User:Dr.HarleenQuinzelHQ

HELLO FANS! I am, as many of you guys may know, Harley quinn and formally Doctor Harleen Frances Quinzel. I am here to actually tell you my REAL story and clear some misconceptions about me up for ya! I will begin my story way back to the very beginning where I feel it will be most relevant to my whole origin and go on from there to what I am now.

My History
 

My Creation and introduction
 First off, You have first been introduced to me by the cartoon show “Batman: The Animated Series” (developed by Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, it originally aired on FOX from September 5, 1992 to September 15, 1995 with a total of 85 episodes.) on the episode "Joker's Favor", where you see me wearing my oh so very classic red and black bodysuit and cowl. In the episode of “Joker’s Favor”, My Mistah J had a number of police officers taken hostage by using a gas to paralyze and freeze them all in one place and unable to move. Mistah J then jumped out of a cake to celebrate and gave one of the officers a one of a kind medal that was a ticking time bomb that would wipe out gotham and it had a cute little version of his face on it… I know… He’s a genius!

The Original Idea for a character like me to be created happened when Dini created a female sidekick for the Joker. Arleen Sorkin, a former star of a soap opera called Days of Our Lives, appeared in a dream sequence in the soap opera where she showed up in a jester suite in which Dini used as inspiration for my traditional Costume.

 

In 1994, The Graphic Novel titled ‘Mad Love’ recounts my Origin where I (Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, M.D.) am an  Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who falls deeply in love for my angel, Mistah J, and become his accomplice and on and off again sidekick.

I became fascinated with the Joker while interning at Arkham and volunteers to analyze him. I fell hopelessly in love with the Joker during our sessions, and I helped my angel escape from the asylum more than once. When the Mistah J is returned to Arkham after a battle with Batman, the sight of my angel drove me absolutely insane, leading me to quit my psychiatrist job and don a jester costume to become who I am now… Harley Quinn, the Joker's sidekick. I later befriend Poison Ivy, who injected me with an antitoxin which gives me increased agility and immunity to toxins. (remind me to thank Red later for that one)

 

My Expanded role
After Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, I made several other animated appearances! I appeared as one of the four main female characters of the web cartoon Gotham Girls. I have 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).

I’ve appeared in World's Finest: The Batman/Superman Movie as a rival and foil for Lex Luthor's assistant Mercy Graves (I never liked her very much) at one point fighting brutally with her as Lex Luthor and Mistah J had a business meeting. In the film's climax, I tied Graves as a human shield to a combat robot set to confront Superman and Batman, but Graves is rescued by the two heroes without suffering any harm (other than the damage I had inflicted on her beforehand).

The animated movie Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker takes place in the future, long after the events in Batman: The Animated Series. It includes a flashback scene where I am falling down a deep pit during a battle with Batgirl (babs). At the end of the movie, a pair of twin girls who model themselves on the Joker are released on bail to their grandmother (me), who angrily berated them—to which they answer: "Oh, shut up, Nana Harley!"

 

My transition to comic books and publication history
 

After the success of The Animated Series, I have proved to be so popular by my fans that I have been eventually added to the Batman comic book canon. I first appeared in the original graphic novel, Batman: Harley Quinn, as part of the "No Man's Land" story, although I have already appeared in the Elseworlds Batman: Thrillkiller and Batman: Thrillkiller '62 in 1997. The comic book version of Me, like the comic book version of the Joker, I am more dangerously violent and less humorously quirky than the animated series version. Despite my noticeably more violent demeanor, I do show mercy and compassion from time to time; I notably stop Poison Ivy from killing Batman, instead convincing her to leave the hero hanging bound and gagged from a large statue. Batman is later untied by Babs.

A Harley Quinn ongoing series[8] 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 dealt with me going solo, eventually starting a gang and then fleeing Gotham for the city of Metropolis with her friend Poison Ivy. I die, only to be resurrected and return to Gotham. The series ends with me turning myself into Arkham Asylum, having finally understood that I needed help. We also learn in issue #8 of the comic that I had a relationship in college with fellow psychiatry major Guy Kopski whose suicide started my obsession with the Joker. I later appeared in the Jeph Loeb series Hush. I am next seen in a Villains United Infinite Crisis special, where I am one of the many villains who escape from Arkham (although I am knocked unconscious the moment I escaped).

In the One Year Later continuity, I am an inmate at Arkham, glimpsed briefly in Detective Comics#823.

I have later appeared in Batman #663, in which I help the Joker with a plan to kill all his former henchmen, unaware that the "punch line" to the scheme is my own death. Upon realizing this, I shoot joker in the shoulder.

I later resurfaced in Detective Comics #831, written by Paul Dini. I have spent the last year applying for parole, only to see my request systematically rejected by Bruce Wayne, the layman member of Arkham's medical commission. I am kidnapped by Peyton Riley, the new female Ventriloquist, who offers her a job; I turned the job down out of respect for the memory of Arnold Wesker, the original Ventriloquist, who attempted to cheer me up during her first week in Arkham while the Joker was still on the loose. I then help Batman and Commissioner Gordon foil the impostor's plans. Although Riley 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 returning to Earth, the powers vanish, and Harley and Holly return to Gotham City.

Harley Quinn joins 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 Bone blaster breaks into the apartment, and the three of them have to move after they defeat him. Later, after a chance encounter with Hush, the Joker attempts to kill her, apparently out of jealousy. Quinn is rescued by Ivy and Catwoman, and it is later revealed that her attacker wasn't the real Joker, but one of his old henchmen impersonating him.

Gotham City Sirens #7 establishes that she was born and raised in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, into a Jewish-Catholic family. Her father is a con artist who is still in jail. Her brother, Barry, is a slob with dreams of rock stardom, and her mother, Sharon, wants her to stop the "villain and hero stuff". It is stated that the reason why Harley chose to become a psychologist in the first place was to try and understand her own broken family.

On a certain instance Harley attempted to steal from Two-Face and the Riddler, but was caught and they were not happy. Later, Poison Ivy discovers Harley bound and gagged in a closet, and Ivy removes the gag and unties her.

Following a number of adventures with Catwoman and Ivy, Harley betrays them and breaks into Arkham Asylum with the goal of killing the Joker for his years of abuse towards her. However, Harley ultimately chooses instead to release Joker from his cell, and together the two orchestrate a violent takeover of the facility that results in most of the guards and staff members either being killed or taken hostage by the inmates. Harley and the Joker are eventually defeated by Batman and Catwoman, and Harley is last seen being wheeled away while bound in a straitjacket and muzzle. Shortly after this, Poison Ivy breaks into Harley's cell and attempts to kill her for her betrayal, but instead offers to free her if she helps kill Catwoman, who had left both of her fellow Sirens behind in Arkham. Harley agrees, and the two set out to trap Catwoman. During the ensuing fight, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and only wanted to help. Just as Batman is about to arrest them, Catwoman helps the two of them escape.

