A female super-villain and associate of Poison Ivy.
Description[]
Harley Quinn is depicted as a young woman wearing a jester's costume which is colored Harlequin-style in quarters that are alternately red and black. Her head is covered by a cowl imitating a fool's cap and, on her pure white face, a black mask goes across her eyes. Speaking with an immature, squeaky voice, her behaviour is wild and manic with a theme of clownishness, but her humor does not detract from her underlying meanness. Despite this, she sees herself as "America's screwball sweetheart" and also, fancifully, to be Batman's arch-enemy.
She has no powers but is very agile, being able to leap about and turn somersaults easily. For offense, she can carry a baseball bat but she can also brandish more jokey weapons like a boxing glove on a telescopic arm or a ridiculously big wooden mallet.
Harley can also call upon the support of her pet hyenas, 'Bud and Lou'.
Although there are hints that she knows the Joker (e.g. the face on her bag), she is neither seen in his company nor mentions him. Instead she shows an affinity for Poison Ivy, and this probably means that Gotham City is her home town but not all of her stories are set there. In her earlier life, we see her as blonde, bespectacled Harleen Quinzel when she studies animal psychology at S.T.A.R. Labs and cares for space chimp Titano. In one scene she holds what appears to be a inkblot pattern in the form of the Joker's face.
She tells us that she later became a psychiatrist and can still give counseling to others.
Appearances[]
- 14. Speed Demon
- 25. Garden of Evil
- 41. Harley Goes Ape!
- 44. System Error (cameo)
- Short 19. Skyjacked
Links[]
- Harley Quinn at Wikipedia.
Notes[]
- In the comics, her pure white face is sometimes explained as the result of falling into a vat of chemicals to duplicate the Joker's same experience. It might just be clowns' make-up though.