Zatanna And The Flash Appear To Be Coupled Up In Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special
HBO Max just dropped a trailer for "Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special," and it's every bit as romantic and weird as you'd expect. The special takes place in the unique universe of the "Harley Quinn" series, which offers an irreverently adult take on classic DC Comics characters. The story of this special in particular seems to follow Harley and Poison Ivy after they inadvertently cause all of Gotham to become ... romantically charged. That's about as specific as we can get without going full-blown NSFW. Suffice it to say, love is in the air, and things are going to get characteristically raunchy for the villains of Gotham City as a result.
Of course — it being V-Day in the DC Universe, and all — there are plenty of odd couplings throughout the teaser for the special. Catwoman drops off some bat-chocolates for her recently incarcerated Dark Knight; Kite Man happily lights up the sky with his new girlfriend, Golden Glider; King Shark and his queen recreate the iconic pottery scene from "Ghost" (possibly with the help of Clayface); and, as he says himself, "Darkseid is ... in love" with a seemingly mortal woman. Even the Riddler is in the mood, as he's seen finally proposing to his longtime boyfriend, Clock King.
One couple is so odd, however, it has the internet in an absolute frenzy — even though the roots of the relationship can be traced right back to the comics.
Zatanna and The Flash are dating? Since when?
In the opening shot of the trailer for "Harley Quinn: A Very Problematic Valentine's Day Special," The Flash is seen riding on a pink cloud of love, cozying up with its magical pilot, Zatanna. The pairing of DC's preeminent magician and the scarlet speedster was surprising to many, including this YouTube commenter who wrote "Wait zatanna and the flash are dating[?]"
The shock was shared by some on Twitter, like @cheryllynneaton, who wrote, "Hold up ... Flash and Zatanna? Since when?!" While it might seem bizarre to most fans who are largely familiar with popular versions of the two characters (such as Grant Gustin and/or Ezra Miller's iterations of The Flash or the "Young Justice" version of Zatanna) or even their modern comic book counterparts, one user on Twitter quickly pointed out that the relationship is technically comic book canon.
As @i__m__kerer tweeted, "Someone finally remembered that Zatanna and The Flash had a little romantic situation back in the day." Along with the tweet, they shared a screencap of two comic book pages (seemingly from the Silver Age) showing the heroes blatantly flirting with each other. It's very likely that the shot in the "Harley Quinn" special is a direct nod to this niche comic book romance.