Batman B&B: Night of the Huntress

[Mr Light]

So last night was the first new episode of Batman Brave and the Bold in what two months? And man what a weird one! It had a) the most ridiculous and childish and stupid villain they have ever done, and b) the most blatant sexual jokes I've ever seen in a kid's show!

First of all the Huntress was in a very sexy outfit, and Blue Beetle spends the entire episode lusting after her, watching her in slo mo sexy shots, and asks Bats to explain the birds and bees to him.

Then there's the part where Huntress (in doggy style) on her motorcycle "flirts" with the phallic Batmobile, then suddenly screams to a halt. The Batmobile's massive tip screams up towards her (still in doggy position) and slids to a halt inches away from her ass. "Oh, so close" she says!

Then there's the bit where she "interrogates" the Calculator. She does something off-screen that gets him to talk, and when we see Calc he's grinning like a pervert with his tongue lolling out.

Then there's the part where they're all tied together and her hands behind her back are just next to Blue Beetle's crotch. Bats tells her to get an arrow and she says "let me feel around"!

And then Bats says "the hammar of justice is uni-sex"!

How did they get away with this stuff

Babyface has definitely got to be my all time new least favorite Bat villain, displacing that girl-woman who was on the Brady Bunch show from those couple of Bat Animated episodes. And his "girlfriend" who is a man-faced bearded woman with a man's voice? *shudder*

And the Batmobile becomes a Transformer robot???

 

[Christopher]

b) the most blatant sexual jokes I've ever seen in a kid's show!

Gee, you must not have seen many kids' shows, then. There was a ton of innuendo in the Timmverse, although mainly in Justice League, which was a primetime show and arguably not aimed at kids.

Then there's the bit where she "interrogates" the Calculator. She does something off-screen that gets him to talk, and when we see Calc he's grinning like a pervert with his tongue lolling out.

I guess you missed the sound effects of a punch and a cry of pain. She was beating him. Although they definitely were playing up the dominatrix angle there.

And then Bats says "the hammar of justice is uni-sex"!

I don't think that was innuendo, just a very bad line.


This episode was worthwhile for finally introducing not just one, but two female superheroes to the B&tB universe. True, we got a couple of brief glimpses of Fire before, but this is the first episode with a featured female hero. And both Black Canary and Huntress could be considered two of DC's major superheroines, thanks to their roles in JLU and the Birds of Prey comic. Plus we get two of the best, sexiest voices in the business, Grey DeLisle as Canary (sounding a bit like Azula at times) and the magnificent Tara Strong as Huntress, doing a type of character I've never heard her do before, but a welcome one. Tara as a vampy dominatrix... now that's worth hearing.

The thing that bugged me was Huntress flirting with Batman. I mean, I know this is Helena Bertinelli, but come on, the original Huntress was the Earth-2 Bruce Wayne's daughter. It's a little creepy. Also, I find it somewhat chauvinistic that when female heroines are introduced, they're defined primarily as being sexy and flirtatious. Maybe that fits the '50s/'60s idiom this show is going for, but it's one aspect of that idiom that shouldn't be faithfully recreated.

On the other hand, I loved the very '40s look of Black Canary's facial design here.

And you know what? If there had been transforming-mecha shows in the 1950s, it's a safe bet there would've been a '50s comic book with the Batmobile becoming a giant robot. It would've been right up their alley.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The thing that bugged me was Huntress flirting with Batman. I mean, I know this is Helena Bertinelli, but come on, the original Huntress was the Earth-2 Bruce Wayne's daughter. It's a little creepy.

Especially because she was wearing the Helena Wayne costume.

Yes, Helena Bertinelli wore the Earth-2 costume in her post-Crisis solo series, but thanks to Huntress: Year One, which shows her starting out in the purple and black full-body suit that she wore in the 90's, I imagine that has been retconned away.

I despise the current Huntress costume, with the bare midriff. It doesn't make any sense at all.

 

[Anwar]

Especially seeing how she started wearing the outfit after the Joker shot her in the stomach. She looks more like a stripper than nearly all other superheroes male and female now.

