A movie in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies line, Batman and Harley Quinn is an original story created by Bruce Timm. It's about Harley Quinn teaming up with Batman against Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue. It stars Kevin Conroy as Batman, Loren Lester as Nightwing, Melissa Rauch as Harley Quinn, Paget Brewster as Poison Ivy, and Kevin Michael Richardson as Jason Woodrue. It uses a similar animation style to The New Batman Adventures.
Poison Ivy has been recruited by Jason Woodrue (aka, the "Floronic Man") in a new plan to destroy humanity and let plant life reclaim the Earth. In order to gain a better understanding of Ivy and a way to defeat her, Batman and Nightwing are forced to recruit Poison Ivy's BFF, Harley Quinn, who has seemingly gone clean and retired from crime since her latest parole release.
The film was released in August of 2017, just in time for Harley Quinn's 25th Anniversary. Two digital comics were released, a prequel series Harley Quinn and Batman and sequel series Batman and Harley Quinn, which explained how Harley Quinn retired and what happened post-movie.
Tropes in this film:
- Accidental Misnaming: Harley starts out referring to Nightwing as "Nightwig". He eventually corrects her and she does start to say it right, but still gets it wrong a few times.
- Action Film, Quiet Drama Scene: Harold's death is presented in a much more somber tone than the rest of the movie, ditto can be said for the scene following it between Harley and Nightwing.
- Alternate Continuity: Co-writer Jim Krieg has stated the film is DCAU adjacent, taking place in a parallel universe to B:TAS because everything is sillier. The film's composers have also mentioned it takes place in a "similar" universe to B:TAS. Bruce Timm had said he's not in control of what's in continuity and that this movie could just be head-canon, but he personally viewed it somewhat as a continuation.
- Ambiguous Situation: Due to his being The Ghost, just which Black Condor is on the League. While the second one, Ryan Kendall, was a member during the Justice League International era, given the large case of Team Member in the Adaptation during Justice League Unlimited, it's possible that it also applies here and it's either Richard Grey Jr. (who was the original) or John Trujillo (who replaced Kendall after his death) Booster was talking about.
- Anti-Climax: Swamp Thing arrives to pull an apparent Big Damn Heroes moment, only to do nothing but state his opinion and take off. Harley reminds Batman that Woodrue is still mostly plant and would burn easily, and the movie ends with Batman striking up a match right before it cuts to the credits... although we do see the results of his handiwork in the first stinger.
- Art-Style Dissonance: The art style is similar to that of The New Batman Adventures, but the movie is much more sillier and raunchier than any previous episode of Batman: The Animated Series or The New Batman Adventures, including how characters like Batman or Nightwing are portrayed.
- Bad Guy Bar: Halfway between Gotham and Bludhaven is a dive bar where supervillains' henchmen can unwind and dance the night away. One of the henchmen even sends Bats one of his favorite drink: milk.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Harley says that her contact wants her to do something for him, it initially looked like a sexual favor due to the presentation and Harley's reaction but he actually wanted her to sing for him.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Poison Ivy and Jason Woodrue aka the Floronic Man.
- Black Comedy Rape: Played with. While Nightwing does eventually consent to Harley's sexual advances after some initial attempts to say no, the fact that he's tied to her bed BDSM style, and his sheepish guilt afterwards suggest he may have felt he didn't have much of a choice. Then again, when Batman finds him and Harley together they're in the middle of a joyful friendly tickle fight, so his sheepish guilt could also just be because he knows Batman took one look at the room and knew. Also skirts the Rape Double Standard, as if the roles were reversed Nightwing would straight up come off as a villain.
- "Blackmail" Is Such an Ugly Word: When Batman blackmails Sarge Steel with knowledge that many A.R.G.U.S. agents, Steel included, have visited what's clearly implied to be a brothel that caters to the BDSM crowd, Steel says those visits could be considered "therapy". That said, both versions are in play as Bruce calls it an "exchange" when Steel calls him out on it.
- Breast Attack: Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn hit each other in their breasts during a fight.
- Breather Episode: For the DC Animated Films as a whole. After several Darker and Edgier films in the series such as Batman: The Killing Joke and Justice League Dark, the creators even said that they wanted Batman and Harley Quinn to be more light-hearted.
