10 Jokes In Old Superhero Movies They Wouldn't Get Away With Now
Even the Man Who Laughs wouldn't chuckle at these poorly-aged stinkers.
Whether you consider it to be a natural evolution of social civility or the domain of political correctness run amok, there's no denying that there were things you could get away with in film years ago that you simply can't do today.
The examples are myriad -- like that embarrassing yellowface performance Mickey Rooney put on in Breakfast at Tiffany's -- but they're not always so poisonously overt. Hell, a half-dozen scenes from Blazing Saddles would never make it to film these days.
Oddly enough, though, a fair number of superhero films also contain some ill-considered attempts at humor lurking in the script.
Sure, the modern films have some questionable moments -- like Loki calling Black Widow a "mewling quim" in the first Avengers movie, or Tony Stark joking about invoking "prima nocta" if he gets to rule Asgard in the second Avengers film -- but those scenes have got nothing on some of the "gags" that made it past the censors in years past.
Remember the hookers fawning over the Batmobile in Batman Forever? Or the moment in Blade when Deacon Frost called Blade "Uncle Tom"?
Now you're getting the idea.
So strap your capes and grab your Bat-scuba mask from your utility belts. We're diving into the deep end of bad examples of superhero comedy.
10. The Batwoman And The Mouse
We're going way back for this first one, back to 1968 when all sorts of cinematic attempts to cash in on the popularity of Batman, thanks to the delightfully tongue-in-cheek TV show of the same name.
Not to be confused with The Wild World of Batwoman, The Batwoman (aka La Mujer Murcielago) features a frequently bikini-clad Batwoman who battles evil and finds time to wrestle on the side.
Although proven to be a credible fighter throughout the film, when confronted with a half-fish half-man monster at the film's climax, she screams and faints.
She does go on to defeat the creature and end the mad scientist's diabolical scheme, but instead of being allowing her to celebrate her victory, the film instead ends with her being scared by a tiny mouse and being laughed at by her two male companions. "Women, amirite fellas?"
Ugh.