The New 52
Following DC's 2011 relaunch of its titles, Harley Quinn's costume and appearance is fully revamped. Harley Quinn has a more revealing costume, altered hair color, and bleached skin. Her hair is half-red and half-black, like the jester cap of her previous incarnation, rather than fully blonde. Consistent with her new origin, her bleached skin is the result of being kicked into a vat of acid by the Joker. After a falling out with the Joker, she goes into a murderous frenzy, directed towards people responsible for the Joker's imprisonment. Captured by Black Canary, she is forcibly inducted into the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller. However, when she discovers that the Joker is rumored to be dead, it takes a further toll in her already addled mind, and betraying the Suicide Squad, she puts their safety and secrecy at risk by turning herself into the Gotham Police Department in a plot to gain access to the skinned face of the Joker. Her plan apparently pays off, and she manages to recover the face, though in a further psychotic episode, Harley captures and ties up Deadshot and places the skinned face of the Joker over Deadshot's face, so that she can carry on a "conversation" with her dead lover. Deadshot lures Harley in close, shooting and severely injuring her during the conversation. After the Joker returns to Gotham in the "Death of the Family" story line, he forces her to disguise herself in his old Red Hood costume and trick Batman into coming to the chemical plant where they first met. Batman then falls into a tank and demands Harley to tell him where Joker is. But she only replies, in tears, that he's no longer the Joker she had fallen in love with. On July 16, 2013, DC announced that a new Harley Quinn ongoing comic book series would begin publication in November 2013, co-written by Amanda Conner and her husband Jimmy Palmiotti, cover illustrated by Conner and illustrated by Chad Hardin. The series has notably become distanced from the "Batman Family" of DC publications in both tone and premise, with Harley no longer having any significant connection to either Batman or the Joker following the "Death of the Family" storyline. In the series, Harley Quinn has become a landlady at Coney Island, is a part-time member of a roller derby team and has returned to psychiatric work under her real alias, indicating that Harley's real identity is not public knowledge in the new status quo.

Under Conner and Palmiotti's writing, Harley has been reinvented as an antihero rather than a villain, who values human life and actively tries to improve life in her neighborhood. Between issues #11 and #13 Harley formed a brief partnership with an amnesiac Power Girl and battled Clock King and Sportsmaster before Power Girl's memory was restored and she left Harley at the top of theEiffel Tower as punishment for her deceit. Harley attempts to coerce a romantic connection with her tenant Mason, but was unable to make the date due to the multitude of responsibilities in her life, balancing her two jobs with her commitment to her roller derby team and her career as a crime-fighter. With support from her friend Poison Ivy, Harley makes amends with Mason and turns to the internet to recruit other strong, young women in a crime-fighting team she is forming. This team, composing of young women of various ethnic backgrounds and one gay man called Harvey Quinn, then fights Captain Horatio Strong, a sea captain who becomes superhumanly strong after eating an addictive alien sea-plant, in an homage to Popeye. Harley agrees to help a woman whose daughter has been kidnapped by a gang in Hollywood.

Harley Quinn has featured a few standalone specials which are not directly connected to the main series and feature multiple artists. In the scratch and sniff-themed Annual issue, Harley briefly returned to Gotham to save her friend Poison Ivy, as the Arkham Asylum employees monitoring her had brainwashed her to create a hallucinogenic pathogen. In the Valentines Day Special, Harley returned to Gotham to win a prize date with Bruce Wayne (who unbeknownst to her is Batman) and finds herself fighting animal rights activists-turned-super villain blackmailers. She shares a brief intimate moment with Bruce Wayne. At Coney Island, Batman informs Harley that while he still distrusts her, he admires her attempt at heroism and promises not to interfere. Harley kisses Batman and tells him to get "lessons" on kissing from Bruce Wayne, to which Batman privately grins.

In Futures End, a series set five years in the future, Harley mails herself to the Bahamas in an attempt to save money on airfare. The plane carrying her crashes over the ocean while flying through a storm and Harley is washed up onto the shores of an island inhabited by an un-contacted tribe. The tribe quickly declares her a goddess and is determined to have her meet their god-king who turns out to be The Joker. After a fight and reconciliation Harley learns that The Joker has been living on the island as a god and making the inhabitants dress up as various superheroes and track him down while playing tricks on them. It is announced that she and The Joker are to be married. She's initially excited about the pending marriage until she discovers that the two will be sacrificed to the island's volcano as their wedding ceremony ends.

A spin-off series entitled "Harley Quinn and Power Girl" was launched in June 2015. The series is set to run six issues and takes place while Harley has the amnesiac Power Girl convinced the two are a crime fighting duo. The story follows the two when they're sent to a part of deep space known as La Galaxia Del Sombrero during the unseen events mentioned in Harley Quinn #1v2 and then chronicles their journey to return to earth.

Controversy
In September 2013, DC Comics announced a contest for fans and artists, "Break into comics with Harley Quinn!", in which contestants were to draw Harley in four different suicide scenarios. This contest drew controversy not only because it was announced close to National Suicide Prevention Week, but because some artists did not like the sexualized portrayal of Harley in the fourth scenario, in which Harley attempts suicide while naked in her bath tub.

The comics industry is in the midst of a golden age for admirable female role models. Every few months, we get more series starring women worth looking up to: superheroes who work to fight sexism in the workplace by day and evil by night, hard-boiled detectives who battle to avert crises both public and personal, teenagers trying to build a kinder world free of prejudice. But there's a fly in the ointment, and she's wearing clown makeup.

Harley Quinn is the best-selling female character in comics, and she's casually homicidal, gleefully amoral, and mentally unbalanced. There was a time when she was a mental-health professional, but she shredded her Hippocratic Oath when she hopped into bed with a mass-murdering, psychopathic patient and began a crime spree that would make Bonnie and Clyde wince. In the 22 years since she first entered our world as a one-off character in a Batman cartoon, she's occasionally made the world a better place — but it's usually by accident and never for truth, justice, and the American Way.

No one could have predicted that Harley would last beyond her first appearance, much less become the title character in a series that cracks the best-seller charts every month. Her real-world path to icon status is bizarre and unprecedented in the superhero ecosystem. But here she is: Jewish, queer, morally questionable, deeply imperfect, and beloved by millions. The company that owns her, DC Entertainment, has declared February 2015 to be "Harley Quinn Month," and now is the perfect time for us to ask whether Wonder Woman is comics' biggest female icon anymore. (And, if Harley's superfans are to be believed, she’s even more of a feminist character than the venerable Amazon.) Here, then, is the strange, hidden story of Harley Quinn, the superhero world’s most successful woman — who she is and how she came to be.

