HBO Max’s Harley Quinn series is very, very racy. It uses the C-word liberally. Goons are frequently blown up in explosions of gore and intestines. But despite the series being intensely foul-mouthed and violent, it seems there’s one thing DC won’t stand for in the show: heroes performing oral sex.
Harley Quinn had an oral sex scene cut
In a recent interview with Variety, Harley Quinn series co-creators Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker revealed DC nixed a plot line that would’ve seen Batman ‘going down’ on Catwoman.
The explicitness of the scene wasn’t made clear, but given the reluctance on the part of HBO’s Harley Quinn to show outright nudity, it’s more likely this scene was planned to be an off-camera gag.
Still, DC wouldn’t allow it.
“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.’”
Despite Halpern reportedly challenging DC on whether the company felt its heroes were ‘selfish lovers’, the moment didn’t make the cut in the final version of the show. DC’s reasons for exclusion were that it still had to sell toys.
DC has allowed male heroes to receive oral sex from women though
In the end, Harley Quinn is in a difficult place. The Batman franchise has a wide target audience that includes children, and cartoons traditionally being designed for kids mean there is still some confusion about the target audience for Harley Quinn. (Although to be fair, the onus is on parents to avoid exposing kids to this media.)
The problem, and the controversy of the oral sex saga, is that DC appears to have no trouble depicting sex in all its forms across its media. It also frequently shows male heroes receiving oral sex from female heroes.
Drawing the line at going down on a woman is a real shame, and a taboo it’s time we all got over.
Women deserve pleasure, and there’s no shame in depicting it.
As the conversation around this cut moment grew, more people have begun to discuss what ‘real heroes’ would do in these circumstances.
It’s also started a conversation about which heroes would, or wouldn’t perform oral sex.
For now, it appears the general consensus is that many heroes would do the right thing. Captain America, Vision and Doctor Strange have all made the list of pussy eaters.
Thor’s there, too. Green Arrow has also been specifically called out as a master of oral sex in the past, as has Nightwing. It’s not controversial, it’s a natural part of a healthy sexual relationship.
So, to answer the age old question: fellas, is it unheroic to want to pleasure your woman?
— darth™ (@darth) June 14, 2021
No. No, it’s not.
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