- Call-Back: Harley Quinn wants Batman to sing for her, much like Circe makes him do in the Justice League Unlimited episode This Little Piggy.
- The Cameo:
- Many of the henchmen and henchwomen featured back in Batman: The Animated Series or the Adam West show makes a reappearance at the roadhouse (see Mythology Gag below for complete list).
- Swamp Thing's appearance in the film is nothing but an anticlimactic cameo.
- Can't You Read the Sign?: After the customer who groped Harley gets slammed to the floor, he yells that he has a broken arm. The diner manager shrugs it off and points out the "look but don't touch" sign.
- Chained to a Bed: Harley ties Nightwing to her bed to hold him captive, since she doesn't want him revealing her whereabouts and isn't willing to kill him. She then decides to take advantage of the situation.
- Chekhov's Gun: When Harley gets Poison Ivy's location from Ivy's former henchman, Shruby, he writes the location on a matchbook. Later, at the end of the film, Harley suggests lighting Jason Woodrue on fire and ask if anyone's got a match. Guess what Batman pulls out of his utility belt.
- Comfort the Dying: In one scene Dr. Goldblum is mortally wounded and trying to tell the heroes about Poison Ivy and Floronic Man's plot. Harley holds his hand and tells him when he gets to Heaven he should talk to her grandmother, as she thinks he'll like her.
- The Comically Serious: As per tradition, any time that Batman interacts with Harley Quinn. If anything, he takes it further in this film, as even in the face of such things as Nightwing and Harley in a tickle fight, flatulence filling the Batmobile, and a drunken thug mockingly Batusi-ing at him, Batman steadfastly refuses to engage with anyone's silliness.
- Comically Small Bribe: When Harley's um... digestive problems become too much for the Dynamic Duo to bear, Batman pulls over at a gas station so Harley can relieve herself. Nightwing offers Batman $10 to floor it without her, apparently forgetting that Batman is a billionaire.
- Continuity Cavalcade: The roadhouse contains numerous villain henchmen and associates who have appeared throughout Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures.
- Continuity Snarl: When exactly the film is set in uncertain. In particular, there some evidence to suggest it takes place before the Tim Drake incident in Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker. The problem being: if that's the case, it would mean Harley redeemed herself, and got the life she had always wanted, only to throw it all away and go back to being a villain just a few years later. For obvious reasons, this makes little sense.note
- Cool Car: The original Batmobile from BTAS is back.
- Cosplay Café: "Superbabes", the sleazy diner where Nightwing finds Harley Quinn working at where the waitresses wear skimpy versions of superheroine/supervillainess costumes.
- Covers Always Lie: The cover of the DVD/blu-ray shows Harley with her trademark mallet. She's never seen with it in the movie.
- Creator Cameo: Bruce Timm has a brief appearance providing the voice of Booster Gold when Batman talks to him on the Batmobile's phone.
- Cross Counter: Harley and Ivy land one on each other during the final fight.
- Cutting the Knot: Floronic Man has high resistance and is unaffected by bullets. Harley points out that they could just set him on fire.
- Dark Action Girl: Poison Ivy is one of the film's main villains and is pretty good in a fight. Harley Quinn was one before she retired.
- Dating Catwoman: Lampshaded when (faced with Batman's Disapproving Look for sleeping with Harley) Nightwing mutters that it's not like Batman has never made out with a supervillain.
- Darker and Edgier: Slightly, in that it has more explicit sexual innuendo than The Animated Series and characters drop some mild swears, but averted for the most part.
- Denser and Wackier: The movie leans much more toward comedy and is much raunchier than any previous DCUAO film, or even any episode of Batman: The Animated Series or The New Batman Adventures.
- Depending Upon the Undependable: The premise of the plot. To try and foil the plans of Poison Ivy and the Floronic Man, Batman needs insider knowledge that he simply doesn't have. That source of insight turns out to be Harley Quinn, who's best friends with Ivy and not all that eager to become a plant hybrid. But Harley's the definition of "loose cannon" in Batman's mind, so he's really not looking forward to this.
