Harley Quinn

For the Agatha Christie character Harley Quin, see The Mysterious Mr. Quin.

Harley Quinn
File:HarleyQuinnCvr26.jpg Cover to Harley Quinn #26. Art by Mike Huddleston and Troy Nixey.
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	Batman: The Animated Series episode #22: "Joker's Favor" Airdate: September 11, 1992
Created by	Paul Dini Bruce Timm
In-story information
Alter ego	Dr. Harleen Quinzel
Team affiliations	Secret Society of Super Villains Secret Six
Abilities	Trained in the field of psychoanalysis Talented gymnast Superhuman agility and strength Immunity to all toxins (these last two powers only appear after a certain storyline in the comics and were not part of her initial capabilities)

Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Quinzel) is a fictional character, who was first introduced as a supervillainess on September 11, 1992, in the animated series Batman: The Animated Series, later adapted into DC Comics' Batman comic books. As suggested by her name (a play on the word "harlequin"), she is clad in the manner of a traditional harlequin jester. The character is a frequent accomplice and would-be-girlfriend of Batman's nemesis the Joker, and is also a close ally of supervillainess Poison Ivy.

The character was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm and was portrayed in Batman: The Animated Series and its tie-ins by Arleen Sorkin, and most recently by Hynden Walch on The Batman. In the Birds of Prey series, she was portrayed by actress Mia Sara, and by Sherilyn Fenn in the pilot episode.

IGN's list of the Top 100 Comic Book Villains Of All Time List ranked Harley Quinn as #45.

Fictional character biography

Origin: Batman: The Animated Series

File:Harley-tnba.jpg

Harley Quinn in the Batman: The Animated Series.

Harley Quinn first appeared in the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Favor" (episode #7, original airdate: September 11, 1992), as what was originally supposed to be the animated equivalent of a walk-on role; a number of police officers were to be taken hostage by someone jumping out of a cake, and it was decided that to have the Joker do so himself would be too bizarre (although he ended up doing so anyway). Dini thus created a female sidekick for the Joker. Arleen Sorkin, a former star of the soap opera Days of our Lives, appeared in a dream sequence on that series in which she wore a jester costume; Dini used this scene as an inspiration for Quinn. Dini, who had been friends with Sorkin for years, incorporated aspects of her personality into the character.

The 1994 graphic novel Mad Love recounts the character's origin. Told in the style and continuity of Batman: The Animated Series and written and drawn by Dini and Timm, the comic book describes Harley as an Arkham Asylum psychologist who fell for the Joker and becomes his accomplice and on-off sidekick/lover. The story received wide praise and won the Eisner and Harvey Awards for Best Single Issue Comic of the Year. The New Batman Adventures series adapted Mad Love as the episode "Mad Love" in 1999, making it the second "animated style" comic book adapted for the series (the other was Holiday Knights).

She becomes fascinated with the Joker while interning at Arkham, and volunteers to analyze him. She fell hopelessly in love nearly instantly with the Joker during their sessions, and she helped him escape from the asylum more than once. When the Joker is returned to Arkham in battered and broken state after a battle with Batman, the sight of the injured Joker drives Harley to don the costume and become Harley Quinn, the Joker's helper.

Expanded role

After Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Harley makes several other animated appearances. She appears as one of the four main female characters of the web cartoon Gotham Girls. She also made guest appearances in other cartoons in the DC Animated Universe, appearing in the Justice League episode "Wild Cards" (alongside the Joker) and the Static Shock episode "Hard as Nails" (alongside Poison Ivy).

The animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker takes place in the future, long after the events in Batman: The Animated Series, but it does include a flashback scene with Harley's career apparently ending by her falling down a deep pit during a battle with Batgirl. However, at the end of the movie, two twin juvenile girls who model themselves on the Joker are released on bail to their respectable-looking grandmother who angrily berates them verbally and physically for their activities — to which they answer: "Oh, shut up, Nana Harley!"

She appeared in World's Finest: The Batman/Superman Movie as a rival and foil for Lex Luthor's assistant Mercy Graves; each takes an immediate dislike for the other, at one point fighting brutally with each other as Luthor and the Joker have a business meeting. In the film's climax, Harley nearly kills Mercy when she duct tapes her mouth shut and tapes her to the top of a gigantic killer android, although she is rescued and untied by Batman and Superman.

Comics history

The character proved so popular that she was eventually added to the Batman comic book canon (although she had already appeared in the Elseworlds Batman: Thrillkiller 62 in 1997). The comic book version of Quinn, like the comic book version of The Joker, is more dangerously psychotic and less humorously quirky than the animated series version.

