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On Tuesday, the anti-gun opponent of Josh Hawley in Missouri became the second example of a Democrat humiliating himself with firearms.On Tuesday, the anti-gun opponent of Josh Hawley in Missouri became the second example of a Democrat humiliating himself with firearms.Holy creative bankruptcy! New 'Batman' to battle lady Penguin
Amazon Prime's new Batman cartoon has gender-swapped the villain named the Penguin to a woman, with the creator saying the change was inspired by a drag queen and numerous musicals.
"Batman: Caped Crusader" is an animated series produced by Bruce Timm, co-creator of the highly-successful "Batman: The Animated Series" that ran from 1992 to 1995.
Timm and executive producer James Tucker told the Emmys that they felt there was a lack of "good villains" in the show and, more specifically, not enough female antagonists.
'The idea that Batman lacks female villains is preposterous and insulting. ... It's clear this was just a cheap gender swap meant to demoralize Batman fans with in-your-face feminism.'
"James and I were talking about the overview of the show, and we said, 'One of the problems with Batman, as he is, is there's a lack of good villains. You've got Catwoman, you've got Poison Ivy, you've got Harley Quinn. But it would be really good to have more female villains,'" Timm said.
Timm continued, "Off the top of my head, I said, 'We never really could figure out exactly what to do with the Penguin, what the gimmick for the Penguin would be. What if we gender-flip the Penguin?'" he asked.
Tucker said he found the notion instantly inspiring. "I was thinking of Marlene Dietrich in her tuxedo and 'Cabaret' the musical and the art form of cabaret, and I just started drawing. I instantly got a flood of ideas. Also, I was thinking a little bit of Harvey Fierstein and 'Hairspray' and Divine."
Pop culture news site Bounding into Comics posted photos of the new Penguin — essentially the same as the 1990s character but with added makeup and lipstick.
That Park Place editor in chief John F. Trent called the character change a "cheap" swap that lacks originality.
"Bruce Timm created Harley Quinn with Paul Dini in the '90s. He could have created a brand-new character if he wanted," Trent scoffed.
"The idea that Batman lacks female villains is preposterous and insulting. There are plenty, such as Poison Ivy, Talia al'Ghul, Lady Shiva, and more. It's clear this was just a cheap gender swap meant to demoralize Batman fans with in-your-face feminism," he added.
Strangely, producer Tucker said that the idea for the new series was essentially a recreation of the 1990s production, but inverted.
"The mission statement for the show in general: to do something that harkened back to the original, but flip it," Tucker said.
The isn't the first time a significant change in the Batman universe faced widespread criticism.
In 2023, a DC Comics insider revealed that the company had planned to replace the Dark Knight with an all-new, black Batman. Plans for the permanent switch were allegedly scrapped when retailers predicted the change could decrease sales by as much as 75%.
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'Folk say the show has become woke': Harry Shearer mocks being replaced by black actor for Dr. Hibbert on 'The Simpsons'
Iconic actor Harry Shearer poked fun at being replaced by a black actor for one of his voices on "The Simpsons," stating his replacement is doing an impression of a white guy doing an impression of a black actor.
During a recent interview, Shearer commented on the famous cartoon possibly becoming "woke" after he and other actors who were a different race than the characters they played on the show were replaced.
Producers of the show announced in 2020 that any white actors would no longer voice any nonwhite characters from the show after a documentary was released criticizing the character of Apu. Apu's voice, Hank Azaria, apologized for his role in contributing to "structural racism" and stepped down from portraying the Indian character.
"Folk say the show has become woke in recent years and one of my characters has been affected. I voiced the black physician, Dr Hibbert, who I based on Bill Cosby," Shearer told the Times.
"Back then he was known as the 'whitest black man on television.' Then, a couple of years ago, I received an email saying they'd employed a black actor, who then copied my voice. The result is a black man imitating a white man imitating the whitest black man on TV," he added.
Dr. Hibbert was one of many characters that had the voice actors replaced along racial lines. The changes also included the voice of Judge Snyder, police officer Lou, and one of Homer's best friends and coworker Carl. Even background characters like Dr. Hibbert's wife and Julio Franco had their voices changed. The latter was also a character of Azaria's.
In 2021, creator Matt Groening said he welcomed more "diversity" on the show but said it wasn't his idea.
