So I was in the middle of working on a video about my favorite depictions of Harley Quinn
from over the years when I came upon #HarleyKissingIvy trending on Twitter.
After looking into the controversy, there are two big reasons as to why people were
talking.
For one, lots of people weren’t aware that Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy were ever a couple
and two, DC Comics was seemingly erasing it or at the very least, ignoring it.
Now admittedly things can get a little bit confusing since there are multiple Harley
Quinns and Poison Ivys across multiple universes and all of their stuff as a couple seems to
have been in the comics which is a medium that most people simply just don’t read.
So let me give a quick history of their relationship across the DC Comics brand.
Harley Quinn has made multiple appearances in the spin-off comics for Batman: The Animated
Series and it’s here that I’m pretty sure was the first time that Harley and Ivy were
ever hinted at being a couple.
This was in 1997 which was two years before her introduction into the main comic universe
in 1999.
And trust me, the implied bisexuality didn’t just stop there.
However, for the main comic universe, things got a lot more explicit in the 2010s.
Freaking issue number two of Harley’s solo book after the DC universe rebooted in 2011
gave us these two scenes of huge implication in the very same issue.
Plus, they shared a direct and explicit kiss later that year when Harley tried snapping
Ivy out of some amnesia.
Around 2016 though, Harley and Ivy became a canonical couple in alternate universes
like Bombshells and Injustice , but the main comic universe is where we got to see a LOT
more of them together and is where Harley’s bisexuality took center stage.
So now that I’ve established without a shadow of a doubt that these two are a couple, let’s
talk about the controversy.
So when I saw people outraged over #HarleyKissingIvy, I initially assumed it was because they weren’t
included in this Valentine’s Day post that DC made on Twitter which would be pretty dumb,
but we’ve seen people get massively upset over a lot less.
A tweet can only contain a maximum of four images and this post left out other iconic
couples like Nightwing and Batgirl so it’s not like Harley and Ivy were the only ones
that were getting shafted.
I do however understand that it’s dissapointing that the only couples that were featured here
were heterosexual, especially since DC is also heavily promoting their Batwoman TV show
where the main charater is a lesbian.
Maybe people are mad about this Birds of Prey Valentine’s tweet saying “Why spend Valentine’s
Day with one person when you can have a party?”
Again, there’s nothing to really be mad about here.
Poison Ivy hasn’t been in this universe yet, there hasn’t been much about this incarnation
of Harley Quinn to imply that she’s bi in the first place, AND the entire movie is literally
about her expressing her freedom from The Joker.
So if anything, it makes a lot of sense why this particular Harley Quinn from this particular
universe would be an icon for being single.
Well it turns out that this controversy stems from a lot of things happening back to back
to back which combined together to piss people off about the ship’s status.
So there’s been this six issue mini-series that’s been coming out that’s appropriately
named “Harley Quinn & Poison Ivy”.
The book is set in the main comic continuity and as such, Harley and Ivy are a couple in
it.
However, they end up going on a violent road trip as they run away from a villain named
the Flouronic Man who’s trying to consume Ivy’s essence.
Because of comic book shenanigans, we find out that the Ivy that’s been traveling with
Harley for most of the mini-series wasn’t the real deal, but rather a kind of shadowy
copy that appeared in the second issue.
When the real Poison Ivy reappeared at the end of the mini-series, she was pissed off
that this doppelganger was able to take over her life and she was equally pissed off that
Quinn wasn’t able to tell the difference between them.
After a big showdown between the two Ivys, this ultimately broke the couple apart and
Harley Quinn was once again on her own.
While I’m personally interested in seeing where this plot thread goes, I understand
that fans of the relationship were hurt by this.
It also does suck for representation that the most popular same sex relationship in
DC Comics was dissolved.
It also certainly didn’t help that shortly after the release of this issue, DC Universe
tweeted this video on “Single’s Awareness Day”.
It kind of came off as rubbing salt in the wound or straight up making fun of their breakup.
To make things even worse, DC announced a statue of both characters on that very same
day depicting their relationship at its best, but at the same time, they completely ignored
the fact that they were ever a couple.
“We all know Valentine’s Day is usually about celebrating love, and these two characters
know what it means to be there completely for someone else.
They’re the epitome of what it means to be a loyal best friend above all else and
always a shoulder to cry on in times of need.
Whether it’s Harley’s horrible break-ups with the Joker or her wanting to prove herself
as an independent woman, Ivy is always there for Harley to be her number one support.
Likewise, as she’s demonstrated in their recent Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy miniseries,
there’s little Harley won’t do for Ivy, including taking on the likes of the Floronic
Man, Mad Hatter and Batwoman.
That is why this statue is the perfect Valentine’s Day reminder that to love someone can mean
many things.
But above all else, it’s to always be there for the people you care deeply about, in good
times and bad.”
Wow.
That is some serious “Oh, they weren’t gay!
They were just best friends that lived together for their entire lives!”
Yikes.
But I’m sure that some people are probably going to be asking, “Who cares?
These are fictional characters.
Why should their fake relationship matter?”
Well from my personal experience, I do often get attached to fictional characters and maybe
I’m just a sissy, but I have definitely felt some strong emotions when some of my
favorite characters have died.
Also, representation matters a lot to some people from marginalized groups.
Although DC is filled with so so WOW, god so many bisexual women, I personally know
quite a few LGBT friends that loved to see Harley and Ivy live out their relationship.
The thing that really baffles me though is that I honestly can’t figure out why DC
is trying so hard to break up and ignore this fan favorite pairing.
You might think it’s to avoid homophobic controversy around Birds of Prey since the
movie is already underperforming, but one of the movie’s main characters is an openly
gay woman.
Likewise, the Harley Quinn TV show doesn’t have them as a couple, but that hasn’t stopped
them from implying that it’s a possibility.
I mean you could argue that DC is intentionally trying to manufacture outrage, but this really
doesn’t seem like it.
It seems like this would be that bad way to go about creating this.
But I guess only time will tell of where we’re going to go from here.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for today.
It was a pretty quick and short video because this kind of just came up and honestly, I
have to go and work on my other videos.
I’m definitely going to still be putting out my “Favorite Harley Quinns Ever” video
very soon.
So if you’re watching this when it’s already come out, go ahead and watch it and if not,
stay tuned for it.
But anyway, I hope you learned at least a little something new and hopefully I’ll
see you next time.