Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn (Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel) is an antiheroine appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. She was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for Batman: The Animated Series as a henchwoman for the Joker, and debuted in the series' 22nd episode, "Joker's Favor", on September 11, 1992. Although originally intended to appear in only one episode, Quinn became a recurring character within the DC Animated Universe (DCAU) as the Joker's sidekick and love interest, and was adapted into DC Comics' canon seven years later, beginning with the one-shot Batman: Harley Quinn #1 (October 1999). Quinn's origin story portrays her as a former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum in Gotham City manipulated by the Joker, her patient, eventually becoming his accomplice and lover. The character's alias is a play on the stock character Harlequin from the 16th-century Italian theatre commedia dell'arte. Following her introduction into comics in 1999, she has been depicted as a former doctor-turned-sidekick and lover of the Joker, as well as a close friend and love interest of Poison Ivy. Harley Quinn's abilities include expert gymnastic skills, proficiency with weapons and hand-to-hand combat, complete unpredictability, immunity to toxins, and enhanced strength, agility, and durability. She often wields clown-themed gag weapons, with an oversized mallet serving as her signature weapon. Additionally, she has a pair of pet hyenas, Bud and Lou, who sometimes act as her attack dogs. Quinn has become one of DC Comics' most popular and commercially successful characters, appearing in numerous comic book titles and being adapted into various other media and merchandise. DC Comics publisher Jim Lee has described Harley Quinn as the fourth pillar of DC Comics' publishing line, after Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. The character has been adapted into various media incarnations. In film, she has been portrayed by Margot Robbie in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) films Suicide Squad (2016), Birds of Prey (2020), and The Suicide Squad (2021), and by Lady Gaga in Joker: Folie à Deux (2024). In television, she was portrayed by Mia Sara in Birds of Prey (2002–2003) and had a voice cameo by Tara Strong in Arrow. Arleen Sorkin, the character's original voice and inspiration, along with Tara Strong, Hynden Walch, and Kaley Cuoco (in the eponymous Harley Quinn animated series), are among the many performers who have voiced the character in animation and video games.

History

Creation and development

Harley Quinn was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for the 1992 Batman: The Animated Series episode entitled "Joker's Favor" while Dini was writing the episode. For the episode, Dini decided to put henchpeople for the title episode character as comic relief to lighten the story, as Dini described as a dark story. Initially written as an animated equivalent of a walk-on role, Harley Quinn was intended to appear in just one episode. Her popularity was unexpected, and the character became a surprise success. As Dini was putting together the story for the episode, he created Harley Quinn because it needed a character for the Joker to have pop out of a cake, and the idea of the Joker doing it seemed too strange, so Dini and the crew devised a female sidekick to be the surprise, but finally decided to put him inside the cake instead while keeping Harley in the episode. Then Dini wanted to introduce a foil for the supervillain the Joker that would emphasize the Joker's comic book personality traits: funny, scary, and egotistical. He then thought of giving Joker a henchwoman, inspired by the molls of the 1960s live-action Batman series, among other TV series, and then decided she would be a "funny counterpart to the Joker to maybe work up a little Punch and Judy attitude between them"; Dini stated, "[...] she could crack a joke and the henchmen would laugh, and the Joker would kind of glare at her". The character idea dated back in 1991, when Dini witnessed his college friend Arleen Sorkin play a jester in an episode of Days of Our Lives. Dini then based Harley Quinn on Sorkin, incorporating aspects such as her mannerisms and "snappy, wisecracking, bubbly blonde" personality. Dini even decided to have Sorkin voice her. In recording Harley Quinn's voice, Sorkin spoke in her normal New York accent while putting in a "little Yiddish sound", since Dini made the character Jewish, another aspect of the character borrowed from Sorkin; Dini described her voice for the character as having "a snappy blonde but also kind of a bad girl": "a little bit of Adelaide from Guys and Dolls, a little bit of Judy Holliday", and "a lot of Arleen", stating that it sounded "very close" to Sorkin's voice.

Dini had several names in mind while naming the character, such as Columbine, and eventually settled on the name "Harley Quinn". Dini chose the name for the character to be in line with other Batman characters's names being puns, and also because he thought "Harley was a fun name for a girl". The name Harley Quinn is a play on Harlequin, a stock character from the sixteenth-century Italian physical comedy theater commedia dell'arte. In designing the character, Timm did a "simplified supervillain version" of traditional Harlequin gear; from the commedia dell'arte original, he took the jester hat, ruffled collar, diamond pattern, and domino mask and put them on a red-and-black bodysuit, on which the diamonds were strategically placed for easier animation. Timm took Harley Quinn's red and black color scheme from the Golden Age comic book character Daredevil. Dini had previously made a rough design for the character, which Timm improved on.

Expanded role

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