DC Animated Universe/Radar

Did those two... The censors actually let this through?

A list of them is available here.

Batman:TAS

Batman: The Animated Series tended to use Censor Decoys, and quite a bit ended up getting through (makes you wonder about the stuff that got cut):

• At the end of "Last Laugh", Bruce Wayne walks out onto a reflective marble floor, in an extremely short robe.
• "The Underdwellers" has a LOT, similar to Mad Love but with reference to parental abuse. But when the Sewer King gives his monologue about no one taking the kids in, he chucks a little girl's chin while talking about people hurting them, and the girl looks away. Batman touches the same girl's shoulder when furious over the children's treatment.
• Harley Quinn slowly emerges from a gigantic pastry, singing a Marilyn Monroe-esque Happy Anniversary song, and invites the Joker to "try some of [her] pie". Uh, sure.
  • To top that off, though, during the song, she kicks the cherry on top at the Joker's chest.
  • It gets worse. Joker kicks her out and dogs start licking her, while she's on all fours.
  • In the same episode "Beware the Creeper" the Creeper is very, very interested in Harley. After he chases her through Gotham, this exchange occurs - complete with suggestive eyebrow wiggling!

Harley: "You're agile, I'll give you that."
Creeper: "And what else will you give me?"

• • Or the fact that at the end of the episode, Creeper gets tranquilized by Batman and passes out with his face in Harley's cleavage. Censors? What censors?
  • Don't forget her asking Mr. J if he wanted to "rev up his Harley". Though this apparently was the censored version!^[1] (The sexiness of her posture being the issue.)
• In one episode involving Harvey Bullock having a murderous stalker after him, Batman and Bullock check out what is explicitly stated to be a crackhouse. This troper is still amazed a kid's cartoon got away with a reference like that, since even special episodes of TV shows normally don't name any drugs explicitly.
  • Harvey got another getting crap past the radar moment of glory - in the episode that introduced Harley, when Harley walks in disguised as a cop, Bullock isn't fooled - his reaction to her makes it pretty clear he thinks she's a police-themed stripper.

"The entertainment is here!"

