Warning: Spoilers for Are You Afraid of Darkseid? #1!
In DC Comics, Harley Quinn and Darkseid are an unusual pairing, and in a spooky campfire story set against the backdrop of the DC Universe, Darkseid’s only alive because Harley made it so! Suffice it to say, letting DC’s version of the folkloric entity called Bloody Mary take down Darkseid would have been a super easy way to off this baddie for good, it’s just too bad Harley’s pesky conscience got in the way before it could happen.
Spared during the first story in the Halloween-tinged one-shot of Are You Afraid of Darkseid? #1, “Bloody Mary,” by Kenny Porter and Max Dunbar, sees Darkseid, Harley Quinn, and a bunch of oblivious Gotham citizens take on a ghostly legend that holds ties to the Dark God of Apokolips himself. Breaking into the swanky Gotham Riverfront Hotel to once and for all prove whether the story of Bloody Mary is true, three Gothamites are met by a mallet wielding Harley Quinn who just so happens to also be on the hunt for Mary.
Continuing to take her heroic duties seriously when it comes to saving innocent lives, Harley wants to take Bloody Mary down (she even makes a hilarious Bloody Mary wanted poster for the occasion) and is shocked by the surprise arrival of Darkseid. Going on to explain that Bloody Mary used to be one of his Female Furies, Darkseid reveals that Mary is hunting him down as retribution for his past actions that led her to her current terrifying state. Crashing through a nearby mirror, Bloody Mary makes her presence known, and it’s here where Harley makes a decision that allows Darkseid to continue living.
Viciously attacked by Bloody Mary right off the bat, Harley realizes that they’re “pretty much screwed” and believes that teaming up with an evil space god is their best — and only — chance at survival. Eventually finding a way to shatter a specific mirror with an omega beam charged mallet, Harley sends Bloody Mary back to the mirror void she came from, simultaneously saving herself, the civilians around her and even Darkseid from a fate worse than death in the process. But before he boom tubes out, Harley is sassed by Darkseid and shoots back in her own sassy way by saying “you’re only alive because I helped ya, dingbat!” succinctly (and rightly) telling this Dark God that he owes her his life.
Not one to help out bad guys now that she’s on the straight and narrow, Harley deciding not to help a villain that could have clearly killed Darkseid if given the chance is a decision that may come back to haunt her. An existential threat to all life across the universe, Darkseid is a problem that could have easily been squashed by Bloody Mary, but due to Harley now putting the protection of civilians first — i.e. the three Gothamites still hanging about — teaming up with an ultimate evil to vanquish another evil is something that sets Harley apart from her previous villainous ways, even though the implications of allowing Darkseid to live are bit head-scratching.
So while it’s true this story might not be canonical — especially considering it’s being told by the not always reliable narrator of Damian Wayne — Harley embodying the mindset of Batman or Superman by putting civilians’ lives first before worrying about who she’s fighting for or against is a character moment that’s still fun to see. Darkseid totally owes Harley Quinn his life, but it’s doubtful he’ll ever care enough to return the favor.
