Harley Quinn bosses Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker have said DC made them scrap an oral sex scene between Batman and Catwoman.
Reflecting on the tone of their adult animated TV series and working with DC, the executive producers opened up about a conversation surrounding the characters as villains, not heroes.
“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.
“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.’”
Halpern and Schumacker did go on to say that DC had been supportive of their show and encouraged their daring tone, though it remains unclear whether the x-rated scene will appear in the forthcoming episodes.
In other Batman news, Cillian Murphy recently reflected on auditioning to play the caped crusader in 2003, eventually losing out on the role to Christian Bale.
“I don’t believe I was close to landing that role,” he said. “The only actor who was right for that part at that time, in my estimation, was Christian Bale, and he absolutely smashed it.
“So, for me, it was just an experience, and then it turned into something else. It turned into that character, Scarecrow, and it turned into a working relationship with Chris. So I think back very, very fondly on that time, but I never, ever, ever considered myself Bruce Wayne material.”
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