"It was not my idea, but I’m fine with it. Who can be against diversity? So it’s great," he told USA Today. "However, I will just say that the actors were not hired to play specific characters. ... They were hired to do whatever characters we thought of. To me, the amazing thing is seeing all our brilliant actors who can do multiple voices, do multiple voices. That's part of the fun of animation. However, to be more inclusive and hire more people, I’m completely in favor of that."
In his recent interview, Shearer promoted his new song "Must Crush Barbie," which was performed as his character from the cult classic movie "Spinal Tap."
The 1980s mockumentary followed a fake British band that was incomprehensibly dense. Shearer noted that Oasis band member Liam Gallagher thought it was real.
Shearer added that his new single "may offend some people but I don’t care. If I had to choose to be stuck in a lift with Barbie or Donald Trump it would be a tough call. I’m not sure who is the worst."
The actor also jokingly said that he has two dogs but doesn't want kids.
"Unlike Elon Musk’s view, I don’t think the world needs more babies."
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'Just another word for shapeshifter': X-Men creators scold fans over 'nonbinary' character for Disney+ reboot
The original creators of "X-Men: The Animated Series" defended a recent change for the Disney+ reboot of the show in which one of the characters has been remodeled as "nonbinary."
As Blaze News previously reported, a shapeshifting character named Morph was reimagined as a "nonbinary" person for the Disney+ iteration of the show called "X-Men '97."
"This is a lighter take on the character, who is nonbinary and has an interesting buddy relationship with Wolverine. The character's past with Mister Sinister, the show's villain, could also come into play," former Executive Producer Beau DeMayo stated.
This caused an uproar from fans as Morph's entire look was changed for the new, nonbinary direction, looking rather alien-like in the latest version of the show compared to how he was originally portrayed as a generic male character in the 1990s cartoon.
Creator Eric Lewald, his wife and writer Julia Lewald, and director Larry Houston spoke about the controversy, largely defending the change by claiming being nonbinary is the same as being a shapeshifter.
"For me, the word ‘nonbinary’ is the same as the word ‘shapeshifter,'" Houston said. "Every character that can change from one gender to another, or from human to animal, that’s just another word for ‘shapeshifter’ for me," he told Variety.
"He attacks Wolverine, his closest friend, in the most dramatic way by turning into Jean Grey and putting his hand on Wolverine’s neck and leaning in for a kiss," Eric Lewald said. "That’s as nonbinary as you can get. It’s Morph turning into a woman and coming onto Wolverine to freak him out. It was all there in Morph’s character. Now it’s become such a social thing that I think people will be more sensitive to how it’s used. That’s the only difference. We didn’t see a problem in reading him and didn’t feel he was any different," he added.
Julia Lewald chose to scold fans who took issue with the change:
"Did we teach you people nothing? Were you not watching?" she asked. "Did we not figure out how to be nice to each other and how to get along? It’s very odd to feel like we are still dealing with the same issues that we were dealing with 30 years ago. It’s painful," she explained.
Voice actor Lenore Zann took a similar tone and stated that the "message needs to be spread throughout the world right now."
"I hope we can bring hope to people and to children so they can look to the future and go, 'I have a place in this world. I belong, and it’s OK to be different.'"
If X-Men '97 is the "next day" - then really why does Morph look radically different? Look, he's right here, not looking odd at all:— (@)
Aside from fan controversy, the show has dealt with internal issues leading up to the reboot's launch. DeMayo, the aforementioned former executive producer, was fired a bit more than a week before his project premiered.
Marvel had no comment on the matter and DeMayo went silent taking his Instagram account offline, the Hollywood Reporter noted.
While no official reason for his departure was known, speculation swirled around his consistent controversies. In 2023, he reportedly announced he was deleting his Twitter account after coming under fire for allegedly whitewashing a character named Sunspot, a Brazilian who appeared to be tan in earlier versions.
DeMayo faced criticism for casting actor Gui Agustini in the role, even though he is Brazilian.
DeMayo, who is also reportedly a gay black man, allegedly posted shirtless photos of himself online and operated what has been described as a non-explicit account on the site OnlyFans, which is known for pornography.
Morph's character design for 'X-MEN '97' by Amelia Vidal.— (@)
Nonetheless, Morph was an iconic character as he appeared in the very first episode of the original cartoon and is the only character to undergo such a drastic reimagining.
In addition to complaints of other character-model tweaks, the show has likely had far more controversial moments before its launch than it should; however, this could, of course, translate to a greater number of eyeballs.
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