The latest episode of Harley Quinn prominently featured the introduction of a classic DC hero. Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl, makes her animated series debut with an origin story as a student tour guide at Riddler University who seeks to take down the Riddler.
The second episode of the show's second season takes Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy to Riddler U after the school's namesake villain hijacked all the power and clean energy in Gotham for his sham university. Despite appearing to be a regular co-ed, the heroic character's real identity is confirmed when her father, Commissioner Jim Gordon, walks out of the shower of their shared Batman posters-filled dorm room.
Harley and Ivy meet this iteration of Barbara Gordon when the duo takes her campus tour as a way to gain intel on where the Riddler's main power source is. After discovering Barbara is also out to defeat the Riddler, the hero excitedly offers to team up with the villainous duo for the sake of their common goal. Unfortunately, the naïve Barbara gets blown off by the supervillains, who don't think much of the eager college student, and they pursue the Riddler without her. However, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and an undercover Clayface are all thwarted by Riddler. The trio is captured and forced to work on his hamster wheel energy generators until a disguised Barbara Gordon shows up to save the day.
Despite making an epic entrance, Barbara's inexperience in crime-fighting is shown when she misses every gunshot she takes at the electricity generator's power switch. Harley can't help but comment on Barbara's amateur status as she points out that she should have taken shots at the Riddler himself rather than just the power button. Barbara follows Harley's advice, throwing the gun at the Riddler, effectively knocking him out and short-circuiting the generator. Successfully freeing everyone in the power plant, Barbara is thrilled by her first victory. However, her excitement is cut short when Harley commandeers the capture of the Riddler and takes him to her own headquarters rather than Arkham. Clearly deflated, it is safe to say Barbara will not forget being snubbed by the villainous crew she initially wanted to bond with.
After taking down the Riddler and his gang of fraternity brothers while wearing a hoodie and a ski-mask, in the episode's final moments, fans are finally given the satisfying reveal they've been waiting for when Barbara fully becomes Batgirl as she dons her Batgirl of Burnside costume and leaps out of her dorm-room window under the cover of darkness. Choosing to debut this iteration of the Batgirl character in the 2015 redesigned costume is a hint to knowledgeable comic fans that the show's Batgirl is sure to be fun, modern and edgy. The shadowy lighting and smirk as she first dons her mask also hint that Barbara is a changed woman following the events of the episode.
Unlike Penguin in the previous episode, Barbara's first adversary, Riddler, is alive following his defeat. Since the newly introduced Batgirl did not get to send the riddling supervillain to Arkham Asylum like she wanted to, it is very possible that we will see these rivals face off again in future episodes. With a grudge against Harley and her gang for leaving her out of the Riddler's capture, fans should also look forward to seeing a confrontation between Harley and the new Batgirl in the near future.
Batman is notably absent from this episode as he is most likely still recovering from his coma. The introduction of Barbara Gordon as the newest member of the Bat-Family may suggest that the series is gearing up to have Batgirl fill his shoes as Gotham's latest defender and Caped Crusader.
DC Universe's Harley Quinn stars Kaley Cuoco, Lake Bell, Diedrich Bader, Alan Tudyk, Rahul Kohli, Christopher Meloni, Tony Hale, Ron Funches, Wanda Sykes, Natalie Morales, Jim Rash, Giancarlo Esposito, Jason Alexander and J.B. Smoove. New episodes air on Fridays.