8 Times Superhero Movies Pushed The Boundaries Of PG-13

1. Joker's Disappearing Pencil Trick - The Dark Knight

Spider-Man Kirsten Dunst
Warner Bros.

Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy was full of pretty dark moments, but right at the top of the list is this early scene from The Dark Knight in which the Joker (Heath Ledger) does some magic for Gotham's criminal underworld. 

When threatened by one of Gambol's (Michael Jai White) thugs, the Clown Prince of Crime sticks a pencil into the table, and promises to make it disappear. He makes it vanish all right - straight through the eye-socket of the hapless henchman after he slams his head down on the table after it. 

The scene is blackly funny, and you don't actually see anything in graphic detail - but at the end of the day, one character brutally murdered another by stabbing him through the skull with a pencil... in a PG-13 Batman movie. 

"TADA! It's... gone".

What other superhero moments pushed the limits of PG-13. Head down to the R-rated comments section and share any we missed.

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Freelance writer/editor/reviewer. Resides in Ireland, where it rains 11 out 12 months of the year, and the grumpy bastard wouldn't have it any other way. He has a passion for all things film and comic related, and also dabbles in amateur film making, screenwriting and photography.