- Designated Girl Fight: Ivy and Harley, natch.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: During the second verse of the twins' duet, one gets down on his knees, in accordance with the lyrics, while holding the microphone, while the other remains standing. The resulting image is quite… suggestive.
note - Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off!: In the villain bar, Batman unfastens his Utility Belt and tosses it on the ground before proceeding to beat the crap out of everyone there.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Harley more or less goes straight, and in the post credits scene, has gone back to being Dr. Harleen Quinzel and has her own TV show.
- Enemy Mine: Batman and Harley Quinn are usually enemies.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Harley keeps Nightwing prisoner to keep him from blowing her cover, but balks at the idea of killing him.
- While Ivy is okay with turning every living thing in the world into a plant-animal hybrid, she doesn't like Jason's methods and ultimately decides that the risk of everyone dying outweighs the possibility of success.
- Fake Static: Batman has Nightwing crinkle some paper next to the microphone to fake the sound of static when Booster Gold calls them suggesting other available superheroes to assist them and wanting to join them himself. He's not fooled."Sorry, we're going under some high-tension wires.""It sounds like paper."
- Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Harley after she tried to go straight. She is a waitress in a restaurant where the waitresses wear skimpy versions of heroine and villainess outfits. Apparently, she was also offered porn movie roles, but decided against it.
- Fanservice with a Smile: Gotham has a restaurant called "Superbabes" in which the wait staff all wear skimpy versions of famous superheroines and villainesses of the DC Universe (including Catwoman, Supergirl, Batgirl, Power Girl, Starfire, Vixen, Fire, Ice, and even Granny Goodness). Harley works there as a waitress wearing a skimpy version of her own Harley Quinn costume that shows her panties. Indeed, one of male customers tries to cop a feel... bad move.
- First-Name Basis:
- Jason refers to Poison Ivy as "Pamela".
- Floronic Man is referred to by his name on multiple occasions.
- Flipping the Bird: Harley, right before she starts singing.
- Forgotten Phlebotinum: Batman and his crew can't stop Jason because he keeps regenerating from his wounds? How about weed killer? It worked great in "Eternal Youth" and "House and Garden" and somehow, Batman never thought of using it in this episode.
- For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Harley dropped out of sight after she was let out on parole. She's been working at a diner where the waitresses wear skimpy versions of superheroine/supervillainess costumes, with nobody realizing that she's the real Harley Quinn until Nightwing sees her take down a customer who grabbed her butt.
- Gainax Ending: The movie ends rather weirdly, see Anti-Climax for details.
- Gassy Gastronomy: Harley complains that she has to use the bathroom due to eating spicy hot wings, but Batman and Nightwing ignore her pleas. To make them pull over, she starts to fart loudly, and even Batman can’t handle the stench, so he stops by a gas station.
- The Ghost: A conversation between Batman and Sarge Steel confirms the existence of Lady Shiva and a later one between Bats and Booster Gold similarly reveals the existence of Bloodwynd, Black Condor, and Triumph. The Superbabes scene also suggests the existence of Starfire and Power Girl.
- Give My Regards in the Next World: A variant: as Harley comforts the dying Dr.Goldblum, she tells him to say hi to her grandmother Fran once he gets to Heaven, as she thinks he'll like her.
- Groin Attack: Heavily hinted by Batman at the henchmen bar, if the "OW MY BALLS!" sound effect and the victim's Instant Soprano is anything to go by.
- Handbag of Hurt: Harley attacks Nightwing with her purse during their fight. Said purse is revealed to be housing a ten-pound kettle bell.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: Harley is definitly capable of being a very good person. Seen when she comforts the dying Dr. Goldblum.
- Hope Spot: Happens twice in the climax.
- After Batman, Nightwing and Harley's efforts against Floronic Man fail to stop him, Ivy turns against him and while she wins the plant-based tug-of-war, Floronic Man proceeds to knock her out with a single punch.
- Then Swamp Thing makes his grand entrance, reducing Jason to a cowering mess. Swamp Thing tells Jason that what he's doing is wrong, but says it's not his right to stop it and Swamp Thing disappears without lifting a finger. Lampshaded by Harley:
Harley: Well that was a big-ass bucket of nothing! - Hypocrite: During the scene in Harley's apartment, Harley makes fun of the mullet that Nightwing used to have. This is coming from a woman who's probably pushing forty by this point yet still wears her hair in Girlish Pigtails.
