Warner Bros. reportedly almost made the directors of, the recently released animated movie, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies remove a joke which was at the expense of the studio's critically maligned 2016 film Batman v Superman.
The mickey-take of Batman v Superman takes place midway through Go! To The Movies and features Robin touring through the Warner Bros. studio - where the two iconic heroes are battling it out. Bats and Supes play out the infamous "Martha Moment" wherein the characters basically make up over the fact that their mothers both have the same name. However, in the animated movie, the teasing Titans reinitiate the fight by reminding the heroes that their fathers don't, in fact, have the same names.
Co-director Aaron Horvath told Entertainment Weekly, "They did not care for our Batman v. Superman Martha joke." Peter Rida Michail, the film's other director, added "That one in particular was on the chopping block for months. Our executive producer Sam Register was fighting hard for that one, and right at the end of it they let us keep it."
It's for the best that the joke ended up making the cut as the film's essential premise is to make fun of typical superhero movie tropes. The jokes come at the expense of both DC's previous cinematic endeavours as well as, surprisingly, their competitor Marvel Comics.
Horvath later added, “We’re making a comedy movie and if you get a laugh, it’s like, do you want to be the guy who cuts laughs out of the movie?”
What do you think of the directors' comments? Did you care for the Batman v Superman joke?