Warning: Spoilers for Poison Ivy #23!
Summary
After years of doubt as to where her allegiances lie, DC confirms thatHarley Quinnis no hero. Quinn’s independence from the Joker has culminated in a redemption arc forthe former Cupid of Crime. However, the harder she leans into heroism, the harder it actually becomes to distinguish whether she is truly a hero or a villain.
InPoison Ivy#23 by G. Willow Wilson and Haining, Harley Quinn makes it clear which side of the hero-villain fence she lies. When both of her lovers,Poison Ivy and the human that almost broke them up, Janet from HR, are in danger,Harley chooses to save Ivy instead of the defenseless human, something that a real hero would never do.
While the choice that Harley makes isn’t heroic by any means, one can argue that the fact that she’s actively choosing not to be a hero is the best option for her: it’s certainly true to character, especially when the choice she’s actually making is to save her beloved girlfriend, Poison Ivy.
Harley Quinn Officially Calls Out the #1 Problem with Every Superhero in History
With a therapist’s perspective, Harley Quinn has some notes for the heroes of the DC Universe: maybe some more therapy, a little less punching?
Harley Quinn Is Officially NOT a Hero
She Turns Her Back on Someone Who Needs Saving
A love triangle has developed between Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Janet from HR,who manages to have separate affairs with both women without either knowing about their partner’s escapades. Meanwhile, Poison Ivy has her hands full with the return of Professor Woodrue,Poison Ivy’s equivalent to the Joker. As the Floronic Man, Woodrue traps Ivy and her friends in a swamp where they are attacked by zombies thatPoison Ivy regrettably unleashed. To their rescue — in the nick of time — comes Harley Quinn.
From the moment she enters the battlefield, Harley Quinn makes it clear that she has one thing on her mind:saving Poison Ivy. She hacks and slashes through each zombie in her path just to get to Ivy, until she hears Janet calling out her name. Janet’s been trapped in Ivy’s swamp lair alongside Killer Croc and Solomon Grundy.Janet from HR pleads for help, but Harley tells her that she’ll need to waituntil she helps Poison Ivy first.
Understandably, Janet is devastated and, of course, still in danger and at risk of dying due to Harley’s negligence. Croc tries to comfort Janet. Seconds before abandoning her to help Grundy, Croc reminds her thatHarley"ain’t a hero - none of us is.She’s gonna save the one she loves. Everything else comes second.“As if Harley Quinn refusing to help a citizen in distress wasn’t bad enough, she later proceeds to use the flamethrower on Jason Todd’s Batbike to burn Woodrue into soot.
Harley Quinn Has a History of Flip-Flopping
Harley Quinn has struggled for years to earn her redemption.She’s taken steps to show that she genuinely wants to change, but old habits seem to die hard. Sometimes, Harley wants to do the right thing and is actively trying to do the right thing, but because she spent so long doing the wrong thing as a bad guy, evil is too ingrained in her by nature to choose the more positive option. Case in point: as recently asDC’s Spring Breakout!#1 one-shot, she breaks herbest friend on the Suicide Squad, King Shark, out of prison in the short story “Field Trip” by Joey Esposito, Vasco Georgiev, and Jame.
Harley Quinn tries her best to be on the side of good, and in her mind, more often than not, she thinks she’s doing good.
Harley certainly thinks she’s doing a good deed by giving her Suicide Squad pal a present for his birthday, but breaking an infamously murderous villain out of prisonisn’t the option that the ideal hero would make. Neither is what Harley does inPoison Ivy#23. In Harley’s mind, she is prioritizing her forever love, and that choice could be noble, but she turns her back on a citizen in need to save a superpowered individual who not only is capable of protecting herself but who is questionably “evil” herself.
It’s no wonder thateven the Justice League questionswhether Harley is a real hero or not. Turning her back on a citizen when she is begging for help is not something that a hero does, and this sceneimmediately rules Harley Quinn out of any real hero conversationsfor the foreseeable future. Harley Quinn tries her best to be on the side of good, and in her mind, more often than not, she thinks she’s doing good. But thinking good and doing good are two completely different things. Then again, maybe trying to think heroically is exactly where Quinn’s gone wrong.
There’s Still Hope for Harley Quinn’s Role as a Hero
Harley Needs to Work on Her Heroism
While Harley Quinn’s actions in this issue disqualify her for any hero considerations for now, that doesn’t mean that she’ll be locked out of the hero gates forever. Whether she’s a true hero is a true conundrum, but Harley Quinn herself is a true conundrum. She hasn’t had the cleanest transition from villain to hero, largely because she doesn’t have the tidiest headspace for heroism. Considering all the evil that she has committed,it was never going to be easy for the character or her various creative teams to convince audiences that Harley Quinn is hero material.
Audiences may have trouble calling her a hero or a villain, but one thing they can always call her is Harley Quinn.
With that said, that fence-sitting almost makes it fitting for Harley Quinn to not fit neatly into a hero box — or even a villain box — becauseHarley Quinn herself doesn’t fit neatly into any box. She’s one of a kind, and she’s also as complex as they come. Audiences may have trouble calling her a hero or a villain, but one thing they can always call her is Harley Quinn. When readers remember Harley Quinn’s earliest arcs in her efforts to become a hero, the key is that she’s alwaystriedto be a hero.
But What Does Harley Quinn Want for Herself?
Does Harley Want to Be a Hero to Others?
Like the audiences and critics at home reading her comics,Harley Quinn had an idea of what the ideal superhero was in her mind and was painfully aware that she did not fit that mold. This idea is highlighted best during the beginning arcs of Stephanie Phillips and Riley Rossmo’s run on theHarley Quinntitle — specifically the first issue, where she’s reprimanded by citizens judging her as a villain despite her new lease on life. She’s actively trying to be a hero but isn’t being praised or recognized for her efforts, which eats her up inside.
Though Harley Quinn tries hard to do good, it doesn’t yield favorable results. Alternatively, whenHarley Quinn simply acts like Harley Quinn, doing what she thinks feels right in her heart, she proves capable of saving the world. Again, it’s complicated, because when she’s trying to be a superhero, she fails at being a superhero, but also when she’s just trying to be herself, that’s when her hero potential shines. She’s going to need to fine tune herself to reach her full potential, but at her best,Harley Quinnis something greater than a hero or villain.
POISON IVY #23 (2024)