- Hypocritical Humor: Faced with Batman's Disapproving Look for sleeping with Harley Quinn, Nightwing mutters that he's not the only one who's made out with a supervillain.
- Insistent Terminology: When Batman calls Harley a psychopath, she insists she's a sociopath instead.(In truth she is neither, as while she's mentally ill she can feel things like compassion and remorse, something real sociopaths and psychopaths don't do.)
- Interrogation Montage: Nightwing goes round showing a picture of Harley.Man: Haven't seen her.
Bum: Would have liked to!
Landlord: Dame owes me three weeks back rent! If you find her, you tell her she can eat my sh—
Old man: Sheee had... the cutest smile. - Karma Houdini: Poison Ivy doesn't appear to get punished for trying to turn the entire human race into plants. We do get a very sweet moment where Harley starts to cry, causing Poison Ivy to start crying as well, abandon her plan, and give Harley a huge hug, leading Ivy to pull a Heel–Face Turn against Woodrue. However, after getting knocked aside by him, she is never seen again afterwards.note
- Kill It with Fire: Batman defeats Woodrue this way, thanks to a suggestion from Harley.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The "redeemed" Harley is still an obnoxious bitch most of the time. She' still turns out to be basically a good guy, even though she seems to double-cross Batman and Nightwing, it's just a trick as she saves them again right after.
- Match Cut: When Harley Quinn kisses Nightwing while he is strapped to her bed, Floronic Man's voice is heard saying that is "disgusting". However, turns out he was referring to Poison Ivy using her kiss on the Kidnapped Scientist.
- Merchandising the Monster: Harley Quinn is found working at "Superbabes", a café staffed by women dressed as female heroes and villains from In-Universe.
- Mistaken for Gay: Harley tells Nightwing that this is what some people think about him and Batman. Nightwing proves it wrong.
- Mood Dissonance and often Mood Whiplash: this film relative to the more serious DCAU, and several times within the film itself. One moment, you're discussing the potential extermination of all life on earth via mutant virus due to an ecoterrorist's misguided idealism; the next moment... you're treated to a scene-long fart joke.
- Morality Pet: Harley is this to Ivy. She even successfully convinces her to abandon Floronic Man's Evil Plan.
- Ms. Fanservice: Harley, taken up to eleven. Her waitress costume is insanely revealing. In her apartment she's in her bra and panties that shows off more of her ass than it covers and shows off the top half of her ass when she bends over. Her song and dance number looks like she's about to have an orgasm on stage (and she often sounds like she's having one too) and that's not even mentioning her seduction of Nightwing.
- Mugging the Monster: At Superbabes some Jerkass tries to grab Harley's ass (likely not knowing or believing she's the real deal.) She even warns him not to, only for him to try anyways and get his arm broken for his trouble.
- Mundane Solution:
- After No Selling everything the heroes throw at him, Floronic Man meets his match in Poison Ivy. Following an intense, dramatic struggle that ends with Ivy decisively establishing herself as the superior botanokinetic, Floronic Man stares at her in awe... and then promptly knocks her out with a simple punch.
- Batman and Nightwing recount how none of their highly-advanced weapons were capable of harming Floronic Man and conclude that they have failed their mission. Cue Harley pointing out that the villain is a walking pile of leaves and suggesting they light up a match to set him on fire. This extremely simple solution spells the villain's downfall.
- Mythology Gag:
- In the comic, Harley has her New 52 Rebirth costume (the one with the red and blue mascara and ponytail tips).
- At one point, Harley dons her New 52 costume, right down to the black and red hair.
- Early on, Harley keeps referring to Nightwing as "Nightwig", mostly because she remembers the fact that he used to have a mullet.
- Among the several waitresses in Harley's job can be spotted Jim Balent's Catwoman, Power Girl and the New 52's Starfire, just to name a few.
- The Bad Guy Bar scene has several references to the 1960s series:
- Batman orders a glass of milk
- A mook does the Batusi to mock Batman. Said Mook and his companion are dressed just like Catwoman's mooks from the show.
- When the bar's clientele attack Batman the fight is represented by sound effects and onomatopoeia.
