If this post contains spoilers, I don’t know what they are.
In a surprising addition to the superhero discourse this week, fans have been taking to Twitter and other social media platforms in an effort to offer their two cents when it comes (or not) to whether Batman and other heroes perform cunnilingus.
How did this happen? Well, it all started with a fairly straightforward interview about how successful TV series like WandaVision, The Umbrella Academy, and Harley Quinn subvert the superhero genre – one that happened to produce an irresistible nugget of DC info that the internet is still very much feasting on at the time of writing.
Obviously it’s an interviewer’s dream when the person you’re quizzing dishes up some behind the scenes secrets about the making of their art, but Harley Quinn co-creator Justin Halpern probably wasn’t expecting the widespread social media reaction to this new interview, where he discussed the exact nature of DC’s limits during the shaping of their irreverent – and very adult – animated series.
“It’s incredibly gratifying and free to be using characters that are considered villains because you just have so much more leeway,” Halpern told Variety of making Harley Quinn. “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.’”
Yes, despite the often violent nature of DC superhero media, going down on a woman is apparently over the line.
“In fairness to DC, both Halpern and [co-creator Patrick] Schumacker went on to say that the company has been remarkably supportive of their series and has allowed them to push the envelope numerous times,” added Variety. “Still, it remains to be seen if Batman and Catwoman will be shown engaging in some bedroom antics in Season 3 or if it will simply be implied via cunning linguistics.”
Though Variety was quick to add that DC had otherwise done right by the show and allowed its creators a lot of freedom in the writers’ room, Twitter was already in its element, and DC, Batman, Harley Quinn and Catwoman were all swiftly trending.
Hey, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?
It is indeed a magnificent series. Please consider checking it out if you haven’t gotten around to it yet!
Harley Quinn features a terrific voice cast that includes Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Alan Tudyk, Tony Hale, Ron Funches, Jason Alexander and J. B. Smoove. Season 3 will be heading to HBO Max soon.