Harley Quinn

Harley Quinn
	Harley Quinn; Harleen Quinzel;
Name:	Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel
Alias(es):	Harley Quinn
Affiliation:	The Joker
Portrayed by:	Arleen Sorkin
First appearance:	Joker's Favor
Last appearance:	Lock-Up
Appears in:	9 Episodes
Harley Quinn Gallery

Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel, also known as Harley Quinn is a character who first featured in the show Batman: The Animated Series. She first appeared in the episode Joker's Favor and has commonly appeared in all Batman media since. Beginning her career as a doctor in Arkham Asylum, she changed and became Joker's girlfriend and henchwoman. She loves The Joker despite being abused by him and she will do anything for his approval. Harley is also a good friend of Poison Ivy.

History

Origins

Dr. Harleen Quinzel, a former psychiatrist whose life took a fundamental turn when she chose to intern at Arkham Asylum. Initially drawn to the "charm" of the patients, she was surprisingly interested by the Joker. During her sessions with Joker, he behaved as a misunderstood person who just wanted affection. This changed Quinzel's way of thinking and The Joker was able to manipulate it using his charismatic and flamboyant behaviour. She broke The Joker out and became his criminal sidekick.

Criminal Career

Harley's first deed was to help the Joker in an attempt on James Gordon's life, by planting a bomb at his testimonial banquet. Her part of the plan was to deliver a massive cake to the ceremony dressed as a police officer.Batman defeated her after a short-lived bout.^[1] After that, she became an accessory in practically all of the Joker's felonious schemes.

TLF 45 - Harley gets Bullock — Harley captures Bullock

These included the plan to copyright the "Joker Fish" and the subsequent murder attempts of a couple of Gotham public officials. She was responsible for dosing G. Carl Francis with a binary chemical that would kill him when exposed to the second part of the chemical. She would later capture Harvey Bullock when the detective found Joker's hideout. Harley and the rest of Joker's gang were stopped by Batman and subsequently arrested by the Police, but Joker was pressumed dead, which made Harley mourn for her lost love.^[2]

The Joker eventually returned and Harley resumed her role as his sidekick. On their next caper, they managed to capture Batman and placed him on a deadly trap. Catwoman appeared in time to save Batman, but she ended up captured by the Joker. The Clown of Crime instructed Harley to eliminate Catwoman the next night inside a cat food factory. When Batman showed up, Harley tried to escape but her plan backfired and she ended up captured by Batman.^[3] Later, Harley played a vital part on Joker's plan to get revenge against Sidney Debris, as he had supposedly killed Batman. Sidney was arrested and Harley posed as his lawyer, taking him out of prison, but into the grasp of the Joker.^[4]

After a failed robbery, Joker blamed Harley for the event and she was kicked out of the gang. In order to prove herself, Harley went as a solo act, but she met Poison Ivy, with whom she started a strong alliance and a successful crime spree. Their success drew the attention of both Batman and The Joker, who sought them in order to stop their crimes for their own personal reasons. However, neither of them could stop them and instead, they were captured by Officer Renée Montoya.^[5]

In one of her solitary spells in Arkham, Batman offered her a pardon if she would aid him to track down the Joker, who had taken a nuclear bomb. She did so, in a crazy, meandering way that ended up being nearly as treacherous to Batman and Robin as the Joker. She betrays Batman, upon arrival. Yet, she finds out, the Joker wouldn't have come back for anybody even her or the hyenas. She promptly betrays the Joker, and stops the atomic bomb plan. Her rage causes her to knock down the Joker. He then opts to taunt her, saying that she doesn't “have the guts” to kill him, but she grabs the gun and pulls the trigger. Out, comes a flag showing, "Rat, tat, tat," and he gives her a look, only to laugh happily seeing that she has the guts to be strong and even take out her love.

After being pronounced as sane and rehabilitated by the doctors at Arkham, Harley was paroled, but her overactive temperament and inexperience with the "real" world led to a load of misfortune that led to her inadvertently kidnapping Veronica Vreeland and being simultaneously followed by Batman, Gotham gangsters, and the U.S. Army. She was returned to Arkham yet again, though Batman was more compassionate to her this time, realising how bad a day gone wrong could be.

Relationships

Harley's relationship with Joker was perhaps one of the strangest in the series. At numerous times, she explained her feelings for him as sympathy for his abusive childhood, tender feelings based on their therapy sessions, or simply that he made her life fun, after a stressful career as a psychiatrist. Her devotion was inexplicable because Joker seemed to return her feelings not at all, and regularly insulted and abused her. Occasionally she would break away from him, but these moments of clarity never persisted very long, and but a moment's kindness from Joker was enough to bring her back. Yet at the same time, Joker found her a useful accomplice at times, and was often surprised by the depth of her devotion.

Harley had a constant on-again, off-again friendship with Poison Ivy, whom she operated well with. Poison Ivy has constantly had a soft-spot for Harley, often declaring that Quinn has no need for the Joker. However, Harley never appeared to agree that Ivy was right, and would often fixate over him. This along, with her flaky character would often cause Ivy great bother, but never to the point that she would separate from Harley.

Harley's emotional state to Batman were similarly conflicted. Most of the time, he was her enemy, which was natural given that he was Joker's enemy. Sometimes, she even blamed Batman for Joker's abusiveness toward her, feeling that Batman's interference was what kept them from living a "normal" life. Yet on one occasion, she recognized that Batman was one of the few people who didn't think she was hopelessly insane, and who had done his best to help her. Ironically, Harley was able to do the one thing Joker never could: Make Batman laugh.

Harley was the primary caretaker for Bud and Lou, the pair of hyenas the Joker owned, whom she affectionately referred to as her "babies".

Abilities and equipment

Harley Quinn possessed above-average agility and fighting skills. She was an Olympic-level gymnast and acrobat. Harley also carried a variety of clown-themed tools, though they seldom proved effective. One of her signature weapons is an oversized wooden mallet which she swings around with surprising skill despite its unwieldy appearance. Another weapon in her arsenal is an oversized revolver with a cork in the barrel. The cork usually contains ropes to tie people up or knockout gas.

Due to Harley's charisma and psychiatric training, she is also adept at psychologically manipulating others. Early in their partnership, Poison Ivy injected Harley with a toxin antidote, which rendered her immune to certain chemicals and diseases, and had the side effect of enhancing her strength and stamina, allowing her to survive normally lethal mishaps.

Appearances

Video Games

Trivia

Harley is not a real blond.^[6]
Bud and Lou, her pet hyenas, first appeared in "The Man who Killed Batman." Their names are probably reference to American comedy duo Bud Abbott and Lou Costello.
During the episode The Man Who Killed Batman, Sorkin actually performed Harley's "Amazing Grace" on a kazoo herself. The producers gave her a kazoo and asked her to give it a try while recording the episode. Later they said it was lucky they'd managed to do it in one take, because they were all helpless with laughter as soon as she'd finished.

References

[1] Joker's Favor

[2] The Laughing Fish

[3] Almost Got 'Im

[4] The Man Who Killed Batman

[5] Harley and Ivy

[6] Harlequinade

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