Harley Quinn Season 5 just wrapped up on Max, and in its exciting finale, it gave Superman a brand new superpower that fans have never seen before.
These new episodes saw Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy arrive in a perfected Metropolis that no longer needed Superman.
After some words of encouragement, Harley convinced the Man of Steel to take a nice sabbatical. However, her timing was poor, given that his vacation had started just before Brainiac’s invasion and evil plots were realized.
In an exclusive interview with The Direct’s Russ Milheim, Harley Quinn creator and executive producer Dean Lorey talked about expanding Superman’s mythos—at least, as much as this show counts as canon.
Superman's Got a New Superpower In Harley Quinn
"Superman Flew Against the Rotation of the Earth and Turned Back Time..."
While Superman was on a much-needed vacation for most of Harley Quinn Season 5, the finale saw the Man of Steel return just in the nick of time, saving the lives of Harley, her mom, Poison Ivy, and all of Metropolis thanks to his newly introduced superpower in the show—he can create bubbles of oxygen in space.
- The Direct: "So, in the finale [you gave Superman] a brand new power that we've never seen him utilize, with the air bubble. The oxygen bubble. What was that like, introducing [and] adding to Superman's [general] canon? Did you think you were gonna step on any fan's toes? And people are gonna be like, Wait a second. He can't do that.
Dean Lorey: Well, a little, I mean, we talked about it because we knew it was something new. But then, at the same time, I was like, Well, I don't know, Superman flew against the rotation of the earth and turned back time in the movies and all of this sort of stuff. So we felt like we could introduce something new. It's not canon. So, we decided to just go ahead and do it.
- The Direct: "Going to Metropolis [for Season 5], you have that big plot road bump in [the fact that] Superman's there. What is Harley Quinn gonna do that Superman can't? So, yeah, what was it like brainstorming to figure out fun, humorous ways in the context of the show [to sideline him], but also somewhat believable, like, Oh, this is where Superman is, so we can't call for his help."
Dean Lorey: I think it's a problem you always face when you're dealing with a character who is pretty much invincible. And then if you're doing a show about Harley, you're like, well, as long as Superman's there, she's not really going to be in any serious jeopardy and all of that.
So, we did decide early on that we wanted him to take a little sabbatical so that we could tell our story a little more purely. But then it sort of, we were like, Well, why would he do that? And what does that have to do with the story that we are telling.
And the idea that the city has been so perfected that it doesn't even need Superman anymore seemed to fit very nicely with the larger story that we were telling. So we so we sent him away. But you know, he needed some [R&R].
Dean Lorey Promises Frank the Planet Isn't Gone Forever... Despite Being Dead
"He's Not Gone As a Character, As Far As I'm Concerned."
- The Direct: "You guys killed off an original character, Frank the Planet, this season. Why did you do it?"
Dean Lorey: We all love Frank. But we really wanted to focus on Frank and Ivy's relationship, which is when we did Ivy's origin story. Frank is a significant part of that, and the origin story is beautifully written by Leslie Shapiro. I really am very happy with how that turned out.
And so we wanted to focus on that relationship [between] Ivy and Frank, and to sort of see the length of time that they've been together, and the depth of love that Ivy has for Frank.
And so as we began to develop that, I started getting sort of a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that we may have to kill Frank. We may have to, after we've seen the love that they have for each other. It may be time for her to lose it, and so we decided to play it out.
But I will say that, you can see as the season progresses, there is one place that Frank is still alive, and that's in The Green. And so even though he's said goodbye on the earthly realm, he's not gone as a character, as far as I'm concerned.
Perfectly Wrapping Up Brainiac's Storyline In the Season 5 Finale
When Chaos Solves Perfection.
- The Direct: " I think the finale really culminated his story in this version of the character, so, well—how did you guys get that balance so perfect and really tied all that together in just the most satisfying way?"
Dean Lorey: Well, it came out of a simple idea, which is, what if, instead of having a typical hero, in this case, the hero is Harley, you know, the hero, villain, fight with a winner, like, what if we see how Harley could affect Brainiac in such a way that it also helps to save them and resolve their story.
And then the core of that seemed to be Brainiac having to have an arc, having to go through a transition where he goes from thinking that he has to perfect everything, which in fact, is impossible and is also a very subjective point of view on something and he realizes that things aren't broken because they're a mess, that the mess is the point.
And that's what life is. It's really a mess, and you have to just kind of embrace that, and that sort of philosophy and art is really what turns things at the end of the show, and that's what gives Harley and Ivy their win at the end of the show. It's not that they're stronger or anything like that. So it really evolved from trying to sort of think through those character beats.
Harley Quinn Season 5 is now streaming on Max.
