Harleen Quinzel was a psychiatric intern at Arkham Asylum. A model student, in addition to receiving high grades in college, she was also a dedicated gymnast, winning a scholarship to Gotham City University. While researching the lunatics at Arkham, she became fascinated with one particular inmate. Ambitiously volunteering to analyze him, She pleaded with the doctors at Arkham for three months before she could treat him. After he gained her sympathy during their sessions, he seduced her, causing her to fall madly in love with him. After helping him escape from the asylum more than once Harleen was suspected by the authorities, who revoked her license and placed her in her own cell. During an earthquake in Gotham City, she fled and became Harley Quinn, the sidekick to the Clown Prince of Crime himself, The Joker.
Quinn's relationship with the Joker is one of the most complex and twisted love affairs in comics. As with all people, Joker is abusive and manipulative towards Harley, but just as often there's evidence of comaraderie, playfulness, and genuine affection towards her. She's the only person who's managed to become intimate on such a long term basis with the Joker and, while he generally accepts their relationship, we even see Joker's occasional moments of confusion and discomfort which results in attempts to kill her.
The Iconic Depiction of Harley Quinn
One time, when Joker realized the very deeply hidden away feelings of being able to love he was beginning to recall, he sent Harley off in a rocket.
She crash landed in Robinson Park in the center of Gotham and was found by Poison Ivy. When Harley regains consciousness, Ivy initially planned to kill her. The prospect of her own death totally fails to move Harley, and Ivy is curious as to why. She convinces Harley to tell her story, and soon feels a kinship to her. Considering her another castoff, Ivy offers to help Harley take her revenge on both Batman and the Joker. Ivy took her back to her lair in a toxic waste dump and nursed her back to health. This included injecting Harley with a serum that Ivy had developed which has given Harley immunity to various assorted toxins and Ivy's own poisonous touch and also dramatically enhances Harley's strength and speed. Ivy intends to give her new friend an edge on Batman and the Joker. Quinn and Ivy teamed up and conducted a number of successful capers. Hot-blooded Harley, however, is angrier at the Joker than at Batman, and even initially works with the Dark Knight to help bring down the Clown Prince of Crime.
Harley and Ivy
Added by Lastsonofkrypton
While Batman eliminates the villain's muscle, Quinn chases the Joker up a damaged building, intending to send him falling to his death. Before she can do so, however, the Joker apologizes. Falling in love with him again, she forgives him on the spot, and serves as his lieutenant throughout the rest of No Man's Land, as well as the Emperor Joker storyline. After this, Ivy dissolved the partnership in disgust. Ivy remains, however, her usual first point of call when she and The Joker are going through a rough patch. Ivy adopted the role of older sister and teller of harsh truths to Quinn about her helpless infatuation with The Joker. She frequently refers to the Joker as "Puddin" and "Mr. J." and she refers to Poison Ivy as "Red" (a reference to her red hair).
In the One Year Later storyline, Harley Quinn resurfaces as an inmate at Arkham Asylum, glimpsed briefly in Detective Comics #823.
Harley next appeared in Batman #663, in which she helps the Joker with a plan to kill all his former henchmen, unaware that the "punchline" to the scheme is her own death. Upon realizing this, she shoots him in the shoulder.
In Birds of Prey #105, Harley Quinn joins the Secret Six as the sixth member. In issue #108, upon hearing that Oracle has sent the Russian authorities footage of teammate Deadshot murdering the Six's employer as payback for double-crossing them, Harley asks, "Is it a bad time to say 'I quit'?"
Gotham City SirensEdit
Harley Quinn has joined forces with Poison Ivy and Catwoman in Gotham City Sirens. Having moved in with Poison Ivy at The Riddler's townhouse, she meets up with Catwoman who offers for the three of them to live and work together. Ivy resolves that she and Harley would provide Catwoman with "positive female reinforcement", and the three then agree to become a team. However, Harley and Ivy have one condition: they demand that Catwoman reveal to them the true identity of the original Batman. Suddenly, however, a new villain who tried to take down Selina Kyle named Boneblaster breaks into the apartment and the three of them have to move after they defeat him.
