Batman Oral Sex Scene Removal
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About
Batman Oral Sex Scene Removal refers to DC Entertainment not allowing a scene in which Batman performs oral sex on Catwoman to be included in the Harley Quinn adult animated television series. The news became viral and spawned memes and discussions on social media in mid-June 2021.
Background
On June 14th, 2021, Variety[1] published an article titled "How ‘WandaVision,’ ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ ‘Harley Quinn’ Subvert the Superhero Genre" in which they talked to the creators of these series. In one part of the article, co-creator of the Harley Quinn adult animated television series Justin Halpern talks about how DC Entertainment prevented a scene in which Batman performs oral sex on Catwoman from being made for season three of the series, commenting "heroes don't do that" and further explaining that it would be hard to sell Batman toys if the superhero performed oral sex.
![VARIETY "Harley Quinn" is also unique among the current crop of comic content in that its main character and all of her closest allies are villains rather than heroes in the DC canon. That allows the show to do different things with the characters that heroes simply cannot do - at least according to DC. "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." (In fairness to DC, both Halpern and 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. 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.)](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/124/855/004.jpg "Batman Oral Sex Extract (Variety)")
Justin 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."
On June 14th, 2021, Twitter[2] user @JoeOtterson posted a screenshot of an extract from the article, quoting "Heroes don't do that" as the reason why DC did not allow the scene. The tweet gained over 3,400 retweets and 15,900 likes in one day (shown below, left). In one hour, Twitter[3] account Culture Crave made a post about the scene removal, with the tweet gaining over 1,400 retweets and 12,000 likes in one day (shown below, right).
![Joe Otterson @JoeOtterson DC asked the #HarleyQuinn team to remove a scene from Season 3 in which Batman performs oral sex on Catwoman. Why? "Heroes don't do that" @justin_halpern @PMSchumacker variety.com/2021/tv/featur... "Harley Quinn" is also unique among the current crop of comic content in that its main character and all of her closest allies are villains rather than heroes in the DC canon. That allows the show to do different things with the characters that heroes simply cannot do – at least according to DC. "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." (In fairness to DC, both Halpern and 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. 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.) 1:46 PM · Jun 14, 2021 - Twitter Web App](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/002/124/892/1be.jpg "DC asked the Harley Quinn team to remove a scene from Season 3 in which Batman performs oral sex on Catwoman. Why? \"Heroes do")
Online Reactions
Starting on June 14th, the news became the subject of discussions and memes online. One hour following the tweet by @JoeOtterson, Twitter[4] user @therealryouko posted the earliest viral meme referencing the news, a The Myth of Consensual Sex edit that gained over 5,400 retweets and 28,500 likes in one day (shown below, left). Later on the same day, Twitter[5] user @Nick_Hanover posted a redraw of the Woman Yelling at a Cat meme captioned with the quote "heroes do not do that," which received over 7,100 retweets and 44,800 likes in one day (shown below, right).
On June 14th and 15th, multiple memes about the scene removal were posted online, primarily on Twitter. For example, on June 14th, the fan Twitter account @DC_Animated posted a clip from the 2010 animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood as a double entendre joke (shown below).
— DC Animated (@DC_Animated) June 15, 2021
Zack Snyder's Tweet
On June 18, Zack Snyder, the director and filmmaker behind Justice League and several other DC film productions, tweeted the following picture,[6] depicting Batman performing cunnilingus on Catwoman (click below button to show). He captioned the image with the single word "Canon", seemingly implying that the event depicted was canonical to the Batman franchise. The tweet gained 318,000 likes and 91,000 retweets in two days and went viral in several communities.
Various Examples
Search Interest
External References
[1] Variety – How ‘WandaVision,’ ‘The Umbrella Academy,’ ‘Harley Quinn’ Subvert the Superhero Genre
[2] Twitter – @JoeOtterson
[3] Twitter – @CultureCrave
[4] Twitter – @therealryouko
[5] Twitter – @Nick_Hanover
[6] Twitter – @ZackSnyder
Top Comments
zeoxdragon
Jun 15, 2021 at 07:42AM EDT
JJvagnar
Jun 15, 2021 at 08:51AM EDT