How The Suicide Squad Finally Fixed Harley Quinn
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Mar 31, 2025
Harley Quinn, portrayed by Margot Robbie, is by far the best and most popular character in the DCEU. Without Margot's performance, Harley Quinn wouldn't have the success she has today. With the fallout of a shaky start to the DCEU, Warner Brothers knew they had to run with the only thing that was working, Harley Quinn. Giving Harley her own vehicle in Birds of Prey cemented the fact she is capable of leading a film, but where will Dr. Harleen Quinzel go from here?
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I love your accent
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American women all love accents. We do, because we don't got none
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There are some superhero characters that are cast so perfectly that you just can't see anyone else inhabiting the role
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Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Christopher Reeve as Superman, and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
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She's a perfectly cast actor, bringing her character to life in a way that just about eclipses everything else in the DCEU
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And yet, a character's portrayal is only as good as the writing
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And no matter how good Margot Robbie is, there was a key juncture in the life of the character on celluloid
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that almost permanently sent things spiraling out of control. Seriously, what the hell's wrong with you people
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We're bad guys. It's what we do. September 11, 1992 saw the first appearance of Harley Quinn
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created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm for Batman the Animated Series
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in the episode Joker's Favor. Originally envisioned as a sidekick to the Joker, the character grew in popularity over the ensuing 30 years
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to become arguably one of the most important characters in all of DC canon
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She's appeared in a mountain of comics, video games, and her own spinoff animated show
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However, most importantly for the parent company that owns her, she's one of only a few characters that really worked in the initial phase of the DCEU
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Despite never having been a member of the team in the comics, Harley was placed onto the roster of David Ayer's less-than-stellar Suicide Squad
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Hi, boy. Harley Quinn. While the film pulled in roughly $750 million at the box office
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it was saddled with heavy critique and a deeply mixed fan reaction. A large percentage of this was due to extensive reshoots and re-edits
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due to WB attempting to pivot the tone of the movie at the 11th hour
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after seeing the runaway success of Guardians of the Galaxy. However, the element of the project that was universally praised
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was Robbie's performance in the film. Overnight, Harleen Quinzel was the centerpiece of the DCEU
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Now remember, at this point, the universe was being steered by Zack Snyder which had its own baggage Suicide Squad was the first movie to be produced away from his direct auteur viewpoint and people were instantly clamoring for more Harley Quinn WB was trying to decide
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what to do with her next. They knew they had a hit on their hands, they just didn't exactly know
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how to handle Harley. Should she get her own solo film? Should she be brought back in another
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Suicide Squad film? Maybe put her on another team where she could be the leader? Once they
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decided to ostensibly choose D, all of the above, WB went right to the source. They brought Margot
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Robbie into the fold as a producer and asked her to develop a vehicle for Harley, as well as getting
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her to agree to appear in a Suicide Squad sequel at some point. This resulted in two possible
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directions, a Gotham City Sirens project or a Birds of Prey project. Gotham City Sirens is usually a
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supervillain hangout book that features Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley going on adventures
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together. Birds of Prey, on the other hand, is a long-running and beloved Bat Family superhero book
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that usually features Black Canary, Oracle, and Huntress, and an assortment of other women
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vigilantes from around the DCU fighting crime. But you know who's not on that team? Harley Quinn
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So which of these two projects did Margot Robbie pick? How could they collectively build on the
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success that they'd established with her character as a fast-talking zany criminal in Suicide Squad
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Something tells me a whole lot of people are about to die. How could they take her character
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to the next level? Really give her the spotlight she deserved? Well, she selected the Birds of Prey
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as the vehicle to accomplish all of these tasks. The approach that the film takes to integrating
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Harley into the team is actually really ingenious. It establishes the recognizable cast of characters
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quickly and effectively. However, it keeps most of the plot and internal momentum of the story
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surrounding Harley. The structure and the style of the movie feels almost pitch perfect for a
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Harley Quinn vehicle. Is it a great Birds of Prey movie? Well, maybe not, but it's a really fun
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Harley movie Unfortunately the script makes one crucial error with her characterization The film comes dangerously close to breaking the character of Harley by pushing her too far
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She's basically Deadpool. How do I be like you? Except for the crazy part
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Number one, no one is like me. There's a difference between trying to emulate the successful aspects of Deadpool's character
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and just grafting whole cloth Deadpool attributes onto Harley. They decided to lean into the irreverent, self-aware, comedic, anti-villain archetype
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and that alone probably would have been fine. The only problem is that Deadpool had just come out in 2016
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His specific brand of comedy and character archetype was fresh in everyone's mind
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He's a hyper-violent merc, loves chimichangas, and has a very specific ditzy sense of humor
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And for Birds of Prey, they pivoted Harley as being a hyper-violent vigilante
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who loves breakfast sandwiches and has a very specific ditzy sense of humor
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Psychologically speaking, vengeance rarely brings the catharsis we hope for. There's jokes in the film that if you just find and replace breakfast sandwiches with chimichangas
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are exactly Deadpool jokes. If you want boys to respect you, you have to show them that you're serious
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Blow something up. Shoot someone. The film also cribs from Deadpool in its joke structure
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It all just reads exactly like something Deadpool would do. Released in 2020, just prior to the lockdowns, the film pulled in roughly $200 million of a budget of $82 million, which, from the WB's perspective, was a flop
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Thankfully, WB knew what they had in Harley Quinn, so they decided to double down
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In almost back-to-back productions, Harley appeared in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad
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Hey guys, how are you? I'm late. Let's go number two. Good to know. And surprising to no one, Harley is the standout element of the film
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This version of the character takes the best of what did work in Birds of Prey and the charisma
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on display in the original Suicide Squad and combines them for a nearly pitch-perfect Harley story
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She still there driving plot which is what DC wants but she able to share the weight And the sequences of the film that are from her perspective like the fight scene of her escaping all the Cordo Maltesian guards feel unique and not just a watered version of another iconic anti
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Gunn's version of Harley gets the characterization balance perfect. Yes, you have the pithy dialogue
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If we find out you have personalized license plates, you die. What? No
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Ditsy nature of the character and still over-the-top antics that Birds of Prey was shooting for
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but it's masked enough in new visual ideas that it really feels organic to the character
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The Suicide Squad version of the character has many of the same attributes that the Birds of
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Prey version did, but they're better integrated and camouflaged into the story. It's a more holistic
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approach to moving the character along. She's simultaneously driving action, and we're seeing
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the action through her over-the-top lens. They don't ever come out and say it, but in her
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gorgeously rendered flower-fueled fight scene, it's the perfect balance of Bugs Bunny and
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Homicidal Maniac. It's a perfect use of the character's personality, represented visually
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Ultimately, when you're building a character for the big screen that's had so many iterative
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versions like Harley, you need a clear vision from the creators. The fact that Margot Robbie
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took Harley and propelled her into being arguably the most recognizable character in the DCEU era
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of live-action films is a testament to her commitment and talent as a performer. It's easy
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to understand why Birds of Prey tried to push Harley so far in the Deadpool direction. However
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the true secret to her success is building Harley stories, not Deadpool stories where the main
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character is just named Harley. Sure, they both have mental health issues and come from tragic
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backgrounds. But the way a one-time psychologist who has a pattern of falling into codependent
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relationships is going to handle things is the line that really separates the characters
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Even though there have been no announced plans for where or when Margot Robbie is going to show
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up again as Harley, it's a certainty that she absolutely will
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