 

[Christopher]

I despise the current Huntress costume, with the bare midriff. It doesn't make any sense at all.

Agreed, but... do Wonder Woman's star-spangled bathing suit and Black Canary's fishnets make any more sense?

 

[Mr Light]

Wait, Joker shot Huntress in the stomach too? In addition to shooting Barbara Gordon in the stomach and thus paralyzing her? ... Oh yeah, I forgot another hilariously subversive gag in the episode. They say they're at the most evil location in the city.... cut to a Catholic Church/Convent!

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Especially seeing how she started wearing the outfit after the Joker shot her in the stomach. She looks more like a stripper than nearly all other superheroes male and female now.

I thought she was stabbed, not shot. It's been a while, I could be misremembering.

 

[Anwar]

Stabbed, shot. Point stands that it makes no sense given her character's history for her to trade in her total coverage outfit for a stripper-suit.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

I feel asleep during this one. Maybe trying to watch teen Iron-Man before was a mistake (the whole idea is a mistake actually). Teen Blue Beetle makes me wonder "WHY NOT JUST HAVE ROBIN ON THE SHOW?"

Baby face and man-faced woman...terrible villains.

 

[Christopher]

Stabbed, shot. Point stands that it makes no sense given her character's history for her to trade in her total coverage outfit for a stripper-suit.

Well, in real life, sometimes people make decisions that make no sense. For instance, many rape survivors will deliberately continue engaging in the kind of unsafe behavior that left them vulnerable before -- walking alone at night, that sort of thing -- because they don't want to feel controlled by their fear of what happened to them. It's the "get right back on the horse" mentality. So I can see Huntress deliberately choosing to expose the part of her body that was injured before, because she might see the alternative as a surrender to fear. Not very rational, but within the bounds of human behavior.

Which is not to say that it isn't a silly costume.

Teen Blue Beetle makes me wonder "WHY NOT JUST HAVE ROBIN ON THE SHOW?"

Probably because Robin has been done many times before and Blue Beetle has never been seen in animation. This isn't just a Batman or Batman-family show. It's called The Brave and the Bold for a reason. It's a teamup show featuring as much of the DC hero roster as they can get permission to use, with Batman serving as the anchor. And this show has a particular interest in focusing on heroes who haven't gotten a lot of attention onscreen before. That's why we get Guy Gardner and G'nort instead of Hal Jordan, Jay Garrick instead of Wally West, Aquaman and Red Tornado instead of Superman, and yes, Blue Beetle instead of Robin.

 

[ljrashkin]

Teen Blue Beetle makes me wonder "WHY NOT JUST HAVE ROBIN ON THE SHOW?"

Probably because Robin has been done many times before and Blue Beetle has never been seen in animation. This isn't just a Batman or Batman-family show. It's called The Brave and the Bold for a reason. It's a teamup show featuring as much of the DC hero roster as they can get permission to use, with Batman serving as the anchor. And this show has a particular interest in focusing on heroes who haven't gotten a lot of attention onscreen before. That's why we get Guy Gardner and G'nort instead of Hal Jordan, Jay Garrick instead of Wally West, Aquaman and Red Tornado instead of Superman, and yes, Blue Beetle instead of Robin.

Actually, Robin is in the episode after next.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Teen Blue Beetle makes me wonder "WHY NOT JUST HAVE ROBIN ON THE SHOW?"

Probably because Robin has been done many times before and Blue Beetle has never been seen in animation. This isn't just a Batman or Batman-family show. It's called The Brave and the Bold for a reason. It's a teamup show featuring as much of the DC hero roster as they can get permission to use, with Batman serving as the anchor. And this show has a particular interest in focusing on heroes who haven't gotten a lot of attention onscreen before. That's why we get Guy Gardner and G'nort instead of Hal Jordan, Jay Garrick instead of Wally West, Aquaman and Red Tornado instead of Superman, and yes, Blue Beetle instead of Robin.

Actually, Robin is in the episode after next.

And Hal Jordan was actually on the show.

 

[Christopher]

^Yes, I know. I wasn't talking about presence or absence, just about the show's choice of emphasis.