A deleted scene from the adult animated series Harley Quinn on HBO Max has sparked so much attention on social media that even the star of the series weighed in - as did a former Batman actor. The scene in question was revealed by executive producer Justin Halpern in a recent interview with Variety. As explained by Halpern, it would have involved Batman performing a sex act on Catwoman. The context of the scene isn't clear, but the whole scene was scrapped so as not to present the Caped Crusader in this manner.
"In this third season of Harley we had a moment where Batman was going down on Catwoman," Halpern said. "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.'"
Many fans online have been having a field day with this revelation. It's gotten so big that the media attention now has Kaley Cuoco, who voices Harley Quinn on the series, to personally weigh in. Though she doesn't say much, Cuoco posted the report on her Instagram Stories on Tuesday along with a simple "LOL!" written in pink lettering. Apparently, the voiceover artist is getting a big kick out of the whole situation.
If you're wondering what Batman himself might think of this, ask Val Kilmer. Previously, Kilmer served as the first person to succeed Michael Keaton by starring in Batman Forever alongside Nicole Kidman as Dr. Chase Meridian. In light of the Harley Quinn fiasco, Kilmer shared a GIF of his version of Batman conversing with Dr. Chase, with the actor writing in the caption: "Does he or doesn't he..." Now, lots of Batman Forever fans are going to be wondering about that as well.
It isn't that Batman is celibate. The Dark Knight has certainly had his fun in that department in other DC stories. One sex scene in particular in the animated movie The Killing Joke involving Batman and Batgirl, the daughter of his good pal Jim Gordon, conjured a lot of controversy with fans at the time. Typically, however, DC spares us the details on Batman's trysts, leaving it mostly up to the imagination. It sounds like that wasn't the case with the Catwoman scene in Harley Quinn, which was just a step too far for DC.
There isn't an official premiere date yet set for Harley Quinn, but the third season is expected to debut on HBO Max sometime this year. Until then, fans can go back and watch the first two seasons on the platform. Even without certain sex acts making it to the series, Harley Quinn has certainly had its shocking moments as a more mature iteration of the animated Batman stories, so there's still going to be some interesting stuff to see in season 3. The original interview about the banned scene was published at Variety.