Harley Quinn season 3, episode 8 “Batman Begins Forever” might have foreshadowed a major twist later in the series by having Harley Quinn take Robin’s place in Bruce Wayne’s subconscious mind. After exhausting physical methods of getting information about Frank’s whereabouts from Bruce, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy enlist Doctor Psycho’s help to enter Bruce’s mind to find out where Bruce is keeping Frank hidden. Through their efforts, they catch a glimpse of Harley Quinn as Robin in Bruce's subconscious.
Once in Bruce’s mind (chock-full of Batman references disguised as memories, of course), the group realize that the Bruce Wayne of Harley Quinn is a far more mentally traumatized person than they had realized. Harley leans on her training as a psychiatrist to try and help Bruce Wayne’s inner child break out of an unhealthy cycle of repeatedly reliving his parents’ murder. In trying to escape the perpetrator in the memory, young Bruce and Harley Quinn crash into a memory of Batman and Robin fighting the Joker and Harley Quinn, but while Bruce takes on the role of Batman in the memory, Harley Quinn ends up costumed at his side as Robin rather than as herself.
Harley Quinn’s choice to show its protagonist fighting crime side-by-side with Batman, even if she was only playing the role of the Boy Wonder in Bruce's mind, could be a hint that Harley Quinn has hero work in her future. In a callback to how Harley met Joker in Batman: The Animated Series, Harley specifically fights her past self modeled off the first appearance of Harley Quinn. She even comments to Batman that “this heroing thing is fun” and that she thought it was supposed to be lame. With Batman taking a dark path in Harley Quinn, Gotham might need a new protector, and season 3 might be setting Harley Quinn up to take on that mantle in Harley Quinn season 4.
Why A Heroic Quinn & Ivy Would Be Perfect For Harley Quinn
Harley Quinn has become more and more of an antihero character rather than a villain in the past 30 years, as well as becoming a regular fan favorite. When she is not toadying for the Joker, she actually often wants to help people, as evidenced by repeated allusions to her training as a psychiatrist throughout Harley Quinn and the burgeoning friendship with Batgirl emphasized by her rescuing Batgirl from a distinctly creepy Mad Hatter in Harley Quinn season 3, episode 7 “Shark Tale.” Poison Ivy’s villainousness has also been directly questioned in Harley Quinn by Ivy herself, as well as others, because the ecological goals of her grand plans are more relatable in the face of climate destruction and inequality resulting from unchecked capitalism. The two being shown as heroes could work very well, though the transition from villain or antihero to outright hero would likely present a complex challenge in finding the right tone.
Of course, Harley Quinn is also known for the explicit violence joyfully enacted by Harley and others of her crew, which might seem to bar Harley and Ivy from making a heel-face turn. Arcs like Peacemaker’s, however, show that murderousness and taking joy in brutality are seen in other heroes in the DC universe. Peacemaker, another DC superhero given his own show during the run of Harley Quinn, is often considered a hero and has been defined by his willingness to kill in pursuit of peace. Harley Quinn could end up occupying a similar space of tension as Peacemaker, caught between wanting to be a hero or even seeing herself as a hero while struggling to with her brutal history and violent instincts.
The struggle of how violent to be and what might be worthy occasions for violence could be a compelling and logical arc for Harley Quinn season 4. Such moral and ethical re-centering may even begin to feel increasingly inevitable with Harley becoming steadily happier and more mentally stable through Harley Quinn’s focus on character growth. A shift toward protecting people and impeding villainous plans would also challenge Poison Ivy’s established anti-human agenda in Harley Quinn, which would be another interesting angle from which to explore the emergent pro-social side of Harley Quinn.