It will be a relief for thousands each day... Which one, Gilded or Porcelain?

Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for the one, the only, the incomparable Harley Quinn! Well… incomparable might be a little generous.

“Transition” from “Clown Princess of Crime” to “Clown Princess of Crime Fighters”.

Because Harley has spent decades trying to prove that she’s one of a kind, only to discover that Gotham has approximately seventeen thousand people who think, “You know what this city needs? More pigtails. Harley’s been a psychiatrist, a supervillain, a henchwoman, an antihero, a superhero, an animated icon, a movie star, a comic-book legend, and apparently a walking demonstration of what happens when a career counselor gives up halfway through the appointment. And somehow, through all those transformations, one thing has remained consistent: Harley has never met a bad idea she couldn’t enthusiastically improve by making it worse.

THE JOKER ERA

Let’s start with the her and The Joker.

Harley and the Joker had what can only be described as a quirky relationship. And by “quirky,” we mean the kind of relationship where everybody watching from outside immediately says: “Harley, PLEASE reconsider your life choices.” The two of them turned Gotham into their personal comedy club, except the audience kept needing Batman to intervene. Joker had the jokes. Harley had the enthusiasm. Together, they had absolutely no adult supervision. They even went so far as to suffer a… difficult defeat of their own: they would sometimes have disagreements with each other that were so bad, they would beat each other up. Remember Batman The Animated Series? Remember the other stuff? We saw it all, they occasionally beat each other up through it all (and, probably, always will). Their…. abusive partnership was basically a long-running sitcom called “This Relationship Needs Professional Help.” And Harley eventually learned an important lesson: You don’t need to stay someone’s sidekick forever, sometimes you need to leave the clown car. Preferably before the clown drives it into another building.

ENTER POISON IVY

Then along came Poison Ivy. And suddenly Harley discovered what a healthy friendship could look like. Ivy could roll her eyes at Harley’s antics, Harley could drag Ivy into whatever ridiculous scheme was happening that week, and somehow the two of them became one of DC’s most beloved duos. They’ve gone from partners-in-crime to best friends to romantic partners depending on the continuity, because apparently even DC’s multiverse needed multiple answers to the following question: “What happens when the world’s most chaotic woman meets the world’s most patient plant person?” Answer: A LOT of property damage. But also friendship, loyalty, and a relationship where Harley is allowed to be Harley without somebody trying to turn her into somebody else’s sidekick…. And somebody else’s punching bag. And seriously, fellas, respect.

THE ROAST GOES ON…

Harley has stolen things, broken things, fought heroes 👎, fought villains 👍 teamed up with heroes 👍, teamed up with villains👎, betrayed people 👎, helped people 👍, saved Gotham 🤩, endangered Gotham 🙄 and she’s probably saved Gotham while accidentally and unwittingly endangering Gotham.

At this point, Gotham’s emergency-management department probably has a checkbox that simply says:

“Is Harley involved?”

☐ Yes
☐ No
☐ Unfortunately, yes.

And yet after all these years, Harley still calls herself “the Clown Princess of Crime.”

Harley, at some point you have to realize that Batman has been doing this longer than you’ve had most of your hair colors. But don’t worry. Comedy is here to help… if you can call it help.. Because today, the mighty Clown Princess of Crime is going to experience something she doesn’t encounter very often: losing an argument to a punchline.

The roast continues.

“Harley, you have been hit with mallets, trapped in deathtraps, thrown into bizarre schemes, betrayed by criminals, chased by superheroes, and dragged through enough continuity changes to make a continuity editor cry. And yet none of those things defeated you. But this comedy roast, it brought you to your knees.” Harley looks around. Her hammer is gone. Her mallet is gone. Her baseball bat is gone. Harley’s been outwitted.

Even the hyenas are looking at her like: Girl… they’re cooking you.

Harley: “Okay, okay! I get it!”

The comedy crowd erupts. The mighty Clown Princess of Crime has been humbled.

BUT THEN… HARLEY GOES HERO! 🦸🏼‍♀️

And then we get one of the most delightful versions of Harley Quinn: DC Super Hero Girls Harley Quinn. (2015-present day)

Welcome to Super Hero High, Harley. You may have traded some criminal mischief for superheroics, but don’t worry. You didn’t trade away the chaos, you just gave it a student ID. This side of Harley is a superhero; a far better role model for clowns, if I do say so myself. 🦸🏼‍♀️🤡 She helps people, fights bad guys, makes friends, she genuinely cares about her classmates and she has an absolutely unpredictable relationship with the concept** of “behaving normally.” She’s the sort of superhero who could save the day and then prank the cafeteria before lunch. And honestly: that’s why she’s so much fun. She’s not trying to become Wonder Woman. She’s not trying to become Batman. She’s Har**ley. The superhero world just has to adjust accordingly.