***

Writer Paul Dini is credited as the creator of Harley, and that's technically true. He came up with the character while he was writing for the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series in the early '90s. But the true origins of Harley Quinn lie years earlier, in the mind of the actress who voiced her on the cartoon: Arleen Sorkin.

In 1987, Sorkin was a regular on the soap opera Days of Our Lives, playing the show's comic relief: the ditzy, leggy, Noo Yawk–accented Calliope Jones. But unlike her flighty character, Sorkin was a skilled and experienced comedy writer. "I could never just come in and run my lines," she told Vulture. "I was forever suggesting stuff, probably out of boredom!" So when she went to a screening of the faux-medieval The Princess Bride, an idea struck her: Why not do a fairy-tale dream sequence on Days? The producers were into it and aired an episode in which Calliope acts as a court jester, roller-skating into a throne room and doing some hackneyed borscht belt gags for a royal family.

Dini and Sorkin were college friends, and one day, she gave him a VHS tape of her favorite Days moments — including her jester bit. The tape sat idle for years. But in mid 1991, Dini was sick as a dog and popped the tape into his VCR. He was a budding television writer at the time, cranking out freelance scripts for the as-yet-unaired Batman: The Animated Series. He'd been struggling to come up with a female character to use as a one-off in an episode about Batman's archnemesis, the Joker.

"I thought, Maybe there should be a girl there," he said. "And I thought,Should the girl be like a tough street thug? Or like a hench-person or something? And then suddenly the idea of someone funny kind of struck me." When he saw Sorkin in clown makeup, the pieces fell into place, and he came up with a silly little sidekick. He gave her the comic-book-y name of Harley Quinn, sketched out an idea for her look, and brought the sketch to the cartoon's lead artist, Bruce Timm.

"He did do a rough design for her, which was, frankly, not very good," Timm recalled. "It had a weird '60s kind of vibe to it. It was just odd. Charming, but odd. I thought we could improve on that. So I immediately started researching traditional harlequin gear and did kind of a simplified super-villain version of that. It was always intended to be just a one-off." Nevertheless, Timm was — and is — a perfectionist and labored to give this cameo character a distinctive look: a red-and-black full-body jumpsuit adorned with playing-card diamonds, ruffled cuffs, and a dual-pronged jester's cap.

Dini invited Sorkin to record the voice for the character she'd inspired. Sorkin had left Days of Our Lives and was game for some work, especially if it just involved a few hours in a recording studio. She was committed on the microphone but didn't put a whole lot of work into preparation. "I picked a voice that came easily," she said. It was, in essence, her own voice: high-nasal, sing-song-y, and filled with Brooklyn-ish inflections.

"It is to laugh, huh, Mistah J?" Harley says to the Joker in her first-ever line of dialogue in that fateful 1992 episode "Joker's Favor." Right away in that  rhetorical question, we get some of the elements that have stood at Harley's core ever since. For one, she's full of nicknames and delightfully early-20th-century idioms ("It is to laugh," in this context, basically means "Ain't that the truth"). Most important, she's immediately expressing a kind of sycophantic devotion for superhero fiction's preeminent bad guy. Harley stories grappled very directly — albeit in exaggerated, cartoonish fashion — with cycles of domestic violence. In classic episodes like "The Laughing Fish," "Harley and Ivy," and "Harlequinade," Harley and the Joker map out a fascinating power dynamic. Like all great superhero-fiction relationships, Joker and Harley's followed a template. At the start, Harley is head over heels for Joker, but he treats her like dirt. Then they separate, usually because Joker kicks her out or Harley decides she's had enough. Harley strikes out on her own or shacks up with fellow villainess Poison Ivy (Dini strongly implied that Harley and Ivy have a sexual relationship, and this fact is more or less canon by now, though DC never officially confirms it). Harley fluctuates between pining for Joker and cursing his name. Joker realizes something's missing from his life without his gal. Then some explosive turn of events reunites the murderous twosome. There were all kinds of variations, but the core outline became like a Punch and Judy show: cyclical, violent, and compellingly simple. Fans immediately responded to this strange, passionate woman. Tara Strand was about 15 and living in the Podunk town of Victorville, California, when she first saw Harley on The Animated Series, and right away she "felt this big kinship with her.""There weren't a lot of female characters at the time like her who were so human and unique and refreshing and weird, and not just sexy," she said. "Harley was the one person who can handle what the Joker can dish out. She’s maybe a little masochistic, but the Joker needs somebody who can deal with the Joker, and Harley’s it." Strand, like countless other viewers around the world, became Harley Quinn obsessives. She sought out fellow enthusiasts on the nascent World Wide Web and made friends as far away as Germany and Australia. (It's hard to get a number demonstrating the breadth of '90s Harley fandom, but Sorkin, Dini, and Timm all recalled torrents of fan letters.) And for the most part, Strand's Quinn-thusiast friends were women. Together, they compiled online indexes about Harley and composed long essays about what makes her tick. Building a woman-dominated superhero fandom in the mid '90s was a remarkable thing, and Harley had inspired them to do it.

"Feminism is about showing women as fully fleshed out human beings, and that's what Harley is," Strand said. "She doesn't make choices that are smart or good for a woman, but she gets to make those choices. Men are allowed to be fuck-ups in all kinds of characters, and women aren't. We have to be idealized. She gets to not be."

DC had a hit on its hands unlike any it'd seen in a long time. Harley was the breakout star of Batman: The Animated Series, and the show was a massive success, giving way to spinoff and tie-in shows that would last until 2006. Harley was a character invented in a non-comics property with little fanfare and very few top-down editorial edicts. But now she was generating a tidal wave of fan response demanding more of her. Toys were made, more episodes penned, and soon she was called up to the big leagues, where she had a meteoric rise — followed by a depressing fall into irrelevance.

****

The game changer was a concise tale called "Mad Love." By 1994, Harley fever had caught on, and DC's comics arm asked Dini and Timm to create a single-issue comics story that would reveal Harley's origin story. We'd already gotten hints that Harley had once been Joker's psychiatrist, but in "Mad Love" we fully saw her early days as mild-mannered Harleen Quinzel, gymnast and aspiring mental-health professional. Looking to write a pop-psychology book about the Joker, she falls for him and decides (of her own volition) to become his sidekick.

"Mad Love" was a massive hit, winning an Eisner (the comics' world's Academy Award) for the year's best single issue and convincing DC that Harley was a marketable property. Soon Harley was a regular in The Batman Adventures, a comics series set in the universe of The Animated Series. And finally, after years of cartoonish popularity, DC made her a canonical character in the primary Batman comics continuity in 1999. Such continuity is treated with great care, and if a character created outside of it is allowed to enter, it’s no small creative achievement.

