Any comic book fan knows the Justice League. Led by the holy trinity of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman, the heroes of DC comics formed to battle world-ending threats and save the universe on a daily basis. From supernatural threats from other dimensions to galactic warlords bent on adding Earth to their empire or even artificial intelligence looking to learn all of Earth's knowledge before destroying it forever, the Justice League has put themselves in front of the most dangerous foes in the world in order to protect the innocent. They are the heroes the world looks to in times of crisis, and they are shining beacons of hope and virtue. However, when we start to look at how the heroes are represented in the animated world, there are several instances of inappropriate conduct.

The animated cartoons often bordered on the line between adult and childhood cartoons. From innuendos from heroes like The Flash or villains like Harley Quinn, to dramatic moments of inappropriate conduct and even secret pregnancies that have fan favorite heroes becoming sudden parents. It's a messed up and mature world that bleeds into the childhood wonder of animation that you would never in a million years expect to find.

So come along on this journey as we throw on our capes and head to the watchtower, where we will look at the twenty-five most inappropriate moments from DC animation. Some cartoons are more mature than others, but you are bound to be shocked at these revelations...

25 An Awful Joke

The Joker is definitely the most twisted, sick, and evil, character in comic book history. His villainy knows no bounds, and to him, the line does not exist. He has no problem shaming or humiliating his foes, and has been known to enjoy degrading heroes and allies of his nemesis Batman. In the animated film, The Dark Knight Returns, the Joker comes back to terrorize Gotham after spending years in a coma. In his war that brings Batman out of retirement, he kidnaps Selina Kyle, the now older Catwoman. When Bruce finds Selina however, the Joker has terrorized her in a horrifying way. He has undressed her and put her into a revealing Wonder Woman outfit while tieing her up. Thankfully Bruce saves her before she can be physically harmed, but the psychological and emotional trauma is unknown and very inappropriate to see unfold in an animated film.

24 Fastest Man Alive

While the CW has helped audiences around the world come to know and love Barry Allen, aka The Flash. The Scarlet Speedster has seen a dramatic backstory filled with lost parents and time-traveling foes, bent on his destruction. However before the show became a hit, the hero had a much more comic approach in the Justice League cartoon. The character was definitely the class clown type of hero, shown as often the behind of the joke and taking serious world ending events not too seriously.

She jokes that this might be the reason he can't get a date

While his character grows into a shining example of heroism later in the series, he's had some uncomfortable moments. In the original Justice League cartoon, the Flash introduces himself to Hawkgirl, and proudly proclaims he is the fastest man alive. She jokes that this might be the reason he can't get a date, which confuses the hero until he sees the joke she made and gets upset.

23 Wildcard

DC comics fans know the twisted romance between Batman villains The Joker and Harley Quinn. The relationship has always been filled with the Joker's manipulations, abuse and toxic romantic views. However, the obsession for Harley hasn't always kept the couple together. While the Joker often leaves Harley behind to escape the clutches of Batman, there have been moments where Harley's been pushed too far and decides to branch out away from his toxic reach.

In the animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham, there is a scene where Deadshot returns to his room after having been prepared by The Penguin for the Suicide Squad's mission into Arkham. When he gets to his room, he finds Harley Quinn, celebrating her break from The Joker by shedding her clothes and enticing Deadshot into bed for some grown-up activities. At first, he resists but eventually relents and the two share a rough night of passion.

22 The Savage Prey

Some of the cartoons in DC animation features the incredible female heroes in the Justice League. Besides Wonder Woman, there are several incredibly strong, powerful female heroes that can dominate the action in any scene. However, some cartoons have been known to underutilize and show the female heroes in inappropriate situations. In the show Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Huntress, Black Canary, and Batgirl (the Birds of Prey), are caught on stage in front of a group of mobsters, and must improvise by singing a song together. However despite some censoring, the song was very suggestive, with lyrics like "Flash’s foes, they finish last. Too bad sometimes he’s just too fast!” “Aquaman’s always courageous, his little fish, less outrageous!” “Plastic Man can expand, becomes putty in our hands.” “Batman throws his Batarang, what a weapon, what a bang. He’s always right there for the save, I’d like to see his secret cave…” Yikes!

