Exploring how Harley Quinn was created by mistake
With the anticipation steadily building for the release of Todd Phillips’ sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux, the attention of comic book fans is once again drawn to the legacy of one of the most popular DC characters ever. We are, of course, talking about Harley Quinn, who is being portrayed by none other than the multi-talented Lady Gaga this time around, starring opposite Joaquin Phoenix.
Gaga is inheriting the role from Margot Robbie, who already earned acclaim for her rendition despite the horrendous reviews of the Suicide Squad movies. She once said of the character: “It makes me so happy because I said from the very beginning, all I want is for Harley Quinn to be one of those characters, the way Macbeth or Batman always gets passed from great actor to great actor.”
Interestingly, this added attention to the character’s potential future has also shed light on her past, especially because Harley Quinn’s origin is very different from that of some of the other stars of the DC Universe. She made her first appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, initially designed by the creators Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, because Joker needed a female crew member in one of the episodes.
While that might seem like a very banal reason, the reality is even more so. The animators thought of Harley Quinn in particular because they had a joke in mind that would only work with her. To add insult to this hilariously bad origin story, the creative team didn’t end up using the joke at all, but she still managed to capture the attention of fans, eventually becoming a recurring character and the titular villain’s legendary love interest.
Harley Quinn’s first episode was titled ‘Joker’s Favour’, featuring an assassination attempt by the Joker on Commissioner Gordon. They initially thought that it would be funny to have someone like Harley Quinn jump out of a cake at the Commissioner’s birthday party, but eventually scrapped it in favour of the Joker doing the act himself.
At first, Timm and Dini had no intentions of reusing Quinn and only kept her in the script because the basic character work had already been done. However, due to the overwhelming admiration expressed by fans, they had no choice but to make her a major part of the universe, culminating in the amount of discourse that Gaga has been generating lately.
When asked about her approach, she said: “You know my version of Harley is mine, and it’s very authentic to this movie and these characters. I’ve never done anything like I’ve done in this movie before, so it’s all going to be completely brand new and really fun.”
Joker: Folie à Deux is set to hit the theatres in October this year, so fans have to wait a bit to find out what exactly Gaga has done with the iconic role. However, if her past filmography is any indication, Harley Quinn is in good hands.