- It has also several minor characters from Batman: The Animated Series, mostly of them minor villains or henchmen of the main villains of the series: Min and Max, the twins that worked for Harvey Dent and were killed by Rupert Thorne at the end of "Two-Face" part 2; Farmer Brown's genetically modified daughter Emmy Lou; Rocco and Henshaw, Joker henchmen; Crocker from "Appointment in Crime Alley"; Driller, a safe-cracking thug from the episode "POV"; Joker's henchmen from "Beware The Creeper"; Roland Daggett's henchman Germs; Scarface's henchman Rhino; Lily and Violet from "Eternal Youth"; Enrique El Gancho (Ricky the Hook); Nitro; a Calendar Boy; Ratso from "Read My Lips"; Candace (a minor villain who worked for Rupert Thorne, and Bane, and Two-Face); Mr. Freeze's henchgirls, the Moles, from "Cold Comfort"; Penguin's Iceberg Lounge waitress from "The Ultimate Thrill"; Captain Clown (a robot) from "The Last Laugh", and Randa Duane from "Heart of Steel", parts 1 and 2; Maven, Selina Kyle's assistant from "The Cat and the Claw". And, for some inexplicable reason, Ra's Al Ghul's bodyguard Ubu. Felix and Leo, two of Catwoman's henchmen from the 60s Batman, also do the Batusi.
- Floronic Man feeds Poison Ivy the last of the hallucinogenic yams he got from Swamp Thing during Alan Moore's Anatomy Lesson storyline.
- The sequel comic includes Harley having an accidental encounter with Waller, Flagg, Deadshot, and Boomerang, likely just after their actions in Justice League Unlimited, and reveals that Killer Croc's just been forced into serving Waller. All this is either as a foreshadowing of where Harley might end up soon, or to explain away why she's never depicted working for Waller in the DCAU like in other continuities.
- Nice, Mean, and In-Between: Batman is the nice (although he's not quite as compassionate as in The Animated Series). Harley is the mean, being completely obnoxious for most the the film (although she turns out to have a nice streak after all). And Nightwing is the In-between (he's far nicer than Harley, but not quite The Paragon Batman is.)
- Nobody Poops: Averted. At one point Harley really needs to go but Batman and Nightwing won't stop. So she keeps farting until they relent and stop at gas station so she can do her business.
- Noodle Incident: As mentioned under "The Ghost", Lady Shiva exists in this universe, but all we know from that scene is that she retains her ties to the League of Assassins and was involved in a battle in Nanda Parbat that brought her into conflict Batman and A.R.G.U.S.
- Not So Above It All : Batman finds himself dropping his stoicism on a number of occasions (i.e tapping to the beat of Harley's song), usually because of Harley's antics. Sometimes he's exasperated by her, while other times he seems to genuinely enjoy her company at that moment. He and Nightwing even kiss her cheeks, both at once, when Harley proposes an idea to defeat Floronic Man for good.
- Offhand Backhand: It's his signature move, of course Batman is going to do it. Bonus points for funny because he does it to the mook mocking him by doing the Batusi.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Batman takes his belt off and tells the entire Bad Guy Bar "Let's dance." He proceeds to beat up the club offscreen.
- Percussive Therapy:
- After Nightwing's initial attempts to enlist Harley's aid fall on deaf ears, he threatens to bring her in for failing to check in with her parole officer. She attacks him and declares that he's about to receive all the payback for the sexual harassment she's been enduring.
- With the threat of Ivy and the Floronic Man hanging over their heads, while being forced to deal with Harley's insanity, when a bar full of minions decide to try and pummel Batman to death, the Dark Knight takes off his belt and invites them to try, a broad smile on his face as he works out his frustration on them.
- Poison Ring: Harley beats Nightwing in their fight by sucker punching him with a ring that delivers a mild version of Joker Venom (just strong enough to make the victim laugh a little bit and lose consciousness for a short time).
- Pretty in Mink: Harley has a bunch of costume variants in her closet, including "Arctic Harley", which is just a white fur jacket.
- Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: Played With, Harley and Ivy both care a lot about each other and a lot of their motivations and actions are fueled by their feelings for one another. That said though they end up having a pretty brutal fight in the climax. But Ivy is finally convinced to turn on Floronic Man when Harley gives her Puppy-Dog Eyes. Then, when Floronic Man sees this, he describes Harley as Ivy's 'mate'.Ivy: (Hugging Harley and crying) I hate you so much.