She then goes back to living with Catwoman and Poison Ivy in an abandoned animal kennel, which she warmly regards as her new home. Following a number of adventures with Catwoman and Ivy, Harley betrays them and breaks into Arkham with the goal of killing the Joker for abusing her as often as he did. However, Harley ultimately chooses to instead release Joker from his cell, and together the two orchestrate a violent takeover of the facility that results in most of the guards and staff members either being killed or taken hostage by the inmates. Harley and the Joker are eventually defeated by Batman and Catwoman, and Harley is last seen being wheeled away while bound in a straightjacket and muzzle. Shortly after this, Poison Ivy breaks into Harley's cell and attempts to kill her for her betrayal, but instead offers to free her if she helps kill Catwoman, who had left both of her fellow Sirens behind in Arkham. Harley agrees, and the two set out to trap Catwoman.
During the ensuing fight, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and really only wanted to help. Just as Batman is about to arrest them, Catwoman helps the two of them escape.
DCnU Harley
Now sporting a new costume, Harley is later arrested by Black Canary after murdering one of the prosecutors who put the Joker behind bars. She is then tortured and forcibly inducted into the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller. It is eventually revealed that she no longer wears face paint, and that her bleached skin is now part of a permanent condition. She also seems to be attracted to Deadshot, as she sees an abusive leader in him just as she saw in the Joker. Despite having no powers at all, she proves to be a valuable asset to the Squad, though she is easily the most mentally unstable (Deadshot described her as "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs). Surprisingly, she does not show any visible reaction upon hearing of the Joker's "death" beyond stopping in her tracks and staring off into space, though after Deadshot snaps her out of her day dream and tells her to focus she replies "Focus. Yeah. Consider me very focused right now". In the fourth issue she is moved into isolation and separated from the rest of the Suicide Squad, which confuses the Belle Reeve guards as she is a powerless unstable woman, though as her guards ask what she could possibly do Waller insults the guard's intelligence and Quinn smiles at the guard. She is not seen with the rest of the Suicide Squad when they are sent to put down the break out at Belle Reeve. It's revealed at the end of the fifth issue that Quinn somehow orchestrated the breakout and deactivated her bomb as a diversion to escape from Belle Reeve, and is shown to be going to Gotham City to learn about Joker's death.
Quinn returns to Gotham and begins a crime spree with henchmen in her image. During the issue Quinn flashbacks to her first meetings with Joker, though her origins have been slightly altered as of the reboot. Unlike her DCAU counterpart and previous versions, Harleen never believed any of the Joker's tales about his childhood and is shown to be both incredibly intelligent and has some fighting profiency as shown when she threatened the Joker upon realizing he has brought a knife into their first session. In their tenth session Joker reveals what he learned about Harley, that her father had been killed in a hit-and-run by a drunk, wealthy rich man who had enough connections to escape the charges and jail time. Joker then presents her with the man's finger, explaining it would be difficult to sneak the man's fat corpse into the Asylum, but that he had already tried as much. She tortures a psychologist and former friend for the location of Joker's body before slitting the woman's throat. In order to get to his face Harley allows herself to be arrested by the GCPD and brought into their building.
Inside the GCPD, Harley retrieves Joker's face and trys to escape with it, to go to Arkham, but is stopped by Savant. She and Savant fight, until she outsmarts Savant by trapping in a pressure cell, where if there is an attempt to escape, it blows up, and mockingly says to stay there. She tries to escape, but she notices Deadshot. She drops infrared red bombs, blinding Deadshot, and sneaks up behind him, knocking him out with her sledgehammer. He wakes up unmasked and is forced to wear Joker's face. Harley, believing that Deadshot is Joker, asks him why he didn't come back for her. Going along, he asks her that if she truly loves him, she would try to kill the Bat family. So happy, she runs towards the Joker, but is stopped after Deadshot shoots her in the gut. It is seen that she lived, but is getting surgery as she was injured really bad. She is still part of the Suicide Squad, but Amanda Waller threathen her if she pulled this stunt again.
