Harley Quinn Confirms the One Villain Who Can Out-Plan Batman
Warning! Spoilers for Man-Bat #3
In a new comic, Harley Quinn confirms the one villain who can manage to out-plan Batman and get the upper hand. Although the Dark Knight hasn’t quite met his definitive match, the unconventional antihero that Harley has in mind might actually have the potential to beat the bat.
Harley might not be the most conventional supporting cast member for a series about the mutant Batman villain Man-Bat, but she is playing a big part. Man-Bat, written by Dave Wielgosz with art by Sumit Kumar, is putting a new spin on the titular antihero. Throughout previous issues, Kirk Langstrom AKA Man-Bat has dealt with a severe addiction to the serum that morphs him into the winged creature. While fleshing out the longtime villain into a more understandable protagonist, Harley has intervened with her traditional madness. After defeating some members of the Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn ambushed Langstrom with the hopes of providing therapy, since she has some experience from her past as a psychologist at Arkham Asylum.
A preview for Man-Bat #3 has revealed that while Man-Bat is trapped in the therapy office with Harley Quinn, she puts it out there that Batman could be outmatched by the strategic Amanda Waller. Known for manipulating super-villains to do her bidding in the missions given to the Suicide Squad, Waller has a reputation for being among the most tactical and no-nonsense forces within the DC Universe. Practically breaking the fourth wall with her witty commentary, Harley disregards Kirk Langstrom’s dream scenario. In true Harley Quinn fashion, she simultaneously works with Kirk, while siding with Amanda Waller in the sense that she is seemingly not biased against her. Taking place in her own imaginary world, Harley narrates a possible sequence of events as Man-Bat is captured and experimented on by Waller. When Batman comes to recover Langstrom, Waller is resistant to give him up, smiling in the face of the Dark Knight’s intimidating tone. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. But he sounds like a mystery you’ll never solve, Batman.”
Although Harley might not want Waller to get the upper hand over Batman, this fact seems to give credibility to her assessment that she could take him down. It’s not unheard of for Waller to be unfazed by Batman’s intimidation, as she’s gone after him in the past. However, it’s a new low for Batman that he would be mocked with a smile and an obvious lie. It’s unclear if Harley thinks this would be the end of such an encounter between the two of them, not expanding on whether Batman fights back and goes after Langstrom anyway.
Regardless, Harley’s meta-commentary seems pretty accurate to how things would play out. It would make for an engaging premise if Batman met his match in Amanda Waller trying to outmaneuver him at every turn. Harley’s passing comments about her technical boss in the Suicide Squad could be foreshadowing this kind of situation to occur later on in the series. Man-Bat #3 releases on Tuesday, April 6.