10 Most Inappropriate Batman Storylines

8. Ugly = Bad - The Ugliest Man In The World

Batman The Animated Series Batgirl
DC Comics

Going way back to 1940 and Batman #3, the overarching message of one of the issue's stories is that those who aren't viewed by society as classically beautiful are bad people who wish to do bad things.

Said story is titled The Ugliest Man in the World, and the villain of the piece is a fella called Larry Larrimore. In case you hadn't guessed, Larry isn't viewed by the masses as being a particularly handsome or dashing sort. The origin story of Larrimore is that he likes to commit crimes because... well, because he's ugly.

Even though Batman and Robin do eventually end up showing sympathy towards Larry by the end of this tale, The Ugliest Man in the World is a ham-fisted, offensive mess. To add more to the uneasiness of the story, Larrimore's hired goons are all evil due to suffering from congenital iodine deficiency syndrome. For those wondering, yes, that is indeed a very real medical condition - with this story framing those dealing with this issue as clearly being no-good bad guys.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.