21 Need A Ride?

The days of DC animated shows were so popular back in the day that the shows managed to spawn sequels. From the early days of Batman: The Animated Series to the Justice League and more, the animated television shows dominated the comic book industry for years. One show managed to build upon the success of the original Batman cartoon series and showcase a future in which a new Batman would be needed. However, the future was proven not to be free of inappropriate content in a children's show. In the show Batman Beyond, the character Nash asks Bobbi if she'd like a ride. She assumes he's talking about his car and complains he likes the car more than her. He responds with a "who's talking about cars?" This line is very suggestive and although reruns were censored to have the line taken out, the original airing had this joke and it can be found in DVD box sets.

20 Pie Time

The first time we meet the infamous Harley Quinn was in the original Batman animated series. Her story of being a Joker obsesses psychiatrist who turns herself into a villain to gain his affection became the stuff of legend. While intended to be a children's show, her obsession led Harley into some very murky and suggestive waters that bordered on inappropriate and mature content.

In this next example, we see what happens when her obsession with the Joker leads her to a need for some alone time with him. One of the most suggestive moments from Batman: The Animated Series, has to be when Harley rises out of a giant pie, covered in white cream and sings to the Joker in a Marilyn Monroe type of voice. She then asks the Joker if he wants some of her pie and that he'll definitely want seconds.

19 Vroom!

Innuendos are not an uncommon thing in cartoons. However, seeing the combination of a children's cartoon with beloved comic book characters makes the use of innuendos a bit strange and sometimes unsettling. When you're a child these jokes can fly right over your head, but as an adult, you start to notice the inappropriate jokes that were included, and it changes everything. In Batman: The Animated Series, Harley Quinn becomes the subject of suggestive material once more when the Joker comes to their hideout and finds her wearing lingerie. He's preoccupied with his plots against Batman, and she's upset he won't spend time with her. She then crawls onto a bed next to him and asks him, "don't you want to rev up your Harley?" Obviously, Harley is another name for a popular brand of motorcycles, and the revving up phrase can be used for both a motorcycle and a suggestive grown-up stuff.

18 Batman DNA

Something you never really stop to think about as children but later realize as adults is what happens to the cartoon characters you love to watch when they grow up. Do they go on to have families or stay in a solitary life of heroism? In the one-off episode of Justice League Unlimited and Batman Beyond, an episode found an older Terry (Batman Beyond) questioning an elderly Amanda Waller about his connection to Bruce Wayne (Batman).

Bruce became Terry's biological father

She goes on to admit that when the Justice League were in their prime, she noticed Bruce getting older and knew that the world would always need a Batman. So she took some of his DNA from a battle scene and used her connections to arrange his DNA to be implanted into Terry's father, rewriting his "genetic material" to be Bruce's rather than his father's. Therefore Bruce became Terry's biological father. Wow, that's twisted.

17 Subpoena

The Harley Quinn moments of innuendos continue in this next example. Part of Harley's story in the original Batman cartoon show was about finding ways to break the Joker out of prison. So often the Joker would force Harley into these strange and unusual schemes to get him back into Gotham to unleash his unique brand of villainy and chaos. However, some prison breaks were more unusual than others. In an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, Harley dresses in her civilian clothes and poses as a lawyer to get into Arkham and break the Joker out of prison. While there she runs into Harvey Bullock, and when he asks if he's seen her before, she responds that she once served him a subpoena. She goes on to elaborate that it was a small subpoena, making a reference to his body. We'll let you decide what she meant.

16 Robin's Stamina

Another popular romantic pairing in the comics was Dick Grayson and Starfire, two of the original members of the Teen Titans, an off-shoot of the Justice League. A group of former sidekicks and teen heroes turned full-time heroes themselves, the romantic couple found themselves battling threats both galactic and earthbound. However, their romance was not only limited to their working relationship but translated into some very grown-up situations.