• • • Bullock's toothpick gives us another nonsexual one as well...the way he uses it makes it fairly obvious that he is either an ex-smoker or still smokes offscreen.
      • Might explain why he's constantly eating...or he might just be a glutton.
• In the Superman/Batman crossover episode "World's Finest", when asked by the Batman on where the Joker was, a henchman answered with, "I dunno, making ha-ha with Harley Quinn!"
• In "Cat Scratch Fever" when Selina tells the catnappers to stop she's told to "kiss off", and the delivery makes it pretty clear what it was supposed to be.
• In the episode "The Man Who Killed Batman", Harley poses as a lawyer for Sid the Squid in order to break him out. When Harvey Bullock says that she looks familiar, she replies, "I think I served you a subpoena once. It was a small subpoena."
• In the episode "Legends of the Dark Knight", a group of kids are relating their stories about Batman, all of which are alternate takes on the Dark Knight. As they walk along a sidewalk,they encounter a long-haired, somewhat, er, effeminate boy in a violet shirt who is wrapping a mannequin's feather boa around himself. He mentions that his favorite things about Batman are his muscles and tight rubber armor, which he declares to be "Fabulous!" He also claims that the Batmobile can drive up walls. The other kids roundly dismiss his statements as silly, and they keep walking.
  • The kid is named Joel. He's standing in front of a sign that says "Shoemaker". The whole scene is a Take That directed to Joel Schumacher, director of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, infamous for putting nipples on the bat suit. (Schumacher is also openly gay.) This little scene is so close to character assassination it's amazing it got through, and that it never resulted in a lawsuit or the like. It is, however, mind-blowingly funny.
  • Not surprising. Joel is openly gay and obviously has a wicked sense of humor, so the man was almost certainly amused to the point of ROFL when it was pointed out to him. Besides, a man who slips nipples onto the Batsuit two movies after Catwoman was crooning about hard rubber "musculature" while running her fingertips up and down said suit will appreciate "tit for tat" for what it is.
• The episode "The Ultimate Thrill" features the villain Roxy Rocket, a former stuntwoman who commits crimes for the thrill of the chase. During the final scene, she and Batman are playing chicken on a rocket racing for a canyon wall. All the while, she is gushing over how Batman is the perfect man for giving her so much excitement. As the rocket crashes and they both seem to be plunging to their deaths, she screams out "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" in a manner very reminiscent of orgasm.
  • She makes similar cries through the chase. It doesn't help that her straddling her rocket while facing Batman adds to the image.
  • Speaking of images, this freeze frame says it all.
• In one episode, Joker said to Harley and Ivy, "haven't you been busy little beavers"; this actually made it in, but at the last second and changed the word to "bees".
  • And there's at least one episode where the two are walking around wearing nothing but a T-shirt and (maybe) panties each.
    • Same episode, see the picture. They spend much of that scene talking about how men are worthless. Was the radar even on here?
• Also, in the episode "Holiday Knights", Harley and Ivy are seen hiding in a seedy hotel room - that only has one, rather narrow bed.
  • On top of that, Ivy eventually pushes Harley back flat onto the bed (with a pillow to her face) as Harley repeatedly says the word, "Please." Granted Harley's initial request was for a Christmas tree but if you walked in a few seconds later...
• One of the sweetest and funniest things of the whole series was Ivy going over the albums from her recent marriage that she'd arranged (seemingly quite happily)... and half the album was full of shots of Harley in her work clothes.
  • They've had a few Word of Gays.
• In The Mask of the Phantasm, Joker greets an old crime accomplice by taking him on a monorail ride. After the Joker puts the mafioso in the cart, he warns: "Now hold on to your hat and watch the valuables, it's going to be a bumpy ride. Mheheee!" As he mentions the word "valuables", he slams the cart's safety bar right down there. Ouch.
  • Not to mention Bruce and Audrea's later Cut Away after kissing followed by Alfred's Eyebrow Reaction and crowned with a Sexy Shirt Switch.
    • To be fair the movie was rated PG back when the PG rating actually meant something so it probably wasn't getting crap past the radar so much as taking the opportunity to do stuff you couldn't normally do, also including a higher level of violence that would (somewhat) make its way back into the show, and repeated aversions of No Smoking.
  • Let's not forget the fact that The Joker, hiding out in a World's Fair exhibit, is clearly about to have sex with a robot 'housewife', before being interrupted by the Phantasm. Who he then proceeds to beat down with a large salami.
• The Joker's Eulogy for Batman... just before dropping the man that killed him into a vat of acid. Surprising as all hell that they allowed a death like that into the show.
  • Except that, because the episode starts with a Framing Story, where Sid is explaining to Rupert Hawthorne everything that happened, you actually know beforehand that Sid isn't going to get disintegrated.
• Also, from the above clip, The Joker refers to Sid as a "weaselly little gunsel". As was pointed out on the Censor Decoy page, "gunsel" isn't too far off from "Uke".
• The entire episode of Mad Love - never before has an abusive relationship been shown so well, and on a cartoon no less!
• In the episode "Riddler's Reform" a girl asks Edward Nigma, in a sultry voice, "Mr. Nigma, can you show me how these work?" and holds up two ball-shaped walky talkies. Eddie blushes.
  • Even before that, when said girl approaches, the Riddler stares at her and a very soft "boing" sound can be heard.
• I think the text below this screencap sums it up quite nicely.
• In the episode The Terrible Trio, after being caught by Batman, the ring-leader of a gang of idle rich heirs boasts about how his wealth and family name will let him get off easily. The episode ends with a fade to black as the ring-leader (who is a bit of a pretty boy) is locked in his cell... and is visibly "checked out" by his big burly cellmate.
• In "Love Is A Croc", Killer Croc leaves his hideout to hang out with a couple of young women, who, judging from their choice of fashion, may or may not be hookers.
• "Feat of Clay" has Teddy, Matt Hagen AKA Clayface's "best friend" who is very devoted to him, physically comforts him, and after finding out Hagen can change shape says "We can go one!". Not to mention when Clayface yells at him, it's very similar to a domestic argument.
• An aversion, or possibly a subversion: Dini and co. wanted to use Firefly during the series's run on Fox, but the network's censors refused to greenlight an episode with a pyromaniac villain. Firefly appeared in the tenth episode after the series moved to the WB.