- Psychopathic Womanchild: Harley, as usual. She's not as psycho as before but still has a very childish demeanor. she gets better at the end.
- Puppy-Dog Eyes: At the climax, Harley unleashes "the nuclear option," combining puppy dog eyes with Humanizing Tears, in an attempt to convince Ivy to quit working with the Floronic Man. It works.
- Raging Stiffie: While not shown to the viewer, Nightwing gets one while tied to a bed and seeing Harley in her bra and panties. She most definitely notices it and decides to take advantage of him.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When the handsy customer at the bar complains that Harley broke his arm, rather than fire her, the unfazed chef points to a sign telling him not to touch the girls.
- Red Shirt: All the unnamed soldiers and cops working with the trio are dead meat.
- Resort to Pouting: Harley manages to get Ivy to give up her plan by pulling an extreme example of Puppy-Dog Eyes.
- Retired Badass: Harley has hung up the tights when the story starts, but she still has the moves to fight off even Nightwing and flip a huge, lecherous man.
- Schrödinger's Canon: When fans asked Bruce Timm if the film was canon to the DCAU, he said he thought it was but that it was ultimately not his choice to make.
- Sex for Services: Nightwing gets Harley to help by sleeping with her. He'd have been up for it regardless, but the mission takes priority, so he couldn't have taken time out during an investigation to sleep with someone unless it helped.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Harley has no qualms about stripping to her bra and panties in front of Nightwing. Or taking advantage of the results.
- Sherlock Scan: When Batman finds Nightwing and Harley tickle-fighting in her apartment, he gives the room a split second scan, (clothing and panties on the floor, the remains of the makeshift bondage tape on Harley's bedposts), and IMMEDIATELY gives Nightwing the "Somebody got him some huh?" look of shame.
- Shout-Out:
- The information needed for Ivy and Jason's plan was created by Alec Holland. Swamp Thing actually does show up in the ending... and fails to do anything of importance to stop Woodrue, simply lecturing him briefly before taking off again.
- Harley's uniform as a waitress at Superbabes is pretty much her New 52 look in a nutshell, complete with bleached white skin and half-red half-black hair.
- The walls of Superbabes are decorated with precisely accurate reproductions of familiar comic-cover and poster portraits of various heroes (male and female), such as Batgirl and Superman.
- Every single patron of the henchman bar except the one guy Harley is looking for is a shout-out to either TAS or the Adam West Batman, as pretty much every single one can be traced back to one of the two.
- Harley's song in the henchmen bar is her cover of Blondie's "Hanging on the Telephone".
- In The Stinger, Ask Dr Quinn (the name already a shout out in itself), looks like those Dr Oz type shows, but suddenly morphs into Total Wipeout (complete with the row of giant ball-things!)
- When the henchman is dancing behind Batman in the bar, he does the Batusi—Batman's dance from the 1966 adaptation of Batman.
- When talking about Ivy's tendency to turn normal shrubbery and the like into dangerous beings and refers to them as "Little Shop of Horrors, on steroids."
- Harley says while fighting Harley that she can "do this all night."
- Although not mentioning it by name, Harley is clearly referring to the Moral Guardians book Seduction of the Innocent when asking if Nightwing and Batman are gay.
- Rhino mocks Batman by calling him "Batfink".
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Lady in this case. 99% of the bad language in the movie comes from Harley.
- Slasher Smile: Batman flashes one at the henchmen bar when all the patrons block his path, intending to beat him down. Big mistake.
- Stating the Simple Solution: While Batman and Nightwing are discussing what to do about Woodrew since none of their high tech weapons work on him, Harley says that since he's a plant, they could just set him on fire. It works.
- Squishy Wizard: Poison Ivy and Floronic Man, respectively; when they battle each other, Ivy proves herself the most powerful when it comes to controlling plant life, but, while she's no slouch in a fight either, he has Super-Strength, so he knocks her out on a single hit.
- The Stinger: Two. A mid-credits stinger shows the Floronic Man trying to put himself out after being lit on fire while the post-credits scene features Harley now hosting a Game Show where contestants go through an extreme obstacle course to determine whether they can get therapy from a licensed professional or not.
