The Animated Batman Episode That Was Banned For Being Too Raunchy

When it debuted in 2008, “Batman: The Courageous and the Daring” reintroduced a extra lighthearted tone to the Darkish Knight’s animated escapades. Ever since “Batman: The Animated Collection” attained legendary standing with its mature storylines and alluringly darkish aesthetic, Batman cartoons had tried considerably to emulate that strategy. However “Batman: The Courageous and the Daring” diverged, utilizing a extra comedic tone to enchantment to youthful audiences and discarding the brooding, noirish parts that had made “B:TAS” such successful.

Based mostly on “The Courageous and the Daring” comedian sequence which ran from 1955 to 1983, the present noticed Batman teaming up with varied and principally lesser-known DC heroes, with every episode telling a standalone story involving the Darkish Knight and his chosen teammate of the week. Zanier characters comparable to Detective Chimp would present up on this extra outlandish present, which additionally featured extra obscure villains together with Starro, the principle villain in James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad.” It wasn’t fairly as campy because the Adam West-led “Batman” sequence of the Nineteen Sixties — a number of episodes explored darker themes — but it surely was a heck of much more enjoyable than many of the different animated reveals that had sprung up within the wake of “B:TAS.”

“Batman: The Courageous and the Daring” ran for 3 seasons on Cartoon Community till November 2011, and through that point it did handle to maintain alive one grand custom began by “B:TAS:” upsetting the censors.

Just by advantage of the very fact it wasn’t afraid to inform extra mature tales reasonably than speaking right down to children, “Batman: The Animated Collection” established a protracted and proud custom of upsetting the Fox Children censors, which decreed there have been 9 issues the present wasn’t allowed to do. The Fox censors additionally stopped the Batman sequence from turning Bruce Wayne right into a vampire, whereas the successor sequence, “The New Batman Adventures” used Scarecrow to tug one over on the censors. Although “Batman: The Courageous and the Daring” was an altogether extra foolish tackle the Darkish Knight and his varied DC Universe pals, it definitely had moments of grownup humor, and in a single occasion managed to proceed its predecessors’ custom of upsetting the adults. 

Within the season 2 episode “The Masks of Matches Malone!” Batman suffers a blow to the pinnacle which causes him to imagine he’s really a felony Matches Malone, leaving the Birds of Prey (Catwoman, Huntress, and Black Canary) to sort things. At one level throughout the episode’s second act, the trio breaks Matches’ hideout on the Iceberg Lounge and, discovering themselves in want of a distraction to flee, carry out a musical quantity.

The tune, entitled “Birds of Prey,” begins out as a innocent sufficient musical interlude, however issues begin to get a bit blue when the trio begins singing innuendos about male heroes and their shortcomings. The Flash is accused of being “too quick” whereas Inexperienced Arrow comes beneath hearth for his incapability to “shoot straight.” Nevertheless it’s the road about Aquaman, whose “little fish” is accused of being “much less outrageous,” that appeared to trigger probably the most controversy. As she delivers the “little fish” line, Huntress wags her finger, leaving no query as to what she’s singing about.

Written by Gail Simone, who had written for the “Birds of Prey” comedian sequence, “The Masks of Matches Malone!” prompted upset because of its thinly veiled allusion to Aquaman’s manhood, however simply what occurred by way of the episode’s airing stays considerably unclear.

There isn’t any doubt that the Birds of Prey’s innuendo-laden musical quantity prompted upset, however the precise nature of that upset stays considerably hazy. Some studies declare that the episode aired as soon as and was then pulled for the finger-wagging to get replaced, whereas others say the episode by no means really aired within the first place and was solely proven in syndication with a cutaway to a fish tank used as an alternative of the offending finger gesture. As Casually Comics notes in its protection of the entire debacle, the controversy gave the impression to be a U.S. factor, with different international locations airing the episode unedited. It does seem that the episode wasn’t included on the unique DVD launch for season 2 of “Batman: The Courageous and the Daring,” however was subsequently added to the season 3 DVD set as a particular function. Nonetheless, the unedited model is offered on MAX and could be discovered fairly simply on YouTube.

It wasn’t fairly as dangerous because the time “The New Batman Adventures” had Batgirl killed by being pushed off a skyscraper and touchdown on the hood of a automotive carrying her personal father, however this type of suggestive musical efficiency was apparently an excessive amount of for some — although within the grand scheme of issues this can be a pretty minor controversy. What’s extra, it is arguably one of many extra memorable moments from “Batman: The Courageous and the Daring,” which is fondly remembered by followers for injecting some enjoyable again into the Darkish Knight’s animated adventures for a quick time.

Now that Bruce Timm has debuted the scariest, greatest, and most mature Batman in years with “Batman: Caped Crusader” it appears these days are lengthy gone. However with James Gunn and his newly-minted DC Studios set to provide a “Courageous and the Daring” film, maybe we’ll see a few of that very same vitality return to DC’s on-screen choices — possibly with much less dialogue of Aquaman’s crotch, although.