Batman Beyond

• Batman Beyond had a seemingly ghostly presence inhabiting the girls' locker room, playfully messing with them in the shower area mainly by turning the water on and off. Their depiction with towels and head-wraps was one thing. But later, when Terry hears of it, he comments about how he wishes he'd thought of being invisible (the Batsuit has a cloaking device) in the girls' shower.
• In the episode "Disappearing Inque", the shapeshifting villain Inque has promised a reward to Aaron, the lonely security guard who freed her from prison (voiced by William H. Macy). After they steal some mutagen Inque needs to restore her full powers, Aaron reminds Inque of the promised reward. Before he can voice his request (it turns out to be a dose of said mutagen), Inque proceeds to ooze out of her clothes and asks, "Here? Now?"
• In the episode "Hooked Up", a groupie asks a rock star for his autograph; as she tells him, "You can sign me anywhere you want," she begins to lift up her shirt.
• In "Golem":

Nash: I'm sick of the mall. How 'bout a ride?

Blade: You like that car more than me.

Nash: Who's talking about cars?

• Also from the same episode:

(Terry and Dana are dancing together and are about to kiss, when she suddenly backs up)
Dana: "Oh, no..."
Terry: "Sorry!"

Dana: No, look! (points to a fellow student arriving soaking wet)

• Or in the very first episode...

Chelsea: (knowingly) You've never wrestled with him.

• The episode "Eggbaby": At the end, where the teacher quips, "Who knew that [Terry] would make such good father material?" the look Dana shoots him suggested more baby making than baby raising.
  • The look Terry makes in response solidifies this. You can hear him mentally screaming "Oh jeez she wants a real one?!"
• During the first appearance of the Royal Flush Gang, the gang attempts to rob a gathering of super-wealthy socialites. King's main weapon is a specially forged broadsword and when he confronts his victims, one of them responds by fetching a rapier.

Socialite: "Mine's bigger."
King: * sigh* "All the money in the world and not an ounce of refinement."

• In the episode "Terry's Friend Dates a Robot", when Howie takes his robot girlfriend Cynthia into a room to calm her down (after she starts shoving anyone who talks to Howie), Blade quips: "Where you two going? Private party?"
• Terry and the Ten. They kiss. Then they fall on Terry's bed. And the camera pans away...

