Former Batman actor Val Kilmer weighed in on the passionate debate about Batman performing oral sex on Catwoman that went viral earlier this week.
The topic of Batman's preference for the sexual act had hearts racing online when the co-creator for the adult animated series Harley Quinn, Justin Halpern, said DC Comics cut a storyline involving Batman performing cunnilingus on Catwoman.
DC's reasoning was "heroes don't do that."
DC asked the #HarleyQuinn team to remove a scene from Season 3 in which Batman performs oral sex on Catwoman. Why? "Heroes don't do that" \n@justin_halpern @PMSchumacker \n\nhttps://variety.com/2021/tv/features/subverting-superhero-tv-wandavision-harley-quinn-umbrella-academy-1234992069/\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/jMOC2J6H22— Joe Otterson (@Joe Otterson) 1623692760
Kilmer—who was Michael Keaton's successor as the Dark Knight in Batman Forever—became the first Batman to comment on the superhero's sexual debate.
He tweeted a GIF of himself as Batman and teased:
"Does he or doesn't he...?"
Does he or doesn\u2019t he\u2026?pic.twitter.com/oGVfqf0tUx— Val Kilmer (@Val Kilmer) 1623862898
While his tweet was vague enough for interpretation, the GIF of his Batman telling Nicole Kidman's Chase Meridian—"We could give it a try. I'll bring the wine"—suggested the superhero might consider "going downtown" on a female companion.
And fans ate it up.
Something tells me he does pic.twitter.com/nNgUaa4nqr— Roderick Hare (@Roderick Hare) 1623864418
Yuppic.twitter.com/06aXJZNqm8— Leo Russo (@Leo Russo) 1623863135
pic.twitter.com/cCinhofk8A— Barnaby Jones (@Barnaby Jones) 1623901439
Yes he does...pic.twitter.com/1DdCl8QeUT— The Coastal Bend Spider-man (@The Coastal Bend Spider-man) 1623876047
Riddle me this and diddle me that.— Courtney Enlow (@Courtney Enlow) 1623865258
And Val Kilmer wins Twitter todaypic.twitter.com/iH4Uc0Fy9z— murph (@murph) 1623863682
I believe Val Kilmer Batman can and would do anything asked of him and then ask for morepic.twitter.com/qEl7onXnvr— Lonan (@Lonan) 1623864999
Of course he doespic.twitter.com/L5FKAblUNx— Jedi Nate Rider, \u2764\ud83e\udde1\ud83d\udc9b\ud83d\udc9a\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9c he/they (@Jedi Nate Rider, \u2764\ud83e\udde1\ud83d\udc9b\ud83d\udc9a\ud83d\udc99\ud83d\udc9c he/they) 1623893744
HBO Max's Harley Quinn pushes the envelope when it comes to graphic violence, profanity-laden dialogue and sexual activity depicted in the popular animated series.
But DC Comics draws the line when it comes to heroes performing certain acts in the bedroom.
Earlier this week, Halpern told Variety, "It's incredibly gratifying and free to be using characters that are considered villains because you just have so much more leeway."
He continued:
"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'."