In the early aughts, Harley was everywhere. In 2001, she got her own monthly comics series, the eponymous Harley Quinn. The next year she became a recurring character on TV's Birds of Prey, a loose adaptation of a comics series of the same name. She starred in a goofy web-only animated series called Gotham Girls, which aired as minutes-long Macromedia Flash cartoons. She bounced and laughed her way across DC's various platforms.

The high times were not to last, though. In the mid aughts, things fell apart for Harley. Her solo comics series was something of a bomb and veered wildly between forgettable fluff, awkward neo-noir, and larger-than-life nonsense. It was canceled in 2003. Elsewhere in mainstream comics continuity, she was used only sporadically, rarely generating the kind of buzz on the page that she'd generated on-screen. What went wrong? Comics essayist and Batman historian Chris Sims offers a theory. "When you move her into mainstream continuity in 1999, it immediately changes things, because she’s in love with the Joker we have in the comics, not the one in the cartoon," he told me. "And comics Joker has killed a million people. He’s a sadistic, torturing murderer. You can't sympathize with her when that's the Joker she likes." On the other hand, if you move her away from the Joker, you remove her defining relationship. It would be like writing years' worth of Joker stories that didn't involve Batman: empty and confusing.In Suicide Squad, Harley was a somewhat different animal from her classic depiction. She was still in love with the Joker, but thought he’d been killed, so we mostly saw her palling around with her fellow Squad members — even hooking up with stoic assassin Deadshot. She was more of a psychopath than usual, grinning as she executed bloody murders and giggling in situations where even her hardened teammates were terrified. The book was, for the most part, critically panned and canceled after 30 issues. She remained massively popular in the continuing installments of the Arkham video-game series (she even got her own spinoff game, Harley Quinn’s Revenge, in 2012), but her comics persona was in crisis. In 2013, DC wisely tried to turn a new leaf with Harley. The company announced it’d be launching a new solo Harley Quinn series and hired acclaimed husband-and-wife duo Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti to write it. The series got off to a rocky start because of a poorly worded contest and subsequent bout of bad press for the first issue. But to DC’s relief, future issues have drawn no such ire. In fact, the series has taken a cute and experimental new direction for the character, unlike any she’s ever had. Conner and Palmiotti have had Harley strike out on her own after a rejection from the Joker, and she's moved to a place well known for housing over-the-top eccentrics: Coney Island (New York City does, indeed, exist in the DC universe, although it’s not as major a city as Metropolis or Gotham). There, she channels her aggression into roller-derby competitions, gets a day job as a therapist, and assembles a diverse cast of weirdos and outcasts around her. She’s still pretty bonkers, but she doesn’t look or act like a fetish fantasy anymore. She’s coming into her own, and the writers try to channel what made her great into slightly more healthy outlets.

***

The formula is working, at least financially: Harley Quinn is consistently one of DC’s top-selling comics. The character’s popularity is also soaring in other mediums, most notably with her upcoming big-screen debut in 2016’s Suicide Squad movie, where she’ll be played by Margot Robbie. She’s still a major figure in the Batman world’s most lucrative products, the Arkham video games, as well as DC Entertainment’s extremely popular Injustice video-game series. Though she may have evolved substantially since that fateful cameo in “Joker’s Favor,” Harley has never been more successful, and her star shows no signs of falling.

And although there are longtime diehards like Strand and Hornack who have abandoned DC’s current iterations of Harley, they should know they have ideological allies in her current comics stewards, Palmiotti and Conner. The writing team considers Harley a feminist character, drawing comparisons — and contrasts — between her and comics’ longest-standing female icon, Wonder Woman. “Wonder Woman sort of represents perfection, whereas Harley represents everybody else,” Conner said.

One of the biggest Harley fans I’ve encountered is an Australian named Elise Archer, who’s been a fan since the early days and says her fixation on Harley has helped her through her own battles with PTSD and clinical depression. She was adamant that Harley was one of the most important feminist figures in superhero fiction — not in spite of her shortcomings, but because of them.

“I don’t want to be condescended to with strong, independent female characters who don’t have any flaws and are just kinda perfect and sane and never make bad relationship choices,” she said. “For me, the freedom Harley’s been given to be a fuck-up is much less misogynist than all these other hackneyed stories thrust on female characters again and again.”

“If you want to make the argument that we’ve gotta teach people how to be good and healthy, do it with the fuckin’ heroes,” Archer said, her voice quivering with emotion. “Let the villains be the messy ones.”

The Main DC-Earth
Harley's origin was, for years, identical in the comics to the one seen in the Batman animated series.The Main DC-Earth

Harley's origin was, for years, identical in the comics to the one seen in the Batman animated series.

But, in the comic series Harley Quinn, a quite different one was established.

Born Harleen Quinzel, Harley's mother is a somewhat harsh, but forgiving lady, who constantly calls Harley evil and compares her to other heroes. Harley's younger brother is a dead beat with children from at least two different women and still lives in his mothers house. Harley apparently sent him several large sums of money to get his life on track, but he squandered it. Harley's father is a criminal con-man, known for swindling women out of their money with his charm. Harley states that the main reason she became a psychiatrist was so she could understand why her father did what he did to their family.

Harley went to study psychology, but found doing so dull. She tricked her way in to a college.

She came up with a theory about being in love having similarities with being a criminal. About, how far can someone go for love and decided to use her boyfriend, Guy, as the test subject, pretending that she had committed various crimes, such as murdering a teacher, to Guy's surprise. Thinking he was looking out for Harley he shoots an innocent man believing him to be "murdered" professor who hadn't died yet.

Guy thinks that he can`t live with the guilt, and wants to die, but can't bring himself to suicide and asks Harley to kill him instead. And she does, for love, disguising the murder as a suicide.

Traumatized by these events, she begins to believe that universe is in a constant state of chaos, like Guy thought. She represses her feelings of sorrow, and feels connected with the Joker, who believes in some of the same things as Guy, and so finds a job at Arkham Asylum, demanding to speak to him.

During the very first session, she shows the Joker her blossoming insanity, and obsession towards him. Joker finds this appealing, and Harley helps him escape various times, before eventually becoming his henchgirl.

Eventually Harley was caught by Batman and put into a cell in Arkham - she is able to escape time and time again. During the events of No Man's Land she is finally able to escape, immediately choosing to rejoin with the Joker and help him in his crimes. Later, in another retelling of her origin it is explained that she was a psychology student working part time as a stripper to pay her bills.

She lies about Joker having seduced her, and making her gradually insane, later on.

DC's Animated Universe
Harley’s origin was told in Batman: The Animated Series episode and comic entitled Mad Love. The story starts off with Dr. Harleen Quinzel working as an intern in Arkham Asylum. She discovered the Joker and quickly became fascinated with his insane motives. She voluntarily asked for a chance to analyse him. During one of their sessions the Joker tells her about his tragic past and how his father abused him. She gained sympathy for him and quickly fell in love with him. She helped the Joker escape dressed up a the Harley Quinn. So, started her career as the Joker's sidekick.

