Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel) is a fictional Batman character who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timmis and made her debut in The Batman Adventures #12 (September 1993). She is the girlfriend and partner in crime of The Joker and best friends with Poison Ivy. She dresses up like a jester or harlequin in red, black, and white. Later she dresses in shorts and tops with blonde hair, which is half pink and half blue in pigtails. She was voiced by Arleen Sorkin in Batman: The Animated Series. Harley Quinn makes her live-action cinematic debut in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) film Suicide Squad (2016), where she is portrayed by Margot Robbie. Robbie reprises her role in Birds of Prey (2020) and The Suicide Squad (2021), with elements of her portrayal's design consequentially incorporated into comics.
Harley Quinn
Origin
Harley Quinn is one of the few Batman characters that was first created for the Batman animated series and was only subsequently adopted into the Batman comics.
The character first appeared in episode #22 (Joker's Favor) of Paul Dini and Bruce Timm's Batman animated series, which first aired in the US on September 11, 1992. Several appearances followed in Elseworld stories such as Batman Thrillkillers 62 (1997) or Batman of the Future - The Joker Returns, before Harley Quinn first appeared in a DC comic in 1994 (The Batman Adventures: Mad Love).
Comics and publication history
The graphic novel Mad Love (1994) first told the origin story of Harley Quinn within the continuity of the Batman animated series, integrating her into the official DC canon. The story (adapted by Dini and Timm) was well received and won an Eisner and a Harvey Award for Best Single Issue Comic of the Year. The comic was also adapted for film in a 1999 episode of the same name in the animated series The New Batman Adventures.
Through the 1999 comic book Batman: Harley Quinn by Paul Dini, the character was fully adopted into the DC universe. In 2000, Karl Kessel published the eponymous comic book series Batman: Harley Quinn with a total of 38 volumes over four years. In the tradition of the Batman: Animated Series, the series focused entirely on Harley as the title character and followed her through numerous adventures that also featured appearances by other Batman villains and DC characters, such as Superman and Bizarro.
In 2009, DC published the comic book series Gotham City Sirens (by Paul Dini and Peter Calloway), in which the three Batman villains Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy team up to protect each other. The series contributed to a deeper characterization of Harley Quinn, showing her as a loyal partner beyond her relationship with the Joker.
As part of The New 52 reboot, in which DC announced fundamental changes to 52 of their comic series, Harley Quinn also underwent a visual makeover. Instead of her clownish outfit, in the "Suicide Squad" comics (2011) she wears two-tone braids and, similar to the Joker, a white-painted face. The portrayal in an impractical-looking corset with shorts stirred discussions about the sexualization of the character in terms of a "male gaze." Harley Quinn also changed character-wise towards a more malevolent version of herself. Her backstory also underwent some changes. In The Hunt for Harley Quinn by Adam Glass, Harley also helps the Joker escape Arkham Asylum, but instead of voluntarily joining his side, the Joker plunges her into a vat of ACE chemicals, leading her to the same fate that befell him. Harley is wilder, crazier, and thus the ideal "lunatic sidekick" who also looks a lot like the Joker.
Starting in 2013, the new version of the Harley Quinn comics was released, initially gaining notoriety with controversy. As part of a talent contest, DC asked artists to draw Harley Quinn in a bizarre suicide scene, including standing in the mouth of a whale or naked in a bathtub surrounded by electrical appliances. Several organizations, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, sharply criticized the action and the associated sexualization of suicide, and fans called for a boycott of DC merchandise. DC Comics subsequently released an apology. The series also featured intimate interactions between Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, including a tender kiss on the cheek; however, their romantic relationship was not confirmed by DC in a tweet until 2015.
In the comic Batman: Curse of The White Knight, published in 2019, Harley reappears as Harleen Quinzel, who has left the Joker and is expecting his child. Fall 2019 also saw the release of the first volume of the Harleen series under the DC Black Label, in which Stjepan Šejić reinterprets Harley Quinn's origin story.
