Bruce Timm on Origins of 'Risky' Batman-Batgirl Sex Scene in "The Killing Joke"

[eckesg1]

As usual, people are going nuts over something very minute. Is it my cup of tea for Bruce and Barbara to get together? No, I believe she should be with Dick, but I'm not going to weigh this against the countless hours of animation Bruce Timm has made and have it affect it.

I don't even care about this stupid pedophilia thing. She's in college. She's legal.

[sneakyflute]

Jesus Christ. Can you people stop acting like fictional characters and fictional events reflect a person's views? Oh my god. A female comic book character was killed! The author must be a misogynist. Characters are having sex! What a creepy perv!

[Babs]

The Adventures of Batman and Robin episode "Batgirl Returns" had an opening where Barbara fantasizes fighting crime on a rooftop before Batman arrives and they start making out.

Yeah, by Bruce Timm. The DCAU, where Barbara was 18 at the time. That's what's making this whole thing way more disturbing. Bruce Timm was one of the pioneers in de-aging Batgirl to be similar in age to Robin with The Animated Series. That pushes the creepy factor of this whole situation to over 9000.

I mean they can say she's 23 in TKJ or something, but that scene in BTAS is so eerily similar to the sex scene in TKJ that it's pretty damn obvious what was on Timm's mind when he de-aged Babs for BTAS to 18, and wrote her as "having a crush on Batman" in the BTAS writers bible.

[Deadxman]

As usual, people are going nuts over something very minute. Is it my cup of tea for Bruce and Barbara to get together? No, I believe she should be with Dick, but I'm not going to weigh this against the countless hours of animation Bruce Timm has made and have it affect it.

I don't even care about this stupid pedophilia thing. She's in college. She's legal.

Plus wasn't she already legal age when she donned the cape and Robin (dick) was still a child? So who being a pedophile here? and then there's the whole Tim thing in the Akrham universe.....

[eckesg1]

Yeah, by Bruce Timm. The DCAU, where Barbara was 18 at the time. That's what's making this whole thing way more disturbing. Bruce Timm was one of the pioneers in de-aging Batgirl to be similar in age to Robin with The Animated Series. That pushes the creepy factor of this whole situation to over 9000.

I mean they can say she's 23 in TKJ or something, but that scene in BTAS is so eerily similar to the sex scene in TKJ that it's pretty damn obvious what was on Timm's mind when he de-aged Babs for BTAS to 18, and wrote her as "having a crush on Batman" in the BTAS writers bible.

Teenage girls have crushes on older men all the time. My 14 year old niece had a crush on Theo James from the Divergent movies.

Tell you what though, I don't think we're having this discussion if it's Tim Drake and Helena Bertinelli. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[solletaire]

Bruce Timm has fallen very far from grace with this action in my book. I accepted this nonsense in the DCAU because it's basically his version of the DCU, but this is not the DCAU, this was someone else's graphic novel. This was Alan Moore's DCU, and now it's poisoned with Timm's sexual fantasies.

"I don't remember who initially came up with the idea"

....

Attachment 38288


Sure you don't. Mr. Timm, sure you don't.

Attachment 38287

Jeez... What a bad joke. Seriously, it's not even funny.

There was a time when i was a DCAU fan only, and didn't know anything about the comics. Personally now, i thank heaven for people like Gail Simone, Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher, and Hope Larson. People who, maybe in their own way, but treat the character of Barbara Gordon with a certain amount respect, and acknowledge that this character is an icon for a young female audience.
I just introduced my 3 year-old niece to Batgirl through Super Best Friends Forever shorts, and WB recently made her one of the leading characters in a cartoon show made specifically for young girls. How the hell did Warner Bros even allow them to put this into the Killing Joke cartoon without thinking about the character as a damn role model to young girls??

"his 'parental skills' aren't that great"


...nope. nope nope nope nope NOPE!

...I have no words for how god awful ridiculous this is. This is so stupid it actually makes my blood boil. I need to get off the subject before i punch someone.

Mr. Timm if you're reading this, i hope you're happy with yourself. I feel legit sad and disgusted by what you have done. You crossed a line for me and i hope it was worth it for you. Please consider retirement from DC animation.

