Harley Quinn’s Latest Episode Pokes Fun at Toxic Last Jedi Haters and Snyder Cut Fans

The Harley Quinn animated series has been delighting fans ever since it debuted last fall, bringing an irreverent and R-rated take on the DC Comics universe. The series has certainly poked fun at a lot of aspects of comic canon and pop culture, and Season 2’s latest episode took that to a whole other level. Entertainment Weekly recently debuted a clip from this week’s episode, which is titled “Batman’s Back, Man”. The clip takes a relatively meta approach, opening on two nerds who are seated on a couch, and debating whether or not they should watch the latest episode of Harley Quinn. One, who is dressed in a “Release the Snyder Cut” shirt, quickly criticizes the show as being for “12-year-old girls” and “a tsunami of virtue signaling”.

They then bicker about watching a Gotham-set show that doesn’t actually feature Batman, which leads the other viewer, who is wearing a shirt that proclaims “The Last Jedi Is Not Canon”, to draw a comparison to all five seasons of Gotham. Once they realize that the episode in question is about Batman, the fans reluctantly agree to watch, but the “Snyder Cut” fan proclaims that if it sucks, they’re watching Family Guy instead.

The sequence definitely gives viewers a lot to take in, especially the self-aware comments about Harley Quinn (which, despite the scene being crafted months in advance, feel eerily similar to negative backlash lodged at both the show and the recent Birds of Prey movie). The references to Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Justice League are sure to make waves as well, as those have probably been two of the most divisive genre films to be released within the past few years.

The Snyder Cut fandom – which wants to see Zack Snyder’s original three-hour cut of Justice League made a reality – has used their online reach for good in the form of fundraisers and other advocacy campaigns. That being said, anyone who has been online since the film was released in 2017 has probably seen a subset of trolls try to weaponize the movement, and use it as a sort of catch-all excuse against anything they don’t like in the current DC Films slate. The Last Jedi was arguably just as buzzworthy when it was released a matter of months later, but the (totally-valid) mindset of not liking the film was also weaponized on social media. In particular, some trolls decided to fixate on the prominence of female characters in the film, and used their bullying to target franchise star Kelly Marie Tran, as well as countless other women and people of color within the Star Wars fandom.

While the clip definitely isn’t trying to make generalizations about those who didn’t like The Last Jedi or who want to see the Justice League Snyder Cut become a reality, it’s using its platform to poke fun at those who use either movement to be negative on social media. As the episode is officially released on DC Universe over the weekend, it will be interesting to see how audiences respond to that.

What do you think of Harley Quinn poking fun at toxic fanboy culture? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

New episodes of Harley Quinn debut Fridays exclusively on DC Universe.