Harley Quinn Season 5 Continues Teen Titans' Biggest Unsolved Mystery

The Max animated series "Harley Quinn" is an irreverent, raunchy comedy that takes the worlds and characters of DC Comics and runs with them in new and unexpected ways. Since the series debuted in 2019, it's given us the love story between Harley (Kaley Cuoco) and Poison Ivy (Lake Bell) that comic fans have always wanted and deserved, helped Harley fully evolve from the Joker's sidekick to a kind of hero in her own right, and has even delivered a Joker (Alan Tudyk) that feels new and refreshing despite the fact that Jokers are currently a dime a dozen. Now, in the new trailer for season 5, it looks like they're going to run wild with one of the biggest "Teen Titans" mysteries.

It looks like Red X, the character created for the 2004 "Teen Titans" series who has also appeared in the "Titans Go!" comic, is going to make his debut on "Harley Quinn." Though the series isn't part of the overall canon of James Gunn and Peter Safran's DC Universe (DCU) and really isn't technically even a continuation of the "Teen Titans" canon, it will be very interesting to see how "Harley Quinn" tackles this enigmatic and dangerous villain-turned-antihero.

"Teen Titans" set up some really interesting ideas with Red X, who was originally a secret villain identity for Robin/Dick Grayson (Scott Menville). In addition to Grayson's natural athletic ability, the Red X suit also had a cloaking device, teleporter, and X-shaped attack beams that could be fired out of the hands like a goth version of Iron Man. After Robin hung up the identity and the suit, it was stolen and a new, mysterious Red X appeared on the scene as Robin's arch-nemesis.

Eventually, Red X came around to being more of an anti-hero (sort of like another former Robin, Jason Todd, who became the infamous Red Hood). Unfortunately, because "Teen Titans" was cancelled before it got the chance to do more with the character or reveal his identity, quite a bit about the post-Robin Red X remains a mystery. Now, it looks like "Harley Quinn" is going to do something even more interesting with the character using an older, weirder version of Dick Grayson. 

In the trailer, someone who looks an awful lot like Red X appears standing over Harley, menacing her. Aside from the mask and the hastily scrawled X's, which appear to be recent given the red chalk or lipstick in the character's hands, the costume has serious Bat-family vibes, right down to the shape of the cape. It's most likely that this version of Red X is still Dick Grayson/Nightwing (Harvey Guillén), who Harley strangled to death with a friendship bracelet while sleepwalking near the end of season 4. After all, in the season finale he was resurrected via the Lazarus Pit and Talia al Ghul (Aline Elasmar), who brought him back because he was missed by her young son Damian, who is the latest character to take on the mantle of Robin. 

"Harley Quinn" has focused heavily on the gray areas in which we all live, where true heroes and villains don't really exist. Harley is a true anti-hero and has had to prove that throughout the series, and it would be killer to see her find kinship with Red X and maybe help him adjust to his new life after he gets over the whole "murderous revenge" thing he seems to be interested in. After all, Harley is a shrink, and if anyone can help Red X with his complicated identity, it's her. Heck — she even helped Batman deal with the grief of losing his parents once and for all.