Harley Quinn's Brutal Hobby Proves She's Perfect for a Marvel Crossover
Roller skates and Harley Quinn are a match made in heaven, as evidenced by the DCEU film, Birds of Prey, giving Harley a surprising connection to Marvel's M.O.D.O.K. Thanks to her background in gymnastics (and fighting experience), in a roller derby, Harley thrives. Primarily a female sport, roller derby is one of the most empowering sports for women and the perfect choice of setting for Harley Quinn. One version of Marvel's M.O.D.O.K., however, would make the perfect rival for Harley.
Amanda Conner's Harley Quinn series focuses on Harley as she begins life for herself in Coney Island, tearing Harley's identity away from the Joker. In the first issue, Harley tries out for a roller derby team and annihilates the competition. Roller derbies are full-contact and in Harley Quinn, even involves weapons from spiked baseball bats to grenades. Conner showed readers that Harley Quinn is a demon on wheels and deserves to skate more often. Of course, fans were thrilled when Harley donned skates for Birds of Prey. These skates made their way from the derby to high-velocity chase and fight scenes that only Harley Quinn could pull off. Thanks to these portrayals of the character, the Clown Princess has become an icon for many female skaters.
In X-Men: To Serve and Protect #4 story, 'Disco Highway', The Grandmaster abducts Dazzler from her world tour, along with her security guards, Misty Knight and Colleen Wing. Together, Dazzler and her All-Girls Roller Death Squad must compete in a roller derby against over a hundred Z-list villains for an ambiguous cosmic prize. What they don't expect is the appearance of M.O.D.O.R.D.: Mental Organism Designed Only for Roller Derby. M.O.D.O.R.D. crashes onto the track, completely bulletproof and propelled by rockets that make him shockingly fast. He's a derby daredevil.
In a renegade derby, there are no rules. Harley's New 52 run gives her plenty of experience in that realm. In comics, where mutants, aliens, and superhumans abound, the limits are endless. And in competitive space sports, this may lead to a kill-to-win scenario. When Dazzler and her Death Squad find themselves up against M.O.D.O.R.D., they must find a dangerously inventive way to win. This includes ramping up the sound enough for Dazzler to create a powerful burst of light energy. Unfortunately, the prize for their efforts is a date with The Grandmaster, who hadn't anticipated M.O.D.O.R.D.'s skating prowess, mistaking him for a Mental Organism Designed Only for Routine Diagnostics. Alternatively, how would Harley and her Birds of Prey fare?
This ultra-specific version of M.O.D.O.K. is just the right level of bizarre and threatening to make a perfect addition to a Harley Quinn-centric DCEU movie. With her competitive streak and penchant for violence, Harley would fit right in at a cosmic derby. However, like Dazzler, she may not find The Grandmaster's prize the most desirable. Even if there are no Marvel-DC quad-skating crossovers in the foreseeable future, comics fans should be eager for more Harley Quinn and M.O.D.O.K. on skates.