You know the character most famous for being the Joker’s girlfriend? DC Comics just confirmed that she’s been in a relationship with a woman, too. Yep, Harley/Ivy is canon.
The confirmation came via Harley Quinn series writers Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner during a hashtag chat over the official DC Comics Twitter account about the character:
When contacted by Kotaku, representatives from DC Comics said the publisher had no comment on the tweets from earlier today.
The two Gotham villainesses have been shown to be flirty and emotionally supportive of each other in numerous stories in comics and filmed adaptations, so this isn’t exactly a surprise. But today does mark the first time that creators associated with the publisher have officially acknowledged a romantic relationship between the plant-controlling redhead and Mr. J.’s occasional moll.
After DC’s New 52 reboot four years ago, she’s still been primarily portrayed as heterosexual, first with the Joker and then briefly with Deadshot in the Suicide Squad. (That latter hook-up was a plot point in the animated Suicide Squad movie that came out last year.) As recently as issue #14 of her latest series (from this January), Harley was shown trying to hook up with a male character. Ivy, on the other hand, has historically been shown as a manipulative seductress but never one with a longstanding romantic entanglement with a man. This newly confirmed aspect of the Harley/Ivy relationship may not become a big plot point in the character’s ongoing series but it’s nice for Palmiotti and Conner to give voice to something that fermented in fans’ heads for years.