Harley Quinn Season 4 Reinterprets Flashpoint - With a Darker Twist

Harley Quinn Season 4 puts its own spin on the Flashpoint storyline, hinting at even more chaotic repercussions to come for Harlivy and their friends.

A very divisive concept in the recent annals of DC history has been that of Flashpoint. The comic event depicted Barry Allen going back in time to save his mother from death, hoping to give her a better fate. Little did he know, his actions had a ripple effect on the entire DC timeline, and the dire consequence of that forced him to reset it.

Flashpoint is a storyline The CW show The Flash and its DCEU film counterpart starring Ezra Miller all explored. Now, Harley Quinn Season 4 now does its own take on this time-traveling concept. However, it has a much darker spin to it as Harley breaks the rules of space and time to address a personal problem of her own. In the process, it speaks to responsibility and how Harley may not be as cut out for the superhero life as she may have thought.

Harley Quinn Season 4 Jumps Harlivy to the Future

Harley steals a time-sphere in Episode 7, "The Most Culturally Impactful Film Franchise of All Time," and uses it to jump to the future. She wants to speak with the older version of Harlivy, hoping to cure her love troubles with the current Poison Ivy. Interestingly, Ivy makes the trip with her, only to find a dystopian world run by a dark Robin (Damian Wayne) and their daughter, Neytiri, betraying them. It nods to the Flashpoint storyline where Barry messing with time created a world where the Amazons fought the Atlanteans. It was also a world where rebels like Lois Lane fought fascists, and where Superman was imprisoned.

In both storylines, there is still a sympathetic edge. In Flashpoint, Barry wanted to save his mother and regain that sense of family that evaded him. Not even Iris, Wally West and the Justice League could help fill that gap. In Harley Quinn, the titular heroine is in a similar spot after the death of Nightwing. However, she moves forward, not backwards in time. Whereas Barry wanted to change his present by altering his past in Flashpoint, Harley just wants to forge a better future for herself by making better decisions in the present.

To this end, Harley wants to talk to her future self, which doesn't seem like a catastrophic decision at first. Of course, this proves not to be the case. When she and Ivy return to their timeline from 2048 after fighting their future daughter, Harley and Ivy find the present day in an apocalyptic state. It's the end of days, which they find out is linked to Lex Luthor and the Legion of Doom. It revisits the idea of ramifications, which different adaptations of Flashpoint explored in unique ways. The comics and animated movie had Barry rebuilding a new era, while The Flash movie seemed to insinuate some things were still off-kilter, like George Clooney returning as Bruce Wayne. This leaves Harlivy struggling to figure out what went wrong.

Harley Quinn Season 4 Will Unleash a New War

The war to come will test Ivy in a big way. Clearly, she'll have to turn on Lex and the Legion, which puts her in a tight spot since she has her mentees in the Natural Disasters. Plus, other villains are loving her style. Additionally, the media and public adore Ivy now, but the plant queen knows this bit of ego has to be scrubbed if she's to protect the future. The problem is, Ivy doesn't know who she can trust outside of Harley, and who'll genuinely join the mission.

As for Harley, she's in an equally bad spot. Harley has been sleepwalking and hallucinating, so her mental health is not in a good place for battle. Batgirl is similarly not in the best space either as Barbara tries to take out Joker. Overall, the Bat-family is stretched thinner than usual with Bruce and Alfred in jail, and Damian Wayne back in Talia al Ghul's custody. Even in the present, all the worst possible scenarios are unfolding, leaving Harley and Ivy short of numbers.

At least in Barry's case, he found allies, whether that'd be the Thomas Wayne Batman or -- per the live-action film -- another Barry, Michael Keaton's Dark Knight and Sashe Calle's Supergirl. One can only hope Harley Quinn's King Shark, or Jim Gordon are still around to help out. If they're alive, Harlivy can relay the news to them and formulate a plan if they're to ensure the future doesn't end up filled with ash and brimstone. It gives Harlivy a bigger purpose, echoing what Barry had to repair after operating so selfishly and carelessly in the Flashpoint adaptations.

Harley Quinn Season 4 Paints Harley As a Liability

Harley is now incensed that their world isn't normal. She messed up the date to get back to, but most importantly, by jumping back and forth, she triggered a chain of events that created the entire bleak reality. She's very much to blame for messing with time, which may further indicate that Harley is not cut from the superhero cloth. While Ivy did contribute to the problem by traveling through time herself, it's still Harley's responsibility to fix as the person who made the decision to use the time sphere in the first place.

It's the kind of liability the Caped Crusader would condemn. As sympathetic as her motivations are, Harley's interference with her future walks back her progress. More specifically, Harley should've learned by now she can't use personal tragedies to become a catalyst for disaster. It's a skill she should have acquired from being with the Bat-family. Even before that, Harley did seem to become more selfless when she was surrounded by Clayface, King Shark and Co. It seems without Harley's support system or attention from Ivy, she goes off the rails. But this time, the repercussions are dire and literally world-ending.

These circumstances have fans hoping Harley and Ivy can use the sphere, hop to the right timeline and then stop whatever Lex will unleash. Thankfully, both are on the same page now after seeing how their future turned out. Unfortunately, they still have a habit of letting their personal and professional lives get in the way when it matters most. The Scarlet Speedster quickly removed this aspect of clouded judgment in his fiasco, which is something Harlivy need to do as soon as possible to ensure their romance has a tomorrow and the world doesn't end for that matter.