This is quite an innuendo

In the animated film Teen Titans: Judas Contract, Starfire asks Dick Grayson, (Nightwing), to help her demonstrate a combat simulation. When he's defeated, she lands on top of him and compliments him for lasting much longer than last time. The rest of the group laughs, but she defends him by saying she meant combat, and that when they have relations he lasts a long time. This is quite an innuendo about some over-the-top content the two heroes partake in.

15 Who Needs Men?

Probably the most recognizable female hero in DC comics is Wonder Woman. Besides her groundbreaking solo film last year and being portrayed by the incredible Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman is one of the most iconic heroes in DC comics. The story of Wonder Woman includes her childhood and young adult life being spent on an island of Amazons, an all-female society dedicated to the Greek gods. The island has a no man policy, and stepping into man's world certainly brought some reservations for Wonder Woman. In an early episode of the Justice League show, Wonder Woman and Hawkgirl must work together after a virus affects all men in the world. Wonder Woman talks about her disdain for men and mentions that they aren't essential to life after Hawkgirl complains about living in a world without men. Hawkgirl's response is "don't knock it till you try it."

14 Metamorpho

One thing that the Justice League show did a great job of doing was introducing heroes and characters that were not as well known outside of the comic books. From Hawk and Dove to Vixen, the animated series saw some of the comic books most underappreciated and cool characters in the DC universe. However, some of their portrayals on the show are not always so honorable. In an episode of Justice League, Green Lantern John Stewart must find out what happened to his friend Rex Mason. A former Marine, Rex is exposed to a chemical experiment that turns him into a creature able to morph into anything. Before that, however, we meet Rex on a train. Despite being engaged to Sapphire Stagg, his boss's daughter, he starts the episode ogling at a female train attendant and commenting "now that's service" as she walks away, him staring at her the whole time.

13 Fanning The Flames

There were some episodes of the cartoon shows that saw villains with similar powers team up to face the Justice League together. However, it seems that anytime a male and female villain were paired up together, some sort of innuendo needed to be made. I'm not sure what the reasoning behind using these innuendos in a children's cartoon was, but it happened far more often than we ever realized.

A primarily children's show should not have had these jokes

In a Justice League episode, villains Volcana and Firefly fight the league. When Firefly pulls out his flamethrower to fight, Volcana mocks him for how small the weapon is. He replies, "wait till you see how I use it." This is a highly suggestive innuendo about the male anatomy if I've ever heard one. While one would expect that these innuendos may show up in adult animation or the comic books, a primarily children's show should not have had these jokes.

12 Creepy Van

The Justice League version of the Flash was definitely a lot different than the more modern Barry Allen or even the comic book version of the character. As we previously discussed, the hero was definitely much more humorous and cartoon based than any of the other heroes. However, he also seemed to display some other traits that were less than desirable. For one, he had a lot of greed. Also, he had a weird way of dating women. When The Flash starts cashing in on merch deals in an early episode of Justice League, he shows off a Flash Van that he bought with his money to Green Lantern. The van is very much a bachelor pad looking van and Green Lantern asks "why do you even need a van? Never mind, don't tell me." With the creepy ambiance, it's definitely implied the Flash is using it to spend some alone time with women he meets. Yikes.

11 Lantern Troubles

One of the most honorable and serious characters in the original Justice League cartoon was John Stewart, aka the Green Lantern. The mantle of Green Lantern went to a lot of different heroes, but John Stewart was definitely one of the most serious and goal oriented heroes. He was military trained and adapted to the Lantern Corps with much more ease than the adventure seeking Hal Jordan.