Later, Harley finds out that everything the Joker had told her was most likely a lie or scam. He was deliberately telling her what she wanted to hear to endear himself to her. This is something that Joker does to Harley all throughout their relationship. She knows this and continually tries to leave him but like an abused spouse, she just keeps forgiving him and runs back into his arms all the time. Of course Harley gets her license revoked when her superior Joan Leland finds out she is the one who released the Joker.

Ever since the beginning of her relationship with the Joker, Harley has played a very submissive role. She has often been used and abused by the Joker to the point where her life has been threatened on several occasions. Yet she remains faithful to her man and stands by him when things go wrong. Quinn's relationship with the Joker is one of the most complex and twisted love affairs in comics. As with all people, Joker is abusive and manipulative towards Harley, but just as often there's evidence of camaraderie, playfulness, and affection towards her. She's the only person who's managed to become intimate on such a long term basis with the Joker and, while he generally accepts their relationship, we even see the Joker's occasional moments of confusion and discomfort which results in attempts to kill her.

Creation
Harley Quinn was originally created for the cartoon Batman: The Animated Series by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm in 1992. She was originally only intended for the episode "Joker's Favor," however she became so popular over night that she made more appearances on the show and it's various spin-offs and movies. She was also in the comics that were part of the same universe as the television show known as the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). There she first appeared inThe Batman Adventures issue 12(1993).

Harley was inspired by actress Arleen Sorkin, largely due to her character wearing a jester costume in an episode of Days of Our Lives. This is where Dini got some of the ideas for Harley's costume and personality. The show even got the actress Arleen Sorkin to voice the character in the show and history was made.

She became so popular in fact that DC decided to bring her over into the mainstream DC universe. This Harley Quinn however lost some of the characteristics that made her so popular on the show and she was written as a much more psychotic dark character than she had been in the DCAU. Harley's first comic book appearance in the continuity of the mainstream DC Universe was in Batman: Harley Quinn issue 1 (10/1999) which was written by Paul Dini.

Modern Age: New Earth
Harley's career as the Joker's sidekick consisted mostly of her being where he could not. He used her less recognizable face to get into places he could not so he wouldn't get arrested, and she was also usually a sort of field leader to Joker's henchmen when Joker himself decided to sit out on whatever they where doing. She was trusted with the intimate details of most of his plans, and as stated earlier, was also often betrayed by Joker when he needed a scapegoat. After a while Harley got fed up with Joker and set off on her own. She even started a gang of her own that didn't last very long due to many or all of the gang being killed shortly after it was formed. She also teamed up with Poison Ivy and had some run-ins with Thorn and Superman.

Post-Flashpoint: Earth-0
With the changes brought to the DC Universe by the launch of The New 52following the events of Flashpoint, Harley has undergone further evolution, with a new look, origin and history. The architect of her changes being Adam Glass. The arc introducing set to introduce the new origin of Harley Quinn, which, according to the series' writer, is set to have a deeper psychological aspect to it, not necessarily changing familiar traits of the character, but adding more to her mythos. Glass has also expressed his belief in Harley being more than just a support character. "I think the difference between the Harley in my book and what Paul Dini did is that I’m writing a Harley that is not about the Joker. Now I’ll go on record for saying this, but I think that Harley Quinn will always be loyal and faithful to the Joker when he is around. But when the Joker is not around she’s a young woman who is very capable of doing many things, and she is her own person."

She appears in the ongoing series titled "Suicide Squad" along side of Deadshot, El Diablo, Black Spider, King Shark, and Sportsmaster. Most notable changes has happened to her wardrobe and general design, with the color scheme of blue and red replacing the most well known black and red combo. Her hair is now exposed, and changed to a half red and blue color, replacing the blonde. Overall her design has been heavily criticized for lacking familiar elements of the quirky clown, sacrificing her usual character qualities for sex appeal. The main issue with the new look is mostly agreed to be lack of jester appearance, which has initially been Harley Quinn's namesake. The only justification to the change from Bruce Timm's classic design given has been that "People liked her look in Arkham Asylum". No real further comment was provided.

Harley's origin was tweaked. She remained a doctor at Arkham Asylum where she "treated" the Joker, but knew from the get go that he was lying to her. Regardless, she still fell for him, and when she found out that her superior was stealing her research for a book, it drove Harley to help the Joker escape. Joker would bring her to the chemical plant where Batman caused the accident that bleached his skin, deforming him, and throws Harley into the same chemicals, causing a similar effect on her.

Harley and Ivy
Joker decides he doesn't like Harley's presence and shoots her off in a rocket. Harley crash lands at Robinson Park, where she meets Poison Ivy. Ivy originally saved Harley but recognized that she was one of the doctors at Arkham. When Harley woke up Ivy planned to kill her, but when Harley did not care what Ivy was going to do as she was upset, it made Pamela curious. Ivy convinced Harley to tell her what her problem was. After Harley told Ivy about everything, Ivy and Harley became instant best friends and Ivy vowed to help her gain her revenge for what Joker put her through. She was so angry at the Joker that she even teamed up with Batman to help bring him down. She chased Joker up the building while Batman took care of his henchmen. Harley was ready to kill the Joker, but when he apologized to her, she forgave him right away and they made up with a kiss. Ivy is angry at Harley for getting back with Joker, but eventually forgives her. Harley and Ivy have a sisterly-like bond and Ivy is usually the one Harley goes to when she and Joker have a break.

Harley visits the Joker in Arkham as his speech therapist while he's receiving electroshock therapy & surgery after surviving a point-blank gunshot to the head at close range. The Joker decides to revamp himself & kill all his links to his past & be reborn in a baptism of blood, with the usual exclusion of Batman. He orders Harley to kill all his former henchmen, and she abides with no questions asked. It is later revealed that he plans on killing her too, as she is another connection to his old life. Batman steps in before the plan can go as it's supposed to and the two duke it out. Eventually, a heartbroken Harley shoots Joker in the shoulder, allowing Batman to get the upper hand and take Joker back to Arkham Asylum.

After Infinite Crisis
One year after Infinite Crisis, Harley was in Arkham and was trying to get out the right way. She was kidnapped by Scarface and the Ventriloquist who offered her a deal to help them both get extremely rich. Harley agreed and proceeded with the plan, however, out of respect for the older Ventriloquist, Arnold Wesker, she calls the police instead. Batman arrives and they both foiled Scarface's plan and after that, Harley went back to Arkham. The next day she was free to go with the vote of Bruce Wayne.