Quinn's relationship with the Joker is one of the most complex and twisted love affairs in comics. As with all people, Joker is abusive and manipulative towards Harley, but just as often there's evidence of comaraderie, playfulness, and genuine affection towards her. She's the only person who's managed to become intimate on such a long term basis with the Joker and, while he generally accepts their relationship, we even see Joker's occasional moments of confusion and discomfort which results in attempts to kill her.
The Iconic Depiction of Harley Quinn
One time, when Joker realized the very deeply hidden away feelings of being able to love he was beginning to recall, he sent Harley off in a rocket.
She crash landed in Robinson Park in the center of Gotham and was found by Poison Ivy. When Harley regains consciousness, Ivy initially planned to kill her. The prospect of her own death totally fails to move Harley, and Ivy is curious as to why. She convinces Harley to tell her story, and soon feels a kinship to her. Considering her another castoff, Ivy offers to help Harley take her revenge on both Batman and the Joker. Ivy took her back to her lair in a toxic waste dump and nursed her back to health. This included injecting Harley with a serum that Ivy had developed which has given Harley immunity to various assorted toxins and Ivy's own poisonous touch and also dramatically enhances Harley's strength and speed. Ivy intends to give her new friend an edge on Batman and the Joker. Quinn and Ivy teamed up and conducted a number of successful capers. Hot-blooded Harley, however, is angrier at the Joker than at Batman, and even initially works with the Dark Knight to help bring down the Clown Prince of Crime.
Harley and Ivy
Added by Lastsonofkrypton
While Batman eliminates the villain's muscle, Quinn chases the Joker up a damaged building, intending to send him falling to his death. Before she can do so, however, the Joker apologizes. Falling in love with him again, she forgives him on the spot, and serves as his lieutenant throughout the rest of No Man's Land, as well as the Emperor Joker storyline. After this, Ivy dissolved the partnership in disgust. Ivy remains, however, her usual first point of call when she and The Joker are going through a rough patch. Ivy adopted the role of older sister and teller of harsh truths to Quinn about her helpless infatuation with The Joker. She frequently refers to the Joker as "Puddin" and "Mr. J." and she refers to Poison Ivy as "Red" (a reference to her red hair).
In the One Year Later storyline, Harley Quinn resurfaces as an inmate at Arkham Asylum, glimpsed briefly in Detective Comics #823.
Harley next appeared in Batman #663, in which she helps the Joker with a plan to kill all his former henchmen, unaware that the "punchline" to the scheme is her own death. Upon realizing this, she shoots him in the shoulder.
In Birds of Prey #105, Harley Quinn joins the Secret Six as the sixth member. In issue #108, upon hearing that Oracle has sent the Russian authorities footage of teammate Deadshot murdering the Six's employer as payback for double-crossing them, Harley asks, "Is it a bad time to say 'I quit'?"
Gotham City SirensEdit
Harley Quinn has joined forces with Poison Ivy and Catwoman in Gotham City Sirens. Having moved in with Poison Ivy at The Riddler's townhouse, she meets up with Catwoman who offers for the three of them to live and work together. Ivy resolves that she and Harley would provide Catwoman with "positive female reinforcement", and the three then agree to become a team. However, Harley and Ivy have one condition: they demand that Catwoman reveal to them the true identity of the original Batman. Suddenly, however, a new villain who tried to take down Selina Kyle named Boneblaster breaks into the apartment and the three of them have to move after they defeat him.