File:HarleyqLG.jpg

Harley with the Joker on the cover of Batman: Harley Quinn.
Art by Alex Ross.

Quinn's DC Universe comic book origin, revealed in Batman: Harley Quinn (October 1999), is largely an adaptation of her animated origin from the Mad Love graphic novel.

A Harley Quinn ongoing series was published monthly by DC Comics for 38 issues from 2001 to 2003. Creators who contributed to the title included Karl Kesel, Terry Dodson, A.J. Lieberman and Mike Huddleston. The series ends with Harley turning herself in to Arkham Asylum, having finally understood that she needs help. She then appears in the Jeph Loeb series Hush. She is next seen in Villains United Infinite Crisis special, where she is one of the many villains who escape from Arkham. (She is, however, knocked unconscious the moment she escapes).

In the One Year Later continuity, Harley Quinn is an inmate at Arkham, glimpsed briefly in Detective Comics #823.

Harley next appeared in Batman #663, in which she helps the Joker with a plan to kill all his former henchmen, unaware that the "punchline" to the scheme is her own death. Upon realizing this, she shoots him in the shoulder.

Harley resurfaces in Detective Comics #831, written by Paul Dini. She is still a borderline psychotic, but has apparently reformed. Harley has spent the last year applying for parole, only to see her request systematically rejected by Bruce Wayne, the layman member of Arkham's medical commission. She is kidnapped by Peyton Riley, the new female Ventriloquist, who offers her a job; Harley turns the job down out of respect for the memory of Arnold Wesker, the original Ventriloquist, who attempted to cheer her up during her first week in Arkham while the Joker was still on the loose, and helps Batman and Commissioner Gordon foil the impostor's plans. Although Sugar escapes, Bruce Wayne is impressed with Harley's effort at redemption, and agrees with granting her parole.

In Birds of Prey #105, Harley Quinn is revealed as the sixth member of the Secret Six. In issue #108, upon hearing that Oracle has sent the Russian authorities footage of teammate Deadshot murdering the Six's employer as payback for double-crossing them, Harley asks, "Is it a bad time to say 'I quit'?", thus leaving the team.

In Countdown #43, Harley appears to have reformed and is shown to be residing in an Amazon-run women's shelter. Having abandoned her jester costume and clown make-up, she now only wears an Amazonian stola or chiton. She befriends the former Catwoman replacement Holly Robinson, and then succeeds in persuading her to join her at the shelter, where she is working as an assistant. They are both brought to Themiscyra by "Athena" (really Granny Goodness) and begin Amazon training. Holly and Harley then meet the real Athena, and encounter Mary Marvel. The group reveal Granny's deception, and Holly, Harley and Mary follow her as she retreats to Apokolips. Mary finds the Olympian gods, whom Granny had been holding prisoner, and the group frees them. Harley is granted powers by Thalia as a reward. Upon return to earth, the powers vanish, and Harley and Holly return to Gotham.

Harley Quinn has joined forces with Poison Ivy and Catwoman in the series Gotham City Sirens. Having moved in with Pamela Isley at The Riddler's apartment, she meets up with Catwoman, who offers for the three of them to live and work together. A new villain who tried to take down Selina Kyle named Boneblaster breaks into the apartment, and the three of them have to move after they defeat him. Later, after a chance encounter with who she thought was Bruce Wayne (but was really disguised Hush), the Joker attempts to kill her, apparently out of jealousy. Quinn is rescued by Ivy and Selina, and it is later revealed that her attacker wasn't the real Joker, but one of his old henchmen impersonating him.

Other versions

• Harley Quinn's first major appearance outside the Batman animated world was in the Elseworlds mini-series Thrillkiller. As with the other characters, her background is very different from the established version: Bruce Wayne, for instance, is a full-time detective in the Gotham City Police Department who becomes Batman after being framed for murder, teaming up with Batgirl (aka Barbara Gordon) who has already been active for some time. This version of Harley is a schoolgirl named Hayley Fitzpatrick who dresses up in order to help a female version of the Joker called Bianca Steeplechase. The relationship between this lesbian or bisexual Joker and Harley Quinn is short-lived but noticeably more egalitarian than its heterosexual counterpart in mainstream DC continuity. After Batgirl kills Bianca, Harley is shown killing her own family, intent on revenge in the final frames of the story.

• In the Elseworlds 80-Page Giant, one of the stories is about Lex Luthor as a music producer. One of his groups is, as the press puts it, "alternative lifestyle folkies Ivy and Harley."

• On the new Earth-3, Harleen Quinzel is the Jokester's manager. She is killed by Owlman.

