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Huge spoilers for HBO's Harley Quinn season 4, and potential spoilers for season 5.

At long last, a new Harley Quinn trailer is upon us. The HBO animated comedy that works DC Comics characters into raunchy, Archer-esque situations was renewed for a season 5 all the way back in November of 2023, but it's taken this long to get a glimpse at it. And while Harley Quinn has thus far been content with creating its own stories with its cast of comic book heroes, the new look at this season appears to hint at the idea that the show will be adapting one of the most popular Batman comics of all time - Batman: Under the Red Hood.

I'll explain my reasoning in just a moment here, but first, check out the trailer right here:

Pretty cool, eh? My personal favorite part was the introduction of The Red X, a DC villain (er, antagonist - I guess 'villain' is a pretty loose term in this show) that, like Harley Quinn herself, was actually introduced outside the comic book medium. Not only is Red X a fan favorite among DC fans, it's also his appearance that makes me think we're getting an adaptation of the classic Batman tale mentioned above.

Get your corkboards and red strings out, everybody.

The Red X was first introduced in the animated Teen Titans series that ran from 2003-2006, originally as a secret identity for the character of Robin. Though he was technically introduced first, many fans have drawn parallels between him and the Red Hood, originally a mystery character that, long story short, was revealed to be a resurrected Jason Todd, the Robin that was killed by the Joker and then brought back to life via the legendary waters of the Lazarus Pits, a substance infamous for its age-reversing and resurrecting powers.

And if our hunch is correct, that's exactly the story we're about to get in the upcoming season of Harley Quinn.

In case you didn't know, the previous season of the series saw the shocking death of Dick Grayson, AKA Nightwing, voiced by What We Do in the Shadows' own Harvey Guillén. At the end of the season, Nightwing's grave was robbed, and it was revealed that Talia al Ghul took his body to, you guessed it, the Lazarus Pits. Now, a mysterious red-themed villain is plaguing the heroes of Harley Quinn, and we can't help think that it's a former Robin, newly undeceased.

But we're not just guessing here, there's evidence that points to this fact. Check out this screengrab from the 1:21 mark of the trailer, during which it appears the Joker is doing battle with an adversary:

To the left of Joker is an unmasked Bruce and Damian Wayne, restricted by large rope-like red x's. A scattering of Red X-arangs makes it pretty obvious that Joker is tossing a chattering teeth weapon at the X itself. But what's really interesting is what comes just a few frames later - see of you can see what I'm getting at:

See those busts on the left? Color me conspiratorial, but the pearls on the woman and mustache on the man sure do make it seem like those are busts of Thomas and Martha Wayne, making myself and perhaps some other tinfoil Titans fans believe this scene takes place at Wayne Manor.

And who would have access to Wayne Manor that's not Bruce and Damian, who maybe has a lethal score to settle against the criminals of Gotham?

A formerly-dead Robin, that's who.

Harley Quinn season 5 will stream on Max January 16, 2025.

He is vengeance, he is the night, he is... one of Popverse's favorite subjects. Learn how to do a Dark Knight movie marathon right with our Batman movie guide, and for the true World's Greatest Detectives out there, dive deep into the heart of Gotham City by getting to know Batman with Popverse. Here are some of our latest Batman stories:

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