Why One Iconic Batman Villain Never Appeared In Batman: The Animated Series

The beloved Batman: The Animated Series included much of Batman’s iconic rogue’s gallery, but one villain was absent – at least in the DC show’s original run. Originating as a series that would market Batman Returns following the game-changing success of 1989’s Batman, Batman: The Animated Series grew well beyond its original role of marketing the live-action films and became one of the most widely-appreciated Batman adaptations, in addition to kickstarting the eventual DC Animated Universe. As comprehensive of a Batman adaptation as it is, not every element of Batman’s comic lore made it into the animated series.
The animated Batman series includes what many viewers consider to be among the best iterations of numerous Batman characters. In addition to the iconic performances of the late Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as the Joker, respectively, the show also reimagined Mr. Freeze, granting him a new and tragic origin story that made its way into the comics and further iterations of Freeze. Interestingly, one villain was originally set to appear in Batman: The Animated Series, but was absent from the show’s original iteration.
Fox Wouldn't Allow Batman: The Animated Series To Use Firefly The original Batman: The Animated Series adapted the often-dark subject matter of Batman’s comic mythos, but the series was forbidden from crossing certain lines. Extreme violence, alcohol, breaking through plate glass, and face-punches, and other subject matter were prohibited from being shown in the series, and Firefly’s pyromania, naturally, prevented him from appearing in the original series. Batman: The Animated Series cleverly worked around these rules, but its successor series was allowed far more freedom.
Batman’s censorship made it difficult to depict the Joker’s murders, yet the series ended up making his signature Joker venom far more horrifying by showing its effects without its victims explicitly dying.
Firefly Made His Debut In The New Batman Adventures Instead Two years after its conclusion, Batman: The Animated Series was succeeded by The New Batman Adventures. While the censors at Fox Kids were stringent about what was allowed and not allowed in Batman, The New Batman Adventures aired on Kids’ WB, whose censors were far more lenient. This allowed Bruce Timm and Paul Dini to finally bring Firefly to the DCAU, with Lynns appearing in two episodes and later reappearing in the DCAU Justice League series.
The more lenient censors also resulted in The New Batman Adventures being a far darker series than its predecessor. The Joker could be shown explicitly killing people, fistfights were far more violent, and oftentimes the episodes themselves often had far darker narratives than before. Fascinatingly, the original Batman: The Animated Series is seen by many as more memorable than its successor, even with its stricter censorship rules, yet without the network change, the DCAU’s Batman would never have battled Firefly.


[圖擷取自網路，如有疑問請私訊]