Fans have taken to the internet to roast unnamed DC executives after an interview mentions Batman not performing oral sex because “Heroes don’t do that”.
In an interview with Variety, Harley Quinn co-creators Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, the two talked about how much more leeway they got with their all-villain cast to embrace their more chaotic script. The only restriction they faced, they said, was with a scene they wanted in Season 3 where Batman was to perform oral sex on Catwoman.
“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.’
In all fairness to DC, it wasn’t so much some sort of ideological aversion to cunnilingus that got them the red flag. Halpern and Schumacker reportedly pressed the issue, getting this response.
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.’”
Even Variety reconfirmed that DC had been incredibly supportive of the Harley Quinn series, which features a lot of risque and violent antics from the all-villain cast. Considering how much Batman there is in the public sphere, it’s easy to emphasize that they wouldn’t want an image of cartoon Batman muff-diving to come up when some kid googles their favorite superhero.
Getting Roasted By The Internet Is What Heroes Do
While that’s an entirely business/branding decision, that doesn’t mean the internet hasn’t stepped in to give DC a good ribbing for the behavior. Thankfully none of it has been too crude to show in this article, such Sony Santa Monica writer Alanah Pearce having a dissenting view on DC’s heroic code of conduct.
Public Service Announcement: DC is wrong.
Heroes do that 🥰🙌🏻👏🏻🎊😍. https://t.co/b1fcjdEU7S
— Alanah Pearce (@Charalanahzard) June 14, 2021
Similarly, men too have come out have come to bat for reciprocal loving, such as Obsidian Games’ Studio Design Director Josh Sawyer, who knows he’s not alone.
Even DC Animated’s official twitter seems to have piled on as well, having tweeted a seemingly innocuous clip from Batman: Under The Red Hood that makes hilarious sense under this context.
Of course, the best response to this whole Batman “Heroes don’t do that” kerfuffle came from the toy photographer FakeEyes22 on Twitter, who once again was kind enough to write jokes we can report on. Here it is, presented without comment.
— Daviad (@FakeEyes22) June 15, 2021