After a brief run with the Secret Six, Harley decided to call it quits, and joined the Metropolis branch of the Athenian Women's Shelter, which is secretly a training facility for future members of Granny Goodness's Female Furies. There she meets up with Holly Robinson, a former stand-in for Catwoman. The two become friends, and end up working under-cover for Queen Hippolyta, who was trying to discover the truth about the false Athena who is training "Amazons" on Themyscira.

Powered Up
On Apokolips, after Mary Marvel frees the imprisoned Gods that later grant her power, Harley demands that she and Holly get something too for everything they've done. Thalia is amused by Harley's feistiness and grants her a small portion of the cunning of Thalia, the Muse of Comedy, seemingly appropriate because of Harley's past. Harley Quinn’s costume is slightly more Greek- like and she also gained a nice new hammer to go with her new super human abilities. While returning to Earth, Harley's powers vanish.

Much later, a supposedly reformed Harley finds herself back in Gotham City, after receiving a large sum of money from Catwoman (Selina Kyle) for her aid in dealing with Hush. Harley ends up living with Ivy, who is slumming in the apartment of the Riddler. Ivy takes Selina to their home after rescuing her from a crazed super villain wannabe named Boneblaster. After seeing that Ivy has brainwashed the Riddler in order to get him to be passive while they use his place, Harley arrives with many shopping bags. Selina sees first hand what Harley has been doing with the large sum of money she gave to Harley. Ivy and Catwoman bring up the Joker, and Harley insists that she is over him, but she is not very convincing at all. Seeking to make a name for himself, Boneblaster followed the girls to the apartment and attacks them. Harley, Ivy and Selina defeat him easily, but the apartment is destroyed in the process.

Gotham's Sirens
Back in Gotham City Selina obtains a new living space in the form of an abandoned animal shelter and invites Harley and Ivy to live with her, stating that girls like them should stick together as a gang. Harley and Ivy agree, but first they drug Selina and ask her to tell them who the Batman is. Selina, her mind protected thanks to techniques taught to her by Talia al Ghul, gives a fabricated tale of multiple Batmen. Ivy and Harley believe her, though Harley is skeptical, postulating through her psychiatric background that a single man could be the Batman if he underwent some sort of "severe childhood trauma."

Harley ignores her thoughts temporarily to go shopping, and encounters a bunch of hooded thugs who had kidnapped Bruce Wayne and were trying to get away in a red vehicle. Harley leaps onto the car and defeats the thugs, in thanks for Bruce signing her parole papers in the past. Unknown to her is the fact that "Bruce" is actually Thomas Elliot (Hush) who was masquerading as the billionaire. She goes with him amicably as he thanks her for saving him.

When she sends Selina a phone message with a photo of her with "Bruce," Selina realizes that Harley was with Hush, and rushes to help her with Ivy in tow. When they arrive at the cafe where Hush and Harley took the picture, all Selina and Ivy find is Harley's phone next to a stabbed harlequin doll.

Hush takes Harley to a high rollers lounge, where he secretly plans to push her off the top floor to her death. As Hush keeps moving her to darker and more secluded places, Harley is under the impression he is trying to get her alone to kiss her. Once they are finally alone and in the dark, a light pierces the darkness as one of Jokers blimps shines a spotlight on them. The henchmen then open fire on the two of them, and after dancing around gun fire for a little bit Ivy shows up and stops the blimp with her plants.

Ivy, Catwoman, and Harley return back to their new hideout and Harley goes on a long speech about how Joker must still love her. Just then the Joker-mobile crashes through the window of their room. A robot Joker then steps out of the car and explodes. The girls survive, and after Ivy puts out the fire, her and Catwoman begin yelling at Harley until getting her to agree that they need to kill Joker.

Once arriving at the Joker's hideout, they are immediately greeted by the Joker's gunfire. Harley almost instantly realizes that the Joker is not the real Joker, but thinking she has gone soft for Joker, Ivy wraps her in vines before she can say so. Once Harley unbinds the vines from her mouth, she states the impostor is Gaggy, a former sidekick of Joker that resents Harley for taking him.

Gaggy pulls a knife on Harley and is about to cut her up, but she talks her way into some more time and gets dragged into another room. After listening to Gaggy tell the story of him and Joker, and getting strapped to a rocket, Ivy, Catwoman, and Jenna Duffy arrive to save her. It is then that Harley breaks free, punches Gaggy in the face, straps him to the rocket, and blast him into the sky. On the ride back to the hideout, Harley again vows that she is over Joker, but quickly starts talking about how he could change, until she is silenced by Ivy yet again.

Harley and the other Sirens always seem to find trouble no matter how hard they try to stay strait. They have a run-in with Doctor Aesop who tries to take over their hang out. Then they investigate a missing dog case only to find out Harley's Hyenas were eating the dogs. It is at this point Harley is forced to donate them to the zoo. and then almost gets cut up by Catwoman's sister, Maggie Kyle. Harley is even possessed in the process. Then Harley and Catwoman are nearly killed by Ivy when her body is being used by a plant alien known as the Alstairean.

Soon after the Sirens get a visit from Zatanna and Talia al Ghul. After separated the Sirens it is soon revealed that Talia has tricked Zatanna into trying to erase Selina's memory of Bruce/Batman completely, because Talia wants Bruce all to herself. Ivy and Harley soon rescue Selina. After Harley and Catwoman return home the two of them reflect on their own love life. Harley suddenly leaves and goes to an abandoned Joker HQ. Ivy and Catwoman follow, just to end up getting themselves knocked unconscious by sleeping gas, by Harley-who says as she walks away "This time, I'm going to kill The Joker".

Harley then breaks into Arkham Asylum on her journey to kill Joker. She takes out a few guards and quickly releases Clayface to break other prisoners out to cause a distraction. She then informs guard, Aaron Cash, that Joker is the one that killed his first born son. He then allows her to enter the area where Joker is being held. Once Harley sets her eyes upon Joker her mind fills with all the bad memories of him, but then the good memories flood her mind and she is instantly in love with him again, as she gives him a huge hug. During the riot Joker gets into a fight with one of the other criminals, just to be interrupted by Poison Ivy showing up to save Harley, and tells Harley to choose, once and for all, between her or the Joker. Harley makes her choice by asking Ivy what it was that she got out of their friendship, why she would risk so much. She then leans in to whisper in Ivy's ear, whispering "Is it because you love me?", to elicit the stunned reaction she had wanted. She then seizes the opportunity and attacks Ivy, knocking her unconscious.

Her attempt to flee Arkham with the Joker fails, and she, along with Ivy, are sent back to imprisonment. Ivy escapes, with plans to kill Catwoman, but breaks into Harley's cell, in an attempt to kill her. But just as she enters the room, she sees delusional drawings of the Joker all over the walls and floor, and Ivy realizes that Harley is only suffering from a relapse, and the realization that Harley is the only person she ever saw as a true friend, and that without Ivy, Harley could never grow. She decides that she can't kill her, or leave her behind, and asks Harley to escape with her. Harley accepts.

