'Harley Quinn': How planning a heist and hiring henchmen for hijinks happens in the world of the Legion of Doom
A question that doesn't get asked as often as it should is just how villains manage to orchestrate their grand schemes. Where do the henchmen come from? Who funds the elaborate death traps?
How much planning, practice and preparation goes into your average supervillain plot, considering every one of them seems to work with perfect precision (at least, until the final moment where the hero saves the day)?
In the latest episode of 'Harley Quinn', we learn some of those answers, as Harley (Kaley Cuoco) joins the big leagues in the Legion of Doom. There's a process to villainy, with the higher-ups in the Legion of Doom pitching their evil ideas to the room to get funding for their grandiose plans.
It's a surprisingly democratic process, with the rest of the Legion voting on pitches, and offering constructive criticism, all in the service of "making the world a worse place".
Once you have a seat at the table, however, it's apparently not too hard to get yourself funded — the Joker (Alan Tudyk) almost manages to get $800 million for touting the idea of a giant death tower that has his face on it.
Once you've gotten funding, there's even a process to get your henchmen assigned to you (is there a separate HR department for Henchmen Resources?)
If being a supervillain is akin to being a corporate partner, then henchmen are the poor souls a few steps below unpaid interns, as Clayface (Alan Tudyk), Doctor Psycho (Tony Hale) and King Shark (Ron Funches) find out, to their dismay.
All their unique abilities, talents, skills and superpowers are for naught — their value is standardized and they're forced to work with any third-tier villain with the right paperwork.
One imagines the LOD has a variety of one-size-fits-all henchmen costumes themed for every villain on the core team.
Which all leads to a bigger question — is crime legal in the 'Harley Quinn' universe? The Legion of Doom is obviously a public organization.
They made a public statement to distance themselves from Doctor Psycho, making sure the world knows that while their brand includes large scale theft, destruction, and even murder, it does not include misogyny.
Is it a situation akin to the Thieves Guild of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, where criminals are expected to fulfill a certain yearly crime quota and monitor those operating without a thief's license?
Lex Luthor is almost certainly funding the LOD, which likely means the LOD is funded by Lexcorp, another public organization. Are people still willing to buy products from a businessman who has openly been proven evil, and dedicated to making the world a worse place?
It would appear so — but thankfully, 'Harley Quinn' is a comic book show with no grounding in reality. The next episode of 'Harley Quinn' airs on January 31 on DC Universe.
