Both She-Hulk on Disney+ and Harley Quinn on HBO Max are superhero comedies, but Harley's R-rated humor is perfect for comic book deconstructionism.
The animated Harley Quinn series is another former DC Universe original that found a second life on HBO Max. In a surprising move for new owners Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been canceling more projects than it's renewed, the show will get a new season. One reason why Harley Quinn might've been spared is because its profane deconstruction of comic stories and the DC mythos is a perfectly timed superhero comedy.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is Marvel Studios' first full-on comedy series, and it also pokes fun at superhero conventions. Still, because everything is connected in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, some cows are too sacred to be turned into humorous hamburger. The characters can joke about Hulk or Daredevil, but the characters can't be completely ridiculous. It's almost a version of the "laughing with" and "laughing at" debate, and Harley Quinn is 100 percent laughing at the DC Universe. From Batman's romantic proclivities to Christopher Meloni's utterly unhinged performance as Commissioner Gordon, the series makes fun of everyone and everything in the DC Comics universe, winning over even the bro fanboys it satirizes. This fearlessness and simple luck in timing make Harley Quinn the premier comedy for taking apart comic book conventions.
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It makes sense that DC Comics is ahead of Marvel in this regard, especially since comic books are finally recognized as literary art. In the mid-1980s, some 20 years after the Marvel boom ushered in a Second Age of comics, the medium's artfulness was still a matter of debate. When Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons did Watchmen, it was a limited series that deconstructed the sillier aspects of comics while advancing the medium into new strata of storytelling. Arguably, the story wouldn't have had the impact it did if the adult comics' fans buying these books hadn't spent the past decade or two reading these stories. In 2022, pop culture has had about two decades of superhero dominance on the big screen and on television. Like comic readers in 1986, fans are ready for shows like Harley Quinn and She-Hulk.
Yet, the decision to set Harley Quinn in its own cartoonish universe is what sets it apart from Shulkie's show. It allows for leaps in logic, like how the most notorious villains in the world are wanted fugitives but also able to host a televised award show (from the theater where Bruce Wayne's parents were killed, no less). This season, James Gunn guest-starred as a director making movies about the Waynes' murder, and the show's characters joked about how often real-world audiences have seen Thomas and Martha Wayne bite it on the screen.
Still, the best thing about Harley Quinn is that the heroes are, mostly, as ridiculous as the villains. Aquaman smack talks his villains while getting high-fives from dolphins. Superman is a Certified Hot Dummy. Nightwing is a comically twisted and tortured soul growing up in The Dark Knight's shadow. Even Batman kicked off a zombie apocalypse in Gotham while dealing with relationship troubles this season. As funny as it is, She-Hulk: Attorney at Law could never pull of these premises, if only because Kevin Feige and the MCU braintrust would never let them.
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In a way, She-Hulk is the more difficult comedy to pull off. It has to be funny while also not doing anything that affects the larger MCU continuity. Tatiana Maslany's Jen Walters has to work as a comedic lead but also fit into the regular world of the MCU. It's a tough balancing act, especially for a nearly eight-foot-tall hulk. Harley Quinn doesn't have to worry about that. The show can do incredibly creative, unique things like making Swamp Thing a man-bun-wearing yoga-bro. If the goal of a superhero comedy is to goof on the tropes of superhero stories, Harley Quinn is just better able to do it because it isn't bound by any continuity or actors' interpretations of the characters.
As modern pop culture proves, there is room for myriad versions of superhero and comic book stories, from the campy and cute stories to the satirical and grimdark violent dramas. There is definitely room for more than one comedy show from the major comics publishing houses. Yet, given the free rein the storytellers have on Harley Quinn, it is the preeminent show to mine the deconstruction of comic book stories for big laughs.
While Season 4 of Harley Quinn is in production, stream the first three seasons on HBO Max.
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