Suicide Squad
A heartbroken Harley sets on a quest to prove herself to the Joker, who has at that time gone missing. Her plan was short-lived with the imprisonment at high-security Belle Reeve and consequent recruitment into Task Force X, otherwise referred to as Suicide Squad. Forced to undergo literally suicidal missions with her chosen teammates, Harley is portrayed in a more violent, relentless way than usual, having little to no human remorse and appearing to be a gleeful and dangerous homicidal maniac. It has also been noted that her skin color is unnaturally white, close to the Joker's, and indeed described by her as a "skin condition". It is later seen that as a part of her transformation into Harley Quinn, the Joker pushed her into the same vat of chemicals that gave him his eerie appearance.

Harley is heavily underestimated by most members of her team and the Task Force X in general, which has, in fact, played up to her advantage. After learning the harsh news of Joker's disappearance and presumed death, she stirred a prison riot and escaped behind all the chaos, going back to Gotham to find the love of her life or any clues to his whereabouts, notably, his disembodied face (removed by the Dollmaker). The Squad is sent after her with the mission to bring the maniac back, dead or alive, not knowing what the sly harlequin could have in store for them.

Running with the devil
The Joker is back and asks Harley to help trap Batman. Harley does help the Joker with this task, glad that he is back. But she soon realize that while he was gone both the Joker and Harley herself has changed, to much for them to be together. Harley has gained a more independent personality from the influence of the Suicide Squad while Joker is much more viscous and different than she remembered him to be.

Harley and the Joker have a brutal standoff and Harley announces that she breaks up with the Joker. The Joker is disappointed with Harley's new attitude and manages to poison her, later trapping her in a prison cell full of remains of past "Harley Quinns", revealing she was not the first and only one in a long line. Harley manages to escape and flees.

Harley Quinn Valentine's Day

In Harley Quinn Valentine's Day Special #1. She goes on a date with Mr. Tall, Dark and Brooding. Yes, you guessed it, it's Batman! How will Bruce make the night without revealing his identity to Harley Quinn?

Powers and Abilities
Harley didn't start out with any actual powers. However, after a failed attempt by the Joker to blow her up in a rocket she was given a "potion" by her friend Poison Ivy. This enhanced her strength, speed, and agility, gave her an immunity to toxins, and a small healing factor (though this seems to vary -- later in her solo series she was shown to be able to heal from gunshot wounds in a matter of seconds as soon as the bullet was removed). She is also an impressive fighter, often using acrobatics that she had trained in as a young woman. She uses many odd and unique weapons and gadgets, such as her traditional mallet, or a large pistol with a large cork in it. Both of these she uses to surprising efficiency and they end up being more useful than they would seem on the outside. Poison Ivy gave Harley a strange brew that increases her strength and speed. She doesn't have powers far beyond those of mortal man but she really has more physical strength than any Olympic athlete. She is able to put any man to the floor in only two punches or one kick. Her legs seem really powerful, she manages to jump very high without effort -- this, coupled with her prodigious gymnastic skills, makes her an incredibly acrobatic and "bouncy" threat in combat, adding to her momentum with pendulous weapons such as her hammer.

Additionally, Harley is a master of disguise and often employs elaborate disguises as part of her crimes. On various occasions she has disguised herself as a member of a rocker's entourage, a secretary, a film executive, a police officer, an opera singer, a flight attendant and a prison guard, often mugging or tying up the victims she replaced. More significantly, Harley posed as a romance columnist named Dr. Holly Chance for an extended period, and later took on the identity of Dr. Jessica Seaborn when she decided to become a therapist once again.

Batman: Thrillkiller
Harley Quinn appears in this Elseworldscomic, which was technically her first comic appearance. This version of the character is a teenage schoolgirl named Hayley Fitzpatrick who ends up in a same-sex relationship with the Joker, who is a woman in this version. After the Joker's death, Hayley kills her family and swears revenge on the heroes.

The Batman Adventures
This continues from Batman the Animated Series with Harley Quinn's story.

The Batman Strikes
This follows The Batman series.

Batman: Arkham City
This comic follows Harley's storyline from the video game, explaining how she escaped Arkham Asylum and helped the Joker establish his plan to take out Batman.

DC Universe Online
Harley appears in the comic.

Elseworlds 80-Page Giant
One story in the anthology comic depicts a universe where Lex Luthor is a popular music producer. It is mentioned that Harley and Ivy are a popular folk rock duo in this universe, and it is heavily implied that they are lesbian lovers.

Injustice: Gods Among Us
In the companion comic to the video game, Harley's life after the death of the Joker is explored in much more detail. She develops a close friendship withGreen Arrow, and later joins the Insurgency against the Justice League's tyrannical rule. After Green Arrow's tragic death, she becomes closer to his former lover, Black Canary. Along the way, she also develops an infatuation with Shazam, and kidnaps him while he's in his Billy Batson form.

Joker
In this one-shot graphic novel, Harley is once again the Joker's prime associate. She never speaks in this version, and at one point poses as a stripper.

Scooby-Doo Team-Up
In this comic, Harley and Ivy lure the Mystery, Inc.gang to Gotham to help. The two are being haunted by some sort of ghost, and think the teens can help get to the bottom of things. Harley explains that after she and Ivy stole a rare artifact called the Opal of Isis, they've been cursed with a string of bad luck that has ruined all of their attempts at further heists. It later turns out that the "ghost" causing these incidents is actually Catwoman in disguise, who is seeking to con Harley and Ivy out of the jewel. A big scuffle ensues, which ends with all three women captured after Batgirl helps the Mystery, Inc. gang defeat them.

Batman '66
In this universe, which is based off the iconic 60'sBatman TV show, Harley initially appears as a psychiatrist named Dr. Quinn who works at Arkham during the 1960's. She eventually becomes a roller-skating villainess called The Harlequin near the end of the series. Her costume is redesigned to incorporate roller derby and mod elements.

Batman/The Spirit
In the Ame-Comi Girls universe, Harley is partnered with Catwoman and Poison Ivy as part of a trio of villains.

DC Bombshells
In this universe, Harley is an English psychiatrist working in London during World War 2. After her friend and patient Shondra mentions nightmares of a man implied to be the Joker, Harleen snaps and becomes Harley Quinn. She mugs an airman named Hal Jordan and hijacks his plane, which she flies to France to help defeat the Nazis.

Batman: Assault on Arkham
Harley Quinn appears in the animated movie as a member of Amanda Waller'sSuicide Squad. Harley along with other villains is forced to break into Arkham Asylum to retrieve top secret information stolen by the Riddler. She is voiced byHynden Walch.

Suicide Squad (2016)
Harley Quinn is set to make her big screen debut in Suicide Squad portrayed by Margot Robbie.

