15 Most Inappropriate Batman Storylines Of All Time

8. Bubble Boy Torture And Racial Stereotyping

Apart from women, children and dogs, one of the most marginalised groups in comic books are black people. Well, actually, mostly anybody who isn't white, but especially black people. Stereotypical depictions of other races were so rife that it inspired a particularly cutting satirical in-house memo over at Marvel. DC were doing their level best to be just as awful, introducing characters like Sonik who (obviously) was born in a Metropolis ghetto and dressed like an extra from Breakin'. Or possibly Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo. His name come from the fact that he was an engineering whizz, inspired by stereo speakers, who rejigged the tech into so he could eavesdrop from a distance, scare people with loud sound effects and muffle his own noises to sneak up on people.

Yeah, he harnessed a boombox as a weapon. As if Sonik himself wasn't inappropriate enough then his one big storyline, another issue of Worlds Finest - albeit from the eighties this time - certainly is. It starts with Superman and Sonik teaming up to, erm, bodyguard a Michael Jackson analogue called Marlon Monroe, whilst Batman is tracking down a villain that's poking holes in the plastic bubble worn at all times by a kid with a cornucopia of lethal allergies. Which is a pretty nasty plot in the first place, and that's before you get to the part when the Dark Knight gets his racial profiling game on, instantly accusing Sonik of being the dastardly bubble-poker behind the crimes. Which he isn't FYI. Nice one, Bats! World's greatest detective, huh...