Harley Quinn (DC Extended Universe)


 * NOTE: This article is about the incarnation of Harley Quinn from the DC Extended Universe. The mainstream version can be found here: Harley Quinn.

"We're bad guys. It's what we do!"

- Harley Quinn to Rick Flag and her most famous quote.

Harley Quinn is the deuteragonist of the 2016 Warner Bros film Suicide Squad, the third installment of the DC Extended Universe. She will be the titular protagonist of the upcoming 2020 film Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).

She was originally the Joker's psychiatrist, however, as time went on, she fell in love with him and helped him escape from Arkham Asylum. Since then, she teamed up with him and become his partner in crime

She is portrayed by in her first villainous role.

Background
Fascinated by the criminal mind, Harleen undertook a psychiatric medical degree before taking a job at Arkham Asylum in Gotham City. Here, she eventually became the psychiatrist of The Joker, whom she became fixated with and fell in love with him. She helps his escape, and eventually completely devotes herself to him, proving this by free falling into a pit of bleach.

Over time, she becomes listed as an accomplice involving The Joker's murder of Robin.

At one night, she and Joker were celebrating at a club when one mobster called Harley a 'bad bitch' in Joker's hearing. After toying with the man, Joker shot him in the head and the two of them left the club in Joker's car. However, they were pursuit by Batman and during the chase Joker crashed his car through a railing and into a river. Although Joker escaped the sinking car, Harley was not so lucky and crashed through the windshield. Due to her being unable to swim, Batman jumped after her to save her. Although he saved her life, Harley attempted to kill him so he simply knocked her out. Harley was then imprisoned at Belle Reve.

Suicide Squad
After attacking the prison guards and putting five of them in the hospital, Quinn is kept in a cage without a bed which can be electrocuted by a guard. On one occasion, Harley attempts to provoke a staff member to enter the cage but, knowing the extent of her abilities, the man merely electrocutes the bars which knocks Harley backwards. As she lays on the floor stunned from the electrocution, flashback depict Harley Quinn on the night she was brought to Belle Reeve, laying against the wall soaking wet and cackling evilly to herself while the guards hold her at gunpoint.

After which, she is strapped to a chair by Griggs and force-fed varieties of milk formulas via feeding tubes shoved through her nose and down her throat leading all the way down to her stomach, forcing her to drink the "medication" while being forced to take part in a selfie with Griggs as he capture her pain on camera, much to Harley Quinn's dismay. As more flashbacks show Harley Quinn's past as well as sequences of her falling in love with the Joker, Harley wakes up from the floor screaming at Griggs and attempt to attack him for hurting her, only to accidentally hit the prison bars and knock herself out on the head.

Harley is eventually forced to join Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad and is sent to Midway City to stop the Enchantress and her brother Incubus. To ensure the loyalty of the Squad, Waller has nanite explosives implanted into each team member's neck which can be triggered should a member refuse to follow orders. At a makeshift military base outside Midway City, the Squad is equipped with their gear. After glancing over a suit and a giant hammer (her trademark suit and weapon from the comics) she decides for a different outfit and takes a baseball bat and a gun instead.

However, Harley is unaware that Joker has already made plans to separate her from the Squad. Together with his henchmen, Joker invades the facility in which the nanites were fabricated and kidnaps a scientist. He then heads to Midway City after Harley.

While being flown into Midway City, the Squad's helicopter is attacked and crashes. On foot, the Squad is forced to fight their way through waves of Enchantress' henchmen, eventually arriving at their target location where they are supposed to extract a high value target. This target is revealed to be Waller herself and the Squad is outraged. Due to the threat of being blown up, the Squad is forced to comply nonetheless and the entire group heads to the roof where their escape helicopter is already hovering. However, the helicopter is revealed to be hijacked by Joker and his men. Joker's henchman Jonny Frost opens fire at the squad with a minigun, forcing them to take cover. Joker then forces the kidnapped professor to disarm the nanite inside Harley's neck. Now free from Waller's influence, Harley leaves her cover and leaps over the edge of the roof, grabbing a rope hanging down from the helicopter. The helicopter then flies off, leaving the stunned Suicide Squad behind. Waller however orders Deadshot to shoot Harley who is still hanging on the rope. Refusing to kill a team member, Deadshot misses deliberately and Waller orders the military to shoot down the helicopter with a missile instead.

Inside the helicopter, Harley has meanwhile reached the top. Overjoyed to be reunited with her lover, Harley and the Joker share an embrace, kissing passionately. After rejoining the Joker, both are warned by Frost that a missile is coming their way and they attempt to escape together. Unfortunately, the missile hits the helicopter, killing the pilot and the impact throws Harley backwards, causing her to fall out of the helicopter. Harley lands on a rooftop, surviving with ease but is forced to watch as the helicopter crashes into a skyscraper and explodes, seemingly killing the Joker.

A heartbroken Harley then rejoins the Squad. When Amanda Waller is taken by Incubus, the entire Squad teams up to save her and defeat Incubus and Enchantress. Afterwards, Waller forces the entire group to resume their captivity but allows them some form of reward for their cells. Harley chooses an espresso machine. Also, ten years are taken off each member's prison sentence.

Back in Belle Reeve, Harley reads a romance novel while drinking an espresso when the prison wall is blown up and masked men enter the precinct, shooting the guards. The men open Harley's cell and their leader removes his mask, revealing himself to be the Joker, who had survived the crash. Harley hugs him and the Joker tells Harley to come home and the two of them escape.

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
Birds of Prey is the upcoming movie created by Warner Bros. The film is intended to be the eight DC Extended Universe film, and a spin-off of the Suicide Squad from year 2016. Construction of this section starts when the movie gets released, which is on February 7th, 2020.

She will be portrayed again by Margot Robbie.

Trivia

 * This is her first cinematic appearance.
 * This is also her third live action appearance. Her first was in the short-lived television series Birds of Prey, and second being a very brief cameo in Arrow.
 * Harley Quinn was originally created for Batman: The Animated Series, and later incorporated to the DC comic book universe.
 * In an interview with Empire magazine, producer Richard Suckle described the character as "a fan fave. Funny, crazy, scary... You can't come up with enough adjectives to describe all the different things you see her do".
 * She was voiced by Margot Robbie again in The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, and even says it is a "suicide mission" to rescue the captured Master Builders, which references her role in the suicide squad. This, along with her clothing in the movie, is a callback to her duty to sacrifice her life in order to maintain world peace.

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