The Flash is there as well and thinks she says "impotence"

However, even John was not above some inappropriate jokes, even if he was the subject of said joke. In an episode of Justice League, John Stewart loses his abilities as a Lantern after trying to rescue his former mentor and romantic partner Katma Tui. She agrees to retrain him so that he can reconnect with his power ring and end the Emerald impudence. The Flash is there as well and thinks she says "impotence", shouting the word out loud for everyone to hear before awkwardly running away.

10 Wonder Woman Travel

One of the more undersold heroes of DC comics was The Atom. The DC equivalent of Marvel's Ant-Man, The Atom has garnered more attention nowadays thanks to Brandon Routh's take on the character in the CW's Legends of Tomorrow. However back in the day, the heroes first big break in the cartoons was when he teamed up with the Justice League to stop an alien invasion, and his means of getting to the heart of the problem was a lot more personal than you may think. In the Justice League Unlimited episode Dark Heart, The Atom is tasked with stopping an alien invasion that utilizes nanotechnology. In order to stop them, Wonder Woman must fly the miniaturized hero into the heart of the alien horde. She carries him in her hand until she needs both hands to fight. Then she tucks the hero into her cleavage. Yeah, that's a little strange to see unfold in an animated show.

9 Sparring Match

The cartoons sure did like exploring infamous romances on the shows despite being heavily geared towards children. In the later seasons of the Justice League show, the cartoon started to incorporate other heroes outside of the original lineup. This included the budding romance between street level heroes Green Arrow and Black Canary. Their romance is well-known in the comics but started to heat up in unusual ways in the cartoon.

To get his help she flirts with him

In the Justice League Unlimited episode "The Cat and the Canary", Black Canary learns Wildcat is caught up in an underground fighting ring and asks Green Arrow for help. To get his help she flirts with him, asking him if he'd like to go a few rounds with her if he's done with the punching bag. She clarifies she meant sparring, but he flirts back, saying sparring would be good too, implying that he is interested in some alone time with her.

8 Got A Question

One of the most unusual pairings in the cartoon series has to be between the Huntress and The Question. These two heroes are definitely more in line with the anti-hero moniker. They had their own brand of Justice, focused more on exposing the truth and taking out villains in a more permanent way than the larger than life heroes like Superman. In Justice League Unlimited, the relationship between The Question and Huntress is a long-running plot point. The two League members who run a little outside the law, Huntress is shown being flirty and suggestive towards The Question often. She once calls him while on a mission, playfully asking what he's wearing. He, of course, lists all his clothes, which she replies that he's no good at this. She then takes a data drive he's desperate to analyze and stuffs it down her pants, using it to entice him into a date.

7 Promise

One of the long-running stories behind the Justice League involves the romance between John Stewart and Hawkgirl. Two of the founding members of the League, a betrayal separates the two heroes for a while, and in that separation, John meets and falls for another hero, Vixen. Despite his feelings for Hawkgirl, John moves on and tries to forget her by dating the supermodel turned hero Vixen, and their relationship is a lot more innuendo filled than you could imagine.

Indicating she wants him to do things to her with his ring

In an episode of Justice League Unlimited, John Stewart finds himself ambushed. Always ready for a fight, he puts his ring into attack mode until he sees it's his new romantic interest Vixen who's ambushed him. He asks her if she knows what he could do to her with his ring, to which she playfully replies "promises, promises", indicating she wants him to do things to her with his ring. Wow...

6 Dress To Impress

John Stewart isn't the only one to try to move on in the romance with Hawkgirl. In the later episodes of Justice League Unlimited, Hawkgirl meets Carter Hall, who will later become Hawkman. Before that, however, they strike up a romance and she meets him for their first date wearing a beautiful dress. John Stewart, her former flame, is stunned to see her, as is Carter. The next day when they are on a mission, Carter remarks he misses her dress, to which she replies, "you didn't miss it last night." This implies the two shared quite a passionate night together. It's quite a laid back, simple, yet powerful implication that makes grown-up encounters much more laid back and real than you could imagine. Especially in a children's show, you wouldn't imagine an innuendo like that showing up, to begin with, let alone watching it unfold in such a casual way.