It was touch and go for a while with the fate of the animated Harley Quinn show, but the series was renewed for another season last September. Not much is known about the next season aside from it focusing on the new romantic relationship between Harley and Poison Ivy that was cemented in the second season.
Showrunners Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker gave a few hints at what the next season would focus on, such as digging "deeper into Ivy [Poison Ivy] and her life" and exploring the corruption in the GCPD through Jim Gordon.
However, in a recent interview, Halpern mentioned one thing that won't be included next season.
BATMAN: A GENEROUS LOVER
In an article from Variety about superhero television shows that subvert the genre, Justin Halpern and Patrick Schumacker, the two co-creators and executive producers of the adult animated series Harley Quinn, were featured.
Both producers have said that DC has been remarkably supportive of their series and letting them push what they can do with the characters and setting.
Halpern said that “It’s incredibly gratifying and free to be using characters that are considered villains because you just have so much more leeway,” but it's a different story when it comes to the heroes.
One instance of this was when DC vetoed "a moment where Batman was going down on Catwoman" due to the company needing to "sell consumer toys for heroes:"
“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.’”
INCONSISTENT STANDARDS FROM DC
This seems to be another cultural example of violence being widely more accepted than sex which is still seen as too risque for companies, even when it's only implied.
While it may seemingly be fine to depict countless evil versions of Superman blasting people in half and Batman violently murdering dozens of criminals with his car, DC could think that it would be too much to allude to the Dark Knight performing cunnilingus on Catwoman.
It's even weirder when the animated adaptation of The Killing Joke included an implied sex scene on a rooftop between Barbara Gordon's Batgirl and Batman which was incredibly controversial with fans. This was not only because of Bruce Wayne being at least two decades older than her but also her being his best friend's daughter.
So, maybe that spooked DC from having Batman doing anything remotely sexual in the future, or perhaps it's due to the recent changes in management at the company.
Regardless, it's a little weird to exclude such an act in a show that's clearly a more humorous and adult interpretation of the characters.
