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Harley Quinnis so much better without the Joker - and that ’s as true in the picture as it is in the comics themselves . Harley Quinn made her launching inBatman : The Animated Series , as the Joker ’s girlfriend and sidekick . Her backstory was famously inclose in the episode " huffy Love " , which revealed Harley had been a psychiatrist who treated the Joker at Arkham Asylum , and who was ultimately draw into his rabies .
AlthoughBatman : The Animated Seriesfocused on Harley Quinn ’s relationship with the Joker , it was brutally true about the twisted romance . " Mad Love " climax in a conniption in which the Joker tossed Harley out of a window . institutionalize to the Asylum , Harley decided it was time to leave the Joker once and for all ; then he get off her flower , and she fell in love with him all over again . It was atextbook abusive relationship , maybe one of the darkest radical inBatman : The Animated Series .
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It did n’t take Harley Quinn long to transition into the strip themselves , and she became an important part of the Batman macrocosm . And yet , astonishingly , the comics make it abundantly clear-cut Harley Quinn is beneficial off out of the Joker ’s trace .
The Joker Is Just The Beginning Of Harley Quinn’s Story
Batman : The Animated Seriesoriginally defined Harley Quinn by her relationship with the Joker , and she was consistently portrayed as a victim of physical and aroused abuse who could n’t get away the Joker ’s scope . When Harley transitioned to the comics , however , writer began to delineate her in a different way . In the strip , Harley ’s romance with the Joker is her origin fib , nothing more ; it ’s as important to her as the wanderer - bite is to Spider - Man , but not every story need to shell out with it , just as few Spider - Man stories need to find novel ways to explore the ray spider .
The comics see Harley Quinn as a woman whose true ego was smother by the construction of society , and who was drawn to the Joker because she saw the opportunity to unleash the lawlessness of her own soul . The very definition of a free spirit , she was stronger than the Joker trust , too strong to be crushed by him ; she broke free of the Joker ’s influence , and it ’s a long time since she ’s been defined by " Mr. J " in the comics .
Batman : The Animated SeriessawHarley Quinn as an abuse dupe , but the comics redefined her as an abuse survivor . It ’s true the Joker will keep turning up again ; he ’s a proud man , see red by the fact Harley has been able to move on from him , insulted by the fact the woman he carry to do nothing more than face up at him adoringly now has a life of her own . But those stories now make for exactly because they are the exclusion , not the average ; because the Joker is now an occasional part of Harley ’s life , not the definition of it .
Harley Quinn’s Best Stories See Her Grow Beyond The Joker
Harley Quinn ’s safe stories consistently see her footstep well and sincerely out of the Joker ’s phantasma . She should really be meet as DC ’s answer to Deadpool , a chaotic and lawless force who refuses to be defined by labels like " good " and " evil . " Sometimes she ’s a scoundrel on a law-breaking fling , sometimes she ’s working with Batgirl to stop a supervillain . The best Harley Quinn comics feel like superhero slapstick , an grownup interpretation of the old " Looney Tunes " sketch where actions do n’t have issue , where the hero swings a hammer and send away an impossible turn of bullets .
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DC Universe’sHarley Quinnanimated series essay to capture this by showing the adventure through her own eyes , re-explain classic Batman characters in a unusually entertaining way . As executive producer Justin Halpern explained in an interview withDen of Geek :
" Everything ’s seen through Harley ’s eyes , right ? … I think through Harley ’s POV , Joker is probably kind of like a petulant man - child , you know ? He ’s a sh * * * * ex - young man at his core . That ’s what he is . And Bane likely is a big log idiot who does n’t feel that threatening to Harley , because she ’s not seeing him in the context that everybody else is seeing him . "
Harley Quinn has been portrayed as crypto - queer , with hints of arelationship with Poison Ivythat have only recently been made explicit in the comics , as part of the New 52 relaunch’sGotham City Sirensseries . There , Harley Quinn confronted Ivy with the fact she knew Ivy jazz her - but , unfortunately , the serial publication was canceled before the plot of land was ever address . DC subsequently openly acknowledged the two were a couple in a mail service onTwitter , of all things , when they call in the couplet " girlfriends without the green-eyed monster of monogamy . " Since then , though , Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy have been treated like on - again , off - again romantic partners . It ’s a far more preferred , and infinitely more gratifying , family relationship than Harley ’s romance with the Joker ; and , importantly , both women refuse to allow for it to delineate them .
The Post-Joker Harley Is DC’s “Fourth Pillar”
Back in 2016 , DC publisher Jim Lee toldCBRHarley Quinn had become their " fourth pillar , " stand behind the classic three of Superman , Batman , and Wonder Woman . That gives a sense of how important a character she ’s become in the comics , where she ’s always a salutary seller , and regularly cameos in other record book . In a surprisal twist , recent issues ofSupermaneven went so far as to implyHarley Quinn has joined the Justice League .
Her profile has been importantly increased due to her breakout use in the DCEU , where she ’s portray by Margot Robbie , and the movies are set about to graph the same form of post - Joker spirit for the character . Birds of Preymade that explicit , with the Joker even hack from flashback scenes . While it ’s true that film did n’t gross as well as DC hoped , it was also a low - budget , roentgen - tell on flick , mean it should still be seen as a success . It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store forHarley Quinn- and , hopefully , it wo n’t affect the Joker .
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