Superman: TAS

• Superman: The Animated Series was a pretty big offender.
• During "The Main Man, part 2", where Lobo says, as Superman leaves him behind, that he's going to kick Superman's "big red S".
  • Really? And you don't say a thing about how, when Lois first meets Superman, the first thing she says is "Nice 'S'!"?
  • In the same episode, Lobo describes how he and Supes would be tied down and tortured, and throws in an aside how it would be enjoyable under other circumstances.
  • In a different episode, Parasite reaches to grope Livewire -- ostensibly to absorb her powers. But the whole scene, complete with Livewire shouting, "I said no!" comes off like a creepy rape metaphor, but the Media Watchdogs allowed it anyway.
    • Hell, Livewire had a Double Entendre pretty much every third line.
    • In the same episode, Superman's solution to combat both Parasite's skin to skin power stealing powers and Livewire's electric powers is a (clear) full body latex body suit. Livewire's reaction: "Ooh, the boy scout brought protection!"
    • Well, the Boy Scout motto is "be prepared."
  • In another episode, when Luthor is unveiling a new weapons system that unexpectedly fails, Lois heckles him: "What went wrong, Lex? Premature product launch?"
  • The second episode: young Clark informs Lana Lang about how he is seeing through things, she askes if he's looked towards the girls locker room.
  • In still another, Lois and Jimmy are digging through a pile of plush toy monkeys and squeezing each one in an attempt to find one that will play a particular song to calm down Lois' rampaging giant pet chimp, Titano. Jimmy expresses doubt that they will ever find the correct toy; Lois snaps, "Shut up and keep squeezing the monkeys!"
    • this Troper thinks that was more of a Shout Out to Wizard Magazine which at the time had a reocurring character named Keep Squeezin Them Monkeys Lad
  • Similarly, creepy villainess Granny Goodness once spouts the line: "You naughty little monkey! Granny will spank you good!"
    • To get the full Nightmare Fuel effect, realize that Granny is voiced by Ed Asner...
  • Mr. Mxyzptlk's wife Ms. Gsptlsnz is so blatantly sex-on-legs that the radar must've just given up on her. She has a Jessica Rabbit figure and hair, sultry voicing, and apparently spends her days lounging around the 5th dimension in a Bare Your Midriff shirt and unzipped Daisy Dukes. It comes to a head in a scene in "Mxyzpixilated" where, attempting to distract Mxyzptlk from his crusade against Superman, she gives what can only be described as a Power Perversion Potential Fetish Fuel montage, changing her look to, in order, a Femme Fatale, a Sexy Schoolgirl, a pin-up inspired sailor outfit, a frilly bikini, a cheerleading outfit, a tropical dancer, a Betty Grable swimsuit, a bathrobe-bra-and-panties combo, then finally nothing but a towel.
  • In the episode "Where There's Smoke", Volcana tries to sell some nautical memorabilia by stating that a whistle "was touched by the President's lips", to which her fence dryly responds "What wasn't?"
  • Two in "My Girl". First, Lana Lang, dressed in an expensive dress with a diamond brooch, is surrounded by journalists. One asks "Lana, are the jewels real?" to which she replies, in a flirty tone: "Everything's real, boys." Later, Superman is trying to warn Lana about Lex Luthor. She says "...I know how to handle Lex. I know how to handle most men, in fact. It's only Clark Kent I've ever had any trouble pinning down."
    • And there was a part where Lana goes "And I like powerful men."
  • This troper would like to present you all with a page from the DCAU Wiki titled simply "List of Sexual Innuendos and Double Entendres in the DCAU."
  • In Livewire, Lois Lane is doing a live radio interview with the titular pushy DJ, who continually drops hints that she suspects Lois is in a relationship with Superman. Livewire's next line is muffled when the shot cuts outside the building, but you can still quite clearly hear her asking whether Superman's PJ's also have a big red "S" on them.
  • In Legacy, Superman has been brainwashed into believing he is Darkseid's son and Apokolips' greatest champion. After returning from conquering a planet:

Lashina: (hugging Kal) This calls for a celebration! (Kal looks at his "father" nervously)
Darkseid: Kal, savor the fruits of your victory, son. You've earned them. (The Female Furies drag Kal offscreen, while Kalibak growls and clenches his fist in jealously)

• • • This is compounded when Lashina refers to Superman as "lover" and "boy-toy" during a later encounter after Superman has escaped the brainwash.
• In "Fish Story", Luthor orders his men to kill Aquaman, remarking that he is simply "protecting my assets." A few minutes later, as they hear his men being beaten soundly by Aquaman, Lois remarks, "Sounds like your assets are getting kicked."

Justice League

Can be found here.

Batman the Brave And The Bold (not officially part of the DCAU)

• Wonder what the Birds of Prey would sound like doing a swing number about the sexual inadequacies of the DCAU's superheroes? Behold!
• Starting about a minute in, I know they're saying "seamin'", but with the, erm, "spraying" imagery it sure sounds like something else...
• The very first episode showed a comedian doing the end of The Aristocrats.

Young Justice (also not officially part of the DCAU)

• When Artemis runs short on arrows while fighting the Injustice League, she invites the wrath of Rule 34:

Artemis: "Ugh. I feel so naked... and not in the fun way."

• Artemis strikes again in "Bereft". When the memory-wiped Kid Flash thumps his chest for emphasis, his costume turns off stealth mode, going from black back to yellow. He gets distracted and starts pushing his chest insignia to play with the suit's stealth function. Artemis responds thusly:

Artemis: "Stop touching yourself!"

1. ↑ Bruce Timm admitted the original line was "ride his Harley!"