Warning: this article contains spoilers for 'The Beginning,' published in DC: Love is a Battlefield.
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are destined to become part of the Bat-family. Harley Quinn may have started out as a villain – the twisted love interest/sidekick to the Joker – but her story has changed significantly over the years. Harley has long since moved on from the Joker, and in fact she's made several attempts on his life. The Clown Prince of Crime no longer defines her, and she's even found true love in Poison Ivy.
The romance between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy is one of DC's greatest. The two lovers don't always get along, and DC's regular continuity sees them on something of a break in the aftermath of Joker War. But fans are confident they will get back together, because Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn seem to be made for one another. The crazy and zany Harley Quinn helps Ivy look on the bright side of life, while Ivy offers Harley the support she needs to deal with her past trauma. And so, given this is the case, it is no surprise DC's Valentine's Day special, DC: Love is a Battlefield, features a story starring these two Bat-crossed lovers. What is surprising is that the story reveals Harley and Ivy will eventually join Batman and his team of vigilantes.
Written by Tim Seeley and featuring art by Rebekah Isaacs, 'The Beginning' is a touching retrospective on the relationship between Harley and Ivy - basically the superhero version of The Notebook. It is told from their own perspective, as they look back on their days together at the very end of their lives. One of the most striking revelations is that these two are destined to come to a truce with Batman, apparently as a result of a conflict in the Amazon jungle. "Rumble in the jungle," Harley remembers excitedly, "Bout in the bush! Batarangs and spandex everywhere!" It seems Ivy took the opportunity to offer Batman an alliance, arguing that – just like Batman – her goal is to save the world.
Having begun as separate members of his rogues' gallery, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy are destined to become committed allies of Batman, each having given the other what they need to grow into heroes. As Harley notes, what she saw in Ivy was how admirable it was to fight for a cause, rather than for chaos. In contrast, Ivy admires Harley's spirit and freedom, likely offering her a connection to human nature that helped temper her approach to environmental decline. Amusingly the truce will be agreed because Ivy proves she has already been keeping Batman's secrets. She has known he is really Bruce Wayne for years, but has seen no reason to let anybody know.
"You totally won that one, Ives," Harley Quinn observes, but Ivy disagrees. As far as she is concerned, "The earth won that one." It's an intriguing comment, suggesting the partnership between Batman and Poison Ivy served to benefit the entire world, perhaps instigating the move away from climate change seen in DC's Future State event. And so, not only are Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn destined to become part of the wider Bat-family, they could also serve as Gotham's most unlikely blessing to the planet.