The Harley Quinn animated series has been testing the limits of good taste from episode one, but it seems one joke went a bit far even for DC.
(Please note this article contains some not safe for work material)
Co-creators/EPs Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker recently spoke with Variety for a feature about how the superhero genre is changing. One thing the producers are grateful for is working with characters such as Harley and Ivy gives them a lot of freedom. They do, however, run into issues when they try to do certain things with Batman.
“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.’”
Variety did note that both Halpern and Schumacker made a point to stress how supportive DC has been overall with the series. There was no indication, however, if the Batman and Catwoman scene would still find a way into season 3.
Seasons 1 and 2 of Harley Quinn are currently available on HBO Max in the U.S. No word as of yet as to when season 3 will debut.