Video Games
Harley Quinn appeared in several video games.

Batman & Robin
A game for the Super NES in which Harley was in a small cameo role.

Adventures of Batman & Robin
A game for the Sega Genesis and Sega CD that Harley also appears in. She was voiced by Arleen Sorkin.

Batman: Chaos in Gotham
A game for the Sega CD is another game Harley appears in.

Batman Vengeance

A game that Harley plays a major role. She was voiced by Arleen Sorkin.

Lego Batman: The Video Game
Harley appears as an enemy of Batman and the 1st deputy of the Joker. Grey DeLisle provides the sound effects.

Batman: Arkham Asylum
Harley plays a major role in this game. Here, she is a secondary antagonist, sporting a new costume based on a nurse uniform. She takes control of Arkham, allowing Joker to escape, and kidnaps Warden Quincy Sharp. Throughout the game she taunts Batman but is eventually beaten during a cut-scene.Harley's role is voiced by Arleen Sorkin.

Batman: Arkham City
Harley is one of the bosses in this game and is voice acted by Tara Strong. Harley is much more in control in this game, as Joker's illness prevents him from being the powerful gang leader that he was before. She is much more temperamental and vicious, as shown with her new edgy biker-themed outfit. It is heavily hinted that she is pregnant with Joker's child at the end of the game, as a positive pregnancy test is shown beside her outfit from the first game and at the end of the credits is heard singing to a baby, "Hush little baby, don't say a word, Momma's gonna kill for you the whole damn world".

Harley Quinn's Revenge: Harley returns in this Arkham City DLC. Burning with the desire to avenge her "Puddin's" death, she forms her own group of thugs, all in an attempt to kill the Batman. Her image changes from the punk black and red suit to a more depressing outfit. Her hair is dyed black in mourning.

At the end of Arkham City, there is a positive pregnancy test beside her old uniform, however, in Harley Quinn's Revenge, there are shown to be several negative pregnancy test surrounding a cradle that only contains Scarface. This implies that, if she was pregnant, she likely suffered a miscarriage due to losing the Joker. Or it was just a false positive.

DC Universe Online
Harley appears in this game as the Joker's right hand woman. Again Arleen Sorkin reprises her role as Harley.

Injustice Gods Among Us
Harley is a playable character in this fighting game. She has access to guns, explosives and a wooden mallet. Her character in the alternate universe is a hero, as is that world's Joker. After that Joker dies Harley still stays loyal to her heroic cause and rules the Joker clan. When the Joker from our universe shows up, she is at first hostile toward him, but eventually reverts back to her old self and allies with him. He later attempts to kill her for not beating Lex Luthor, but is saved. Enraged by his betrayal, Harley prepares to kill the Joker with his own knife, but is ultimately convinced by Luthor to let him go. In the epilogue, Harley is shown escorting the Joker at gunpoint to the portal back to his dimension.

In her ending (after beating classic mode), Insurgency Harley manages to defeat Superman. Harley busts out the Joker from the other universe. They then get married. Joker playfully throws wedding cake into Harley's face. This reminds her of all the years of abuse she took from Joker. Harley snaps and slits Joker's throat with the wedding cake knife. She is then thrown into Arkham Asylum, still in her bloody wedding dress, without possibility of release.

Arkham Origins
Harley appears briefly before her criminal career as a new psychiatrist in Black Gate prison after Batman locks up Joker. She interviews the Joker as he speaks about someone he cares deeply for. Harleen misinterprets this, thinking he is talking about her when he is really talking about Batman and she grows an affinity towards her patient. Joker realizes this, and uses it to get on her good side, building up to her inevitable seduction. Harleen is later seen taken hostage by inmates during the Blackgate riots. She is later freed by Batman but shows no gratitude toward him. At the end, she is seen helping guards escort Joker to his cell.

The online mode happens an unknown time after the Arkham Origins story. Players either play as a Joker soldier, Bane soldier, Batman or Robin. Joker and Bane soldiers must kill the opposite team while also trying to kill Batman and Robin. Harley can be heard talking to the soldiers when Joker is in the battle field. You can also customize your soldier with a Harley tattoo.

Infinite Crisis
Harley was released as a playable character in the Online Game Infinite Crisis.

Arkham Knight
In the sequel to Arkham City (with Tara Strong once again reprising her role) Harley has now become a competent gang leader following the Joker's death. She allies herself with the Scarecrow as part of the villain's plot to kill Batman once and for all, but breaks away from the plan to save three people infected with the Joker's blood (as she believes they could become new Jokers). The infected victims are killed, leaving Harley to mourn their loss as she is arrested by Robin. She is also a playable character in special missions separate from the main story.

She is also one of the main antagonists in the flashback A Matter of Family DLC, where she wears her classic outfit.

LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
Harley Quinn is a playable character in the game, voiced by Tara Strong.

Merchandise
As one of Batman's most recognizable villains, Harley Quinn has been featured in lots of merchandise.

 

But, in the comic series Harley Quinn, a quite different one was established.

Born Harleen Quinzel, Harley's mother is a somewhat harsh, but forgiving lady, who constantly calls Harley evil and compares her to other heroes. Harley's younger brother is a dead beat with children from at least two different women and still lives in his mothers house. Harley apparently sent him several large sums of money to get his life on track, but he squandered it. Harley's father is a criminal con-man, known for swindling women out of their money with his charm. Harley states that the main reason she became a psychiatrist was so she could understand why her father did what he did to their family.

Harley went to study psychology, but found doing so dull. She tricked her way in to a college.

She came up with a theory about being in love having similarities with being a criminal. About, how far can someone go for love and decided to use her boyfriend, Guy, as the test subject, pretending that she had committed various crimes, such as murdering a teacher, to Guy's surprise. Thinking he was looking out for Harley he shoots an innocent man believing him to be "murdered" professor who hadn't died yet.

Guy thinks that he can`t live with the guilt, and wants to die, but can't bring himself to suicide and asks Harley to kill him instead. And she does, for love, disguising the murder as a suicide.

Traumatized by these events, she begins to believe that universe is in a constant state of chaos, like Guy thought. She represses her feelings of sorrow, and feels connected with the Joker, who believes in some of the same things as Guy, and so finds a job at Arkham Asylum, demanding to speak to him.

During the very first session, she shows the Joker her blossoming insanity, and obsession towards him. Joker finds this appealing, and Harley helps him escape various times, before eventually becoming his henchgirl.

Eventually Harley was caught by Batman and put into a cell in Arkham - she is able to escape time and time again. During the events of No Man's Land she is finally able to escape, immediately choosing to rejoin with the Joker and help him in his crimes. Later, in another retelling of her origin it is explained that she was a psychology student working part time as a stripper to pay her bills.

She lies about Joker having seduced her, and making her gradually insane, later on.