Well for what it's worth Alan Moore has pretty much disowned The Killing Joke. Even the person who wrote that story hates it, lol.

[lalalei2001]

http://io9.gizmodo.com/the-killing-j...its-1784176711

“There’s clearly an unstated attraction between the two of the characters from the very beginning and I think it’s there in the comics. If you go back and look at the Adam West show, it’s there in the Adam West show,” said Timm. “It’s subtle, but to me it’s always been there.”

In the Adam West show they transferred Batman's affections to Batgirl instead of Catwoman since Eartha Kitt played Catwoman and she was black.

That is not a good thing to be reminded of!

[Babs]

Teenage girls have crushes on older men all the time. My 14 year old niece had a crush on Theo James from the Divergent movies.

Tell you what though, I don't think we're having this discussion if it's Tim Drake and Helena Bertinelli. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Did i mention how disgusted i was when Arkham Knight had the mature Barbara with the "new kid" Tim Drake?

Bruce Timm wrote Barbara with some sort of teenage lust for Batman, and he decided to make her 18 in BTAS. It's not some real life situation. This was thought up by someone. Someone who spends most of his private hours drawing volume upon volume of pin-up art of girls in sexual poses. This Batgirl crush on Batman is the typical alfa-stud power fantasy of a man no woman can resist sexually.

In the Adam West show they transferred Batman's affections to Batgirl instead of Catwoman since Eartha Kitt played Catwoman and she was black.

That is not a good thing to be reminded of!

O, not just that... The fact that Bruce Timm uses the 60's show as an alibi is just laughable. Books like Killing Joke were written specifically to get rid of the "Wham! Zapp! Pow" camp, so acting like this is in any way proper source material for an animated adaption of a book like The Killing Joke feels like someone is seriously grasping for straws.

[Deadxman]

Did i mention how disgusted i was when Arkham Knight had the mature Barbara with the "new kid" Tim Drake?

Bruce Timm wrote Barbara with some sort of teenage lust for Batman, and he decided to make her 18 in BTAS. It's not some real life situation. This was thought up by someone. Someone who spends most of his private hours drawing volume upon volume of pin-up art of girls in sexual poses. This Batgirl crush on Batman is the typical alfa-stud power fantasy of a man no woman can resist sexually.

But Everyone has a crush on batman.

[capNthor]

Lord I miss 90's Batman. In all media, really.

[Nite-Wing]

I don't know how old Babs is supposed to be in this movie but since she's a librarian I can at least assume she's in her mid 20s or older
Adults are still allowed to have sex last time I checked so the controversy seems really pointless
Timm may not have spoke well here references Bruce's parenting skills(really any sort of parental role should not be applied to him) but yeah the complaints really have no merit to them and should be ignored if you don't like the story don't watch.

[kalorama]

Plus wasn't she already legal age when she donned the cape and Robin (dick) was still a child? So who being a pedophile here? and then there's the whole Tim thing in the Akrham universe.....

In every modern version of her origin that I know of, she was already in college when she first became Batgirl. Also, in post-Crisis/Pre-Flashpoint comics continuity, she's also older than Dick Grayson.

[Deadxman]

Did i mention how disgusted i was when Arkham Knight had the mature Barbara with the "new kid" Tim Drake?

Bruce Timm wrote Barbara with some sort of teenage lust for Batman, and he decided to make her 18 in BTAS. It's not some real life situation. This was thought up by someone. Someone who spends most of his private hours drawing volume upon volume of pin-up art of girls in sexual poses. This Batgirl crush on Batman is the typical alfa-stud power fantasy of a man no woman can resist sexually.



O, not just that... The fact that Bruce Timm uses the 60's show as an alibi is just laughable. Books like Killing Joke were written specifically to get rid of the "Wham! Zapp! Pow" camp, so acting like this is in any way proper source material for an animated adaption of a book like The Killing Joke feels like someone is seriously grasping for straws.

actually it was Neil Adams andDennis O'Neil did it. TKJ and DKR was the ones the mainstream caught on

[Deadxman]

Lord I miss 90's Batman. In all media, really.

I miss it too. but to be honest I loved Arnie as Freeze you could tell he was having fun

[ReyMatt]

Norman Osborn and Gwen Stacy having babies doesn't sound so crazy after this...