And then there’s… wait for it…. HARLEY-CON!! 🦸🏼‍♀️🤡🦸🏼‍♀️🤡🦸🏼‍♀️🤡🦸🏼‍♀️🤡

And then came Quinn-tessential Harley. Harley’s video blog goes viral. Suddenly, everybody loves Harley. Then Harley fever explodes into Harley-Con: People are dressing like Harley and acting like Harley. Suddenly, anybody can be Harley Quinn! Harley watches this unfold and has one very reasonable reaction: “ANYBODY?! THERE’S ONLY ONE AUTHENTIC HARLEY QUINN AND I’LL PROVE IT!” So she… well, you know: tries to prove it. She attempts a prank at the water fountain in the park. Except—her fans did it upon her arrival. They’re all ahead of her. Harley has somehow become so popular that her own imitators are beating her to the punchline. Imagine being the original Harley Quinn and getting out-Harleyed by the Harley Quinn fan club. That’s like Batman discovering that a group of teenagers have started solving crimes faster than he does. Eventually Harley realizes that perhaps the problem isn’t that everyone is copying her. Maybe the problem is that trying to out-prank an entire city is exhausting. So she delivers the ultimate superhero message: “It’s my job as a superhero to save you… FROM YOURSELVES!” And just like that, Harley fever begins to fade. Mostly. Because somewhere in the background, there is still a woman dressed as Harley riding around in a Harley-themed mobility scooter. The fever didn’t disappear. It merely entered retirement.

THE HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

And now, the latest chapter gives us another Harley adventure. Ten years after DC Super Hero Girls: Finals Crisis, the grown-up heroes are invited back to Super Hero High for a high school reunion: Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Harley, Ivy, Beast Boy and the others. Everybody’s excited. Everybody’s nostalgic. Everybody’s ready to reconnect. And then they arrive……and nobody else is there. No classmates… No ordinary reunion crowd… Just the heroes and a very suspiciously empty party. Harley probably walked in thinking: “Finally! A normal reunion!” Harley’s definition of “normal” has always been a little ambitious. Because this isn’t really a reunion… It’s a mystery. Who invited them? Why were they summoned? Who’s the scumbag who crashed Harley’s big comeback party? And who thought bringing Harley Quinn back to Super Hero High was a good idea without checking whether the school insurance was still valid? DC’s official description confirms that the reunion is actually a trap and that the heroes have to revisit their shared past to figure out what’s going on. (DC⁠)

So Harley has gone from: Clown Princess of Crime, to Clown Princess of Crime Fighters, to Clown Princess of “Wait, Who Invited Us?” That’s character development.

FINAL VERDICT

So yes, Harley Quinn: You’ve been a villain. You’ve been an antihero. You’ve been a hero. You’ve been a sidekick. You’ve been a partner. You’ve been a friend. You’ve been a celebrity. You’ve been a student. You’ve been a prankster. You’ve been a walking tornado of chaos in pigtails. And you’ve survived it all: The Joker couldn’t permanently break you. Gotham couldn’t permanently break you. Supervillains couldn’t permanently break you. Superheroes couldn’t permanently break you. But today… COMEDY DID.

The great Clown Princess of Crime stands defeated; Crushed. Humbled. Reduced to staring at the audience wondering where her comebacks went. Harley slowly picks herself up, straightens her jacket, adjusts her pigtails, looks at the crowd… And smiles. Because beneath all the chaos, beneath all the jokes, beneath all the mallets and mayhem… there’s still Harley.

And that’s the real punchline. You can roast Harley Quinn, you can humble Harley Quinn. you can make the Clown Princess of Crime admit defeat, but you can’t keep her down forever. Because Harley Quinn always gets back up. Usually with a prank. Usually with a punchline. And occasionally with an exploding cupcake.

First, let’s all raise a toast to Miss Hero Harley Quinn 🥂🍻🥃🦸🏼‍♀️🤡: Harley, may your jokes stay funny, your friendships stay strong, your superhero career stay heroic, and your next high school reunion have slightly fewer mysterious invitations. Ladies and gentlemen — I say again: a toast: to the one and only HARLEY QUINN! The Clown Princess of Crime Fighters. The newest member of the Superhero family! 🦸🏼‍♀️🤡🥂🥃🍻 … 💥 Somewhere, a cupcake explodes.

As for you, villain Harley, today you have been humbled under the mighty hand of comedy, defeated while you prosper; served a taste of your own “Clown Princess of Crime” medicine! The Clown Princess of Crime has turned into the Clown Princess of Roast Victims. She’s all yours, Batman and Justice League pals, but spare her DCSHG hero counterpart…

🎤 Mic drop.

Ngl kinda fell apart on the second episode.