- Superman Stays Out of Gotham: Given a reason. While Batman did alert the Watchtower to what is going on, most of the best heroes were busy with a space mission in the Rigel System, with others at a christening at Aquaman's place at Atlantis. The only available heroes included Booster Gold, Black Condor, Elongated Man, Triumph and Bloodwynd, none of them being the kind of guys Batman and Nightwing really want to deal with (No No No, Meh, talking too much, loser, and jerk being Nightwing's response to the suggestions). Batman and Nightwing then hang up, making it Batman Doesn't Want C-List Fodder (or Booster) in Gotham.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Nightwing expresses disappointment that Harley is working at a sleazy place like Superbabes and points out that Harley could have used her psychiatric training to get better work. After she ties him up in her apartment, Harley informs Nightwing that she did try to get more respectable jobs, but her criminal background prevented her from being hired, and her only options besides the restaurant were in pornography.
- Talk Show: Harley hosts one in an end credits scene, which then turns into a game show.
- Tastes Like Purple: At one point Harley keeps farting and Batman says it "smells like discipline". While probably meant as a metaphor (i.e "I have enough discipline not to give into her demands just because she keeps farting") it's still a very odd thing to say.
- Toilet Humor: Harley farts in the Batmobile, so that they will stop and let her use the restroom.
- Too Dumb to Live: Batman lives, of course, but... for always being regarded as Crazy-Prepared, against Woodrue didn't it occur to Batman to have all those soldiers bring along grenade launchers and a couple of flame throwers?
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Harley's depiction in this film is almost nothing like she did in previous DCAU series. She's rude, obnoxious, foul-mouthed, and argumentative. Very different from the childish Affably Evil personality she's prevously shown. To be fair, life after parole hasn't been very kind to her, she works a minimum wage job as a waitress at a skeevy restaurant, being forced to dress in scanty clothing and is constantly sexually harassed by the patrons. Society still hasn't forgiven her for her crimes and she's unable to get a better job.
- Likewise, Batman's attitude towards Harley is pretty much the opposite of the kindness and understanding he showed her during the BTAS episode Harley's Holiday, even as she's been nothing but helpful to him (though considering her history of pulling a Heel–Face Revolving Door, he's somewhat justified in his skepticism, especially if Return of the Joker chronologically takes place after the film, as has been speculated).
- Took a Level in Kindness: In contrast to the above, Poison Ivy is much less of a Misanthrope Supreme compared to her main series counterpart. She constantly questions whether her plan to turn the world into plant hybrids is justified, she's visibly upset when Floronic Man kills Harold and leaves Harley to burn to death, and she ultimately ends up siding against him in the end after Harley convinces her the pain she's causing isn't worth any possible benefits.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: While the pals of the grabby customer are shocked at the beating Harley gave him, all the other restaurant staff regard it as just a typical day.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist:
- Jason claims he is saving the planet by turning all the ''Meatbags'' into plants. While the heroes do agree with him in some ways, his method has just as high a chance of destroying all life on the planet.
- Harley all but namedrops this trope when she tells Ivy that, "You're heart is in the right place," but "Friends don't let friends kill seven billion people."
- Worst Aid: Averted. When Harold is impaled by Jason Batman says not to pull out the spike in his chest since that would just lead to more bleeding. Harold still dies though.
- Villain Has a Point: Ivy starts having second thoughts about the plan to mutate everyone into plant hybrids due to the high risk of their formula killing all life rather than changing it. Jason reminds her that the Earth will suffer a slow death at the rate of pollution and environmental exploitation mankind is creating if they don't take the risk. As he reminds her in her own words, people won't give a damn about saving the Earth unless they're made to. He's not wrong. Many of the big efforts to regrow forests or clean up oceans only started after people were faced with the consequences of their current lifestyles.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Harold, who The Floronic Man kills the moment he perfects his formula.
- You Keep Using That Word: Harley is annoyed at the fact people (such as Batman) refer to sociopaths as "psychopaths".
Tropes in Harley Quinn and Batman
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Harley gets so fed up with the Joker ignoring her for his obsession with Batman that she kicks him in the nuts and declares she's going solo.
- Woman Scorned: The entire first issue is this: Harley sabotaged all of the Joker's weapons, his escape route and ended up tipping everyone off on the Joker's plan to get back at him for his Bat-obsession. It doesn't work. At all.