She then goes back to living with Catwoman and Poison Ivy in an abandoned animal kennel, which she warmly regards as her new home. Following a number of adventures with Catwoman and Ivy, Harley betrays them and breaks into Arkham with the goal of killing the Joker for abusing her as often as he did. However, Harley ultimately chooses to instead release Joker from his cell, and together the two orchestrate a violent takeover of the facility that results in most of the guards and staff members either being killed or taken hostage by the inmates. Harley and the Joker are eventually defeated by Batman and Catwoman, and Harley is last seen being wheeled away while bound in a straightjacket and muzzle. Shortly after this, Poison Ivy breaks into Harley's cell and attempts to kill her for her betrayal, but instead offers to free her if she helps kill Catwoman, who had left both of her fellow Sirens behind in Arkham. Harley agrees, and the two set out to trap Catwoman.
During the ensuing fight, Catwoman says that she saw good in them and really only wanted to help. Just as Batman is about to arrest them, Catwoman helps the two of them escape.
DCnU Harley
Now sporting a new costume, Harley is later arrested by Black Canary after murdering one of the prosecutors who put the Joker behind bars. She is then tortured and forcibly inducted into the Suicide Squad by Amanda Waller. It is eventually revealed that she no longer wears face paint, and that her bleached skin is now part of a permanent condition. She also seems to be attracted to Deadshot, as she sees an abusive leader in him just as she saw in the Joker. Despite having no powers at all, she proves to be a valuable asset to the Squad, though she is easily the most mentally unstable (Deadshot described her as "cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs). Surprisingly, she does not show any visible reaction upon hearing of the Joker's "death" beyond stopping in her tracks and staring off into space, though after Deadshot snaps her out of her day dream and tells her to focus she replies "Focus. Yeah. Consider me very focused right now". In the fourth issue she is moved into isolation and separated from the rest of the Suicide Squad, which confuses the Belle Reeve guards as she is a powerless unstable woman, though as her guards ask what she could possibly do Waller insults the guard's intelligence and Quinn smiles at the guard. She is not seen with the rest of the Suicide Squad when they are sent to put down the break out at Belle Reeve. It's revealed at the end of the fifth issue that Quinn somehow orchestrated the breakout and deactivated her bomb as a diversion to escape from Belle Reeve, and is shown to be going to Gotham City to learn about Joker's death.
Quinn returns to Gotham and begins a crime spree with henchmen in her image. During the issue Quinn flashbacks to her first meetings with Joker, though her origins have been slightly altered as of the reboot. Unlike her DCAU counterpart and previous versions, Harleen never believed any of the Joker's tales about his childhood and is shown to be both incredibly intelligent and has some fighting profiency as shown when she threatened the Joker upon realizing he has brought a knife into their first session. In their tenth session Joker reveals what he learned about Harley, that her father had been killed in a hit-and-run by a drunk, wealthy rich man who had enough connections to escape the charges and jail time. Joker then presents her with the man's finger, explaining it would be difficult to sneak the man's fat corpse into the Asylum, but that he had already tried as much. She tortures a psychologist and former friend for the location of Joker's body before slitting the woman's throat. In order to get to his face Harley allows herself to be arrested by the GCPD and brought into their building.
Inside the GCPD, Harley retrieves Joker's face and trys to escape with it, to go to Arkham, but is stopped by Savant. She and Savant fight, until she outsmarts Savant by trapping in a pressure cell, where if there is an attempt to escape, it blows up, and mockingly says to stay there. She tries to escape, but she notices Deadshot. She drops infrared red bombs, blinding Deadshot, and sneaks up behind him, knocking him out with her sledgehammer. He wakes up unmasked and is forced to wear Joker's face. Harley, believing that Deadshot is Joker, asks him why he didn't come back for her. Going along, he asks her that if she truly loves him, she would try to kill the Bat family. So happy, she runs towards the Joker, but is stopped after Deadshot shoots her in the gut. It is seen that she lived, but is getting surgery as she was injured really bad. She is still part of the Suicide Squad, but Amanda Waller threathen her if she pulled this stunt again.