• In the 2008 graphic novel Joker, Harley Quinn appears as the Joker's helper and aide-de-camp. She at one point acts as a stripper (though this may be a ruse), and is never shown speaking.

In other media

Film

Batman Triumphant

Prior to the release of Batman & Robin, Mark Protosevich was commissioned by Warner Bros. to write a script for a fifth Batman film titled Batman Triumphant to be directed by Joel Schumacher. Harley Quinn was allegedly included as one of the film's three villains, opposite Scarecrow and Man-Bat. In July 2000, Protosevich confirmed Scarecrow and Quinn as the only two villains. Madonna was rumored for the role, which he had rewritten as the Joker's daughter seeking revenge, not his lover and henchgirl as portrayed in the animated series and Batman comics. Due to Batman & Robin's poor box office run, bad Internet buzz, and several negative reviews from critics, Triumphant was never made, and the film franchise went on hiatus for eight years until Batman Begins in 2005.

Television

Birds of Prey

In 2002, a live-action television series called Birds of Prey, loosely based on the comic of the same name, included Harley Quinn as a psychotic psychiatrist and main villain. The character was portrayed by actress Mia Sara, who replaced Sherilyn Fenn (originator of the role in an unaired pilot episode). The show aired only 13 episodes. In this show, Harley is portrayed as an older, far more calculating and sinister character than her bubbly comic and cartoon personas. She also does not wear a costume, although she does wear an outfit that is reminiscent of her cartoon costume in the series finale, "Devil's Eyes". In that episode, she used experimental technology to transfer metahuman mind control powers to herself. It is unknown about this version's relationship with the Joker, although she does make reference to him as "Mr. J." on a few occasions, laments his loss as Gotham's crime boss and hints at a past relationship reminiscent to that of the animated series.

The Batman

Harley Quinn is introduced to the Kids' WB! series The Batman in the Season 4 episode "Two of a Kind". This version of the character, voiced by Hynden Walch, is originally the host of a pop psychology TV show called Heart to Heart with Harley. Claiming to have obtained an online degree for psychology, she gives off-the-cuff advice to her callers that usually hurts more than helps. Her bosses, fed up with her irresponsible behavior, cancels the show on the air after she stages an ambush on Bruce Wayne during her show, after falsely promising she would allow him to promote a charity drive for crime victims. The Joker sees the episode, and proceeds to take advantage of the situation. Initially thinking getting a tell-all from the Joker would restore her career, Harley ends up rampaging the town with the Joker. Eventually, she is arrested after the Joker deserts her, and seemingly regrets taking up with him. Once loaded into a police car, however, she sees that Joker has left her an affectionate message, and instantly falls in love with him again.

This incarnation of Harley wears a slightly different costume than in The Animated Series: the black parts of the original are dark red here, the headdress is larger here than the original, the inverted diamond pattern on the shoulders and thighs is absent, and her mask conceals her eyes.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold

In the Batman: The Brave and the Bold episode "Legends of the Dark Mite!" while Bat-Mite is giving a speech at the Comic-Con, there is a brief cameo of Harley Quinn creator Paul Dini dressed up as her.

Video games

Harley Quinn also appears in several video games based upon the animated series. She appears in a cameo role in The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Super NES, and as a boss in The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Sega Genesis. She also appears in The Adventures of Batman & Robin for the Sega CD and Batman: Chaos in Gotham. Harley Quinn played a major role in the game's storyline in Batman Vengeance, first posing as "Mary Flynn" in a trap for Batman set by the Joker; she later does the Joker's dirty work after he fakes his death. In Sega CD's The Adventures of Batman & Robin and Batman Vengeance, she was voiced by series actress, Arleen Sorkin.

She appears in Lego Batman: The Video Game as an enemy of Batman and a 1st deputy of the Joker. Grey DeLisle provides her Sound Effects.

Arleen Sorkin reprises her role of Harley Quinn in Batman: Arkham Asylum, as one of the main antagonists of the game, here with a new costume. Quinn was also seen in the initial teaser trailer for the still unnamed sequel of Batman: Arkham Asylum set to be launched in 2010, alongside the Joker, with Sorkin reprising her role once again.

See also

• List of Batman Family enemies
• Florence Nightingale effect

External links

• Harley Quinn's Haven - the largest and most comprehensive website dedicated to Harley Quinn since 1997
• Harley Quinn on the DC Animated Universe Wiki, an external wiki
• Template:Dmoz
• Collecting Harley Quinn
• Harley Quinn on the official Superman/Batman Adventures homepage