either way, we are going to need some clarification on the parameters for what is acceptable and unacceptable sexual behavior between consenting adults within the DC Universe, DC. —Comics Beat
