History HarsherInHindsight / DCAnimatedUniverse

** Creator/JeremyPiven voicing the ComicBook/ElongatedMan, given both ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'' revealed that Ralph's wife Sue was raped by Dr. Light and the allegations of sexual assault levied against Piven.

*** The interactions of Joker and Penguin inside Penguin's night club, The Iceberg Lounge, in "Joker's Millions" become this in one of the [[AllThereInTheManual "Arkham Stories"]] during ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'', where they were on much harsher terms (and Penguin murdered and stuffed Joker's hyenas).

*** Yet another one episode worsened by ''Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker'' is "Joker's Favor". Charlie Collin's HeroicHeelizationSpeech is ''horribly right'', because Batman will not be the one who brings out Joker's demise. Instead, Joker is killed by a Jokerized Tim Drake, who Joker had intended to shoot Batman.
---> '''Charlie Collins:''' You're not getting caught. Not this time. I found ''this'' blown out of the van. (''reveals a Joker bomb'') This is how it ends, Joker. No big schemes. No grand fight to the finish with the Dark Knight. (...) Kinda funny. Ironic, really.

** In "The Man Who Killed Batman", the Joker doesn't believe that Batman seemingly died for good and tries to prove the rumors wrong by staging a jewelry store robbery. When the Caped Crusader fails to show, Joker becomes so depressed that he orders his henchmen to put the jewels back in their proper place, and then holds a funeral with a genuine heartfelt eulogy of how Batman completes him. After the sudden passing of Creator/KevinConroy in 2022, Creator/MarkHamill mourned the loss of his close friend and later announced that he won't play the Joker anymore as he no longer has his Batman to play against.
-->'''Joker:''' "Without Batman, crime has no punchline."
--> '''Mark Hamill''': "They would call and say, 'They want you to do the Joker,' and my only question was, 'Is Kevin Batman?' If they said yes, I would say, 'I'm in.' We were like partners. We were like Laurel and Hardy. Without Kevin there, there doesn't seem to be a Batman for me."

*** The scene where Bruce visits his parents' grave is an extra twist of the knife when you think of the DC Rebirth storyline ''ComicBook/TheButton'', in which his father ([[{{ComicBook/Flashpoint}} from another timeline]]) tells him personally to stop being Batman and find happiness. The end of Tom King's run on ''ComicBook/BatmanTomKing'' makes it worse as [[spoiler:The Thomas of ''Flashpoint'' is the final villain in a BigBadDuumvirate with Bane and tries to force Bruce to quit, resulting in Alfred's death by Bane's hands. Additionally, in the ''Batman'' tie-in for ''Flashpoint'', Martha (who became that reality's Joker) was DrivenToSuicide when Thomas informed her it was supposed to Bruce who became Batman.]]

** The finale of "World's Finest" has the Joker firing missiles on multiple buildings, sending them crashing to the ground.

** In one episode, Adam Evans insists on using fireworks for his concert despite the warnings from his crew about using them on a small stage. When the fireworks goes off, they end up setting the place on fire. This became a whole lot harsher when the Rhode Island nightclub "The Station" got set on fire in February 2003 during a Great White concert, and killed at least 100 people, due to a combination of polyurethane insulation and the band's use of pyrotechnics on a smaller then normal stage.

-->'''Steve:''' I wish we had more time. I love you.

* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueVsTheFatalFive'' sees Batman complain to Miss Martian that he doesn't want to work with teenagers because of their lack of experience. In response, Miss Martian reminds him of Robin (Tim Drake), to which he concedes to. Let us not forget of the guilt he will carry over [[WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker what will happen to Tim while on duty in the near future...]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'':
** The Jokerz are a gang of youths inspired by ComicBook/TheJoker to commit crimes, including murder. Well, we ended up getting a real life example with the infamous [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Aurora_shooting shooting massacre of a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado in 2012]] -- and the theater was showing ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''.
*** Speaking of which, the concept of a gang dressing up as clowns to terrorize people may seem silly at first, but come 2016, there have been [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_clown_sightings numerous complaints of clowns scaring people]], to the point where they are being arrested.
*** Adding to the bizareness of the aforementioned creepy clown fad, there's now [[https://www.yahoo.com/movies/man-dressed-as-batman-is-chasing-off-frightening-clowns-in-north-england-165511813.html a man dressed as Batman chasing some of them]]. This seems to have escalated to LifeImitatesArt.
** Music/HenryRollins playing a quasi-suicidal {{mad bomber}}, after he severely hurt his reputation in 2014 with an article where he viciously insulted anyone who commits suicide, in response to Creator/RobinWilliams doing it (and while he was currently on [[WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra a show]] with Williams' daughter Zelda, to boot).
** King [[spoiler: completely [[AbusiveDad forsaking Melanie/Ten (as well as hitting Jack]] for even [[BerserkButton mentioning her name]]) and cheating on his wife in "King's Ransom," unfortunately reflects on his voice actor Creator/GeorgeLazenby's marriage problems with tennis player Pam Shriver in August 2008 that led to a bitter divorce and custody battle that involves Lazenby's alcoholism and violence towards his young children according to the court evidence brought on by his eldest daughter Melanie]].
** The episode, "Last Resort", became much more relevant and frightful in current times since the ongoing controversy over teenage rehabilitation camps with series of mistreatment and question methods on its clients.
** During the earlier Batman series, Dick, Barbara and Tim were all excited and eager to join the "Bat Family". Even going as far as to continue to fight crime despite Bruce pointing out several times that the life of a crime fighter is both dangerous and taxing. Forty years down the road, all three blame him for all their suffering, even claiming Bruce "manipulated" them into joining the fight on crime. Harsh...
** The hints of a past relationship between Bruce and Barbara were enough for viewers to react with {{Squick}} and NoYay. The film adaptation of ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheKillingJoke'' [[spoiler:takes their relationship up to eleven with a {{Narm}} sex scene]], which earned the film a great deal of negative criticism for prioritizing {{Fanservice}} over characterization.
** Stephen Collins voiced a Villain of the Week who kidnaps his own teenage daughter for himself is more chilling considering the revelation of his real-life repeated statutory rape crimes he has committed. Also, the fact he plays an estranged family member that is driven to commit crime by the separation is much more wincing due to ugly divorce proceedings with his ex-wife Faye Grant that lead to said crimes being made public.
** ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'':
*** The shootout in the nightclub is this, given the Orlando nightclub shooting.
*** [[spoiler:What Tim goes through here in the flashback, given that the backstory for ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' has Jason Todd go through the same thing and end up assisting the Scarecrow in, what is for all intents and purposes, a terrorist attack on Gotham.]]

** In "The Laughing Fish", The Joker tries to have his Joker Fish copyrighted, and the patent guy tells him he can't copyright food. Twenty years later, Monsanto wants to do ''just that''.

!!''Franchise/DCAnimatedUniverse''
* In general:
** The usage of [[https://dcau.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Buffyverse_actors_in_the_DCAU cast members from]] Creator/JossWhedon productions in voice acting roles on the DCAU shows such as Creator/NathanFillion and Creator/AmyAcker on ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' becomes uncomfortable in hindsight as Whedon would take over directing from Creator/ZackSnyder on ''Film/JusticeLeague2017'' for reshoots, but was reported on Twitter for being an abusive and unprofessional PrimaDonnaDirector by Cyborg's actor Ray Fisher.