WARNING: The following contains spoilers for the series premiere of Harley Quinn, "Til Death Do Us Part," streaming now on DC Universe.
It seems like only last year that Titans rocked the internet with a trailer in which Dick Grayson declares, "Fuck Batman." Never mind that the dialogue made sense in context, it nevertheless drew widespread derision on social media, coloring views of the DC Universe series, months before its premiere. Rather than learn from that experience, the streaming service's new Harley Quinn animated series pushes back against it, and has a little fun with "Batman" and, um, "fuck."
It's no secret the comedy isn't safe for work, or for children, or for anyone with a low tolerance for profanity or cartoon violence. Pitched by series creators Patrick Schumacker and Justin Halpern (iZombie, Powerless) as "Mary Tyler Moore, if she were a serial killer," Harley Quinn follows the fan-favorite villain/antiheroine as she comes to her senses about her relationship with The Joker, and decides to make a name for herself and secure a place with the Legion of Doom.
In the series premiere, "Til Death Do Us Part," Harley (Kaley Cuoco) is abandoned by The Joker (Alan Tudyk) during a yacht heist so he can escape Batman (Dierdrich Bader) in a signature purple-and-green submarine (with a horn that plays "La Cucaracha," naturally). Hauled to the roof of Gotham Police headquarters to be handed over to a tightly wound Commissioner Gordon (Christopher Meloni), Harley remains defiant, refusing to provide the whereabouts of The Joker.
"Why are you protecting a psychotic clown who treats you like garbage?' the Caped Crusader asks, giving voice to countless fans. However, Harley isn't ready to consider that question just yet, and instead shuts down Batman with, "Asks the guy who fucks bats."
Jim Gordon, coffee mug in hand, immediately steps in to correct Harley, and perhaps defend the Dark Knight's honor. Still, that doesn't prevent her from returning to the subject a little later, prompted by Gordon's threat that she's going to be put away for life in Arkham Asylum. When he asks why she's laughing, Harley fires back, "Cuz you said 'for life.' And as sure as I am that he fucks bats, I know my man will break me out of Arkham before I spend a single night."
It turns out that she's not very sure, though, as she languishes in Arkham for an entire year (Calendar Man kept track), until she's knocked out by Poison Ivy (Lake Bell), and freed during a riot.
Logic might dictate that, if Harley was wrong about Joker freeing her from Arkham, then she was also wrong about Batman's, um, predilection for winged mammals. That's how logic works, right? In any case, while improper suggestions have been made since at least the early 1950s about the nature of the Dynamic Duo's relationship, there's no indication the Dark Knight has ever been accused of having sex with bats. By anyone other than Harley Quinn, that is.
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. A new episode is released each Friday.