The following contains spoilers for Harley Quinn Season 3, Episode 5, "It's a Swamp Thing," which premiered Aug. 11 on HBO Max.
On Harley Quinn, Joker's been quite repulsive, going the extra mile in the past to gaslight and abuse Harley. Thankfully, she broke away from his toxicity and found true love with Poison Ivy, leaving the Clown Prince of Crime to chart a new, repentant life. Still, as much as he's trying to be a stepdad to Bethany's kids, that dark side is still there, which makes sense given how much of a monster and killer he was.
However, in Season 3, as Harley and Ivy went about their eco-terrorist plot, the notion of Joker as the show's worst character is being shaken up. That's because they quickly found out Swamp Thing was even more terrible than the clown. To make it worse, this discovery almost killed them in a scarier way than anything Joker could concoct.
It arose due to Harley and Ivy needing to find their bioweapon, Frank the Plant. Ivy didn't get any clues from the sex party the Court of Owls had, but she did have a backup plan. She wanted to use the Green to find Frank, which led to them going after Swamp Thing. Things got thrown off course, though, when Nora Fries joined.
She returned to party, as immature as ever after Mister Freeze's death, keen on a life of sex and drugs. Nora ended up drinking with the gang and Matt Ryan's Constantine, finding a way to Swamp Thing's lair, which culminated in them hooking up. Ivy and Harley found them, hoping Nora would then use her connection to get Swamp Thing to find Frank. However, Nora wasn't that into having a boyfriend, which broke Swamp Thing.
He was still reeling from his divorce from Linda, so the human side of him, aka the rejected Alec Holland, lashed out. It led to Swamp Thing's power maxing out, unleashing giant trees, roots and basically creating an apocalyptic garden in the New Orleans marshland that almost killed Ivy, Harley, Nora and innocent bystanders. His ego just couldn't take this hit after the fling, which tied into why Linda wanted out: he was narcissistic, and quite frankly, an entitled brat. Granted, Joker's been childish and privileged too, but never like this, because he soon accepted Harley didn't want him. Not to mention, he didn't have the literal elemental power to break Earth, rendering Swamp Thing a more dangerous threat.
Thankfully, due to Harley psychoanalyzing the temper tantrum, Ivy and Alec were able to talk it out, calming the hurricane he made in the ecosystem. Alec eventually confessed all he needed was Ivy to be a friend. She never listened to his problems before, so they made up as she was more human and understanding now.
This cured Alec, shifting him from a delusional, jealous, petty man-child into someone who helped Ivy realize she could tap into the Green and find Frank herself. He didn't officially sign up with the crew, but now, it does feel like they have a friend they could always rely on. That is, once Alec and Nora keep it civil and drama-free, with him accepting her free-spirited nature moving forward.
New episodes of Harley Quinn debut Thursdays on HBO Max.