Harley Quinn

Harleen Frances Quinzel is a former psychiatry intern, previously employed at Arkham Asylum, a former criminal and the ex-girlfriend of the Joker, operating under the alias Harley Quinn. After being manipulated by the Joker into assisting his escape from Arkham, Harleen was submerged in a batch of chemicals at Ace Chemicals, re-emerging as the Joker's right-hand woman. Over the years, Harley has become a nemesis of the Batman, growing to become known as the queen of Gotham City alongside the Joker, notably committing countless crimes, and while her allegiance with the Joker meant she was never in any real danger from other criminals, her long history of violence would later catch up with her.

Quinn was later imprisoned in Belle Reve after her arrest by Batman and recruited into Task Force X, a covert operations team led by Amanda Waller, where she was forced to work with other dangerous criminals to complete missions for the government in exchange for time off her sentence. On her first assignment, she and the team brought down Enchantress in Midway City, earning her ten years off of her multiple life sentences, but was later rescued by the Joker during a prison break.

The Joker eventually broke up with her, though she tried to claim that the decision was mutual. Following the breakup, she kept quiet for a while before announcing it in a very public way by ramming a truck into Ace Chemicals, setting off a massive explosion. She had declared her emancipation, but by doing so had essentially set off an open season on her for the many people who held a grudge against her. She at first sought the protection of Black Mask after he tried to kill her, but eventually found her independence by saving the life of Cass Cain and teaming up with the group who would become the Birds of Prey. She then founded her own mercenary group with Cass, Harley Quinn and Associates.

Shortly after, Harley was recaptured and sent back to Belle Reve. She rejoined Task Force X for their mission to Corto Maltese, with the intent to destroy any traces of the dangerous and mysterious Project Starfish. When she arrived on the island, Harley saw how her companions were killed by the Corto Maltese Armed Forces, but she survived because she was captured by the soldiers and brought before Silvio Luna, with whom she later began a relationship. But, upon hearing Luna’s evil plans, Harley killed him causing her to be locked up in the dungeon. Later, Harley managed to escape and joined a new Task Force X team to infiltrate Jotunheim. After the explosion, Harley and the surviving members, confronted Starro saving Corto Maltese and obtaining her freedom.

Even after having a traumatized childhood, Harleen Frances Quinzel was supposedly once a highly intelligent, calm, and compassionate young lady who worked at Arkham Asylum, before the Joker transformed her both mentally and physically into "Harley Quinn." In truth however, even before she met Joker she was already demonstrating dark tendencies. As a child her troublesome attitude could still be seen as a reaction to her treatment by her father and the nuns, but it was really in college where her darker side began to manifest. She came up with a thesis to psychologically test her boyfriend's love for her, ultimately causing him to kill for her as well as lose his life in the process. Through the shock therapy and the Joker's manipulation, her mind and emotions were twisted to the point where she transformed into a person barely recognizable from the woman she once was, fracturing her psyche and causing intense psychological trauma. Thus resulting in her severe mental instability, becoming a homicidal, sadistic, childlike, and somewhat psychopathic villain, who would use sexuality and her playful personality to achieve her goals or to entertain herself, usually harming others in the process. She followed the Joker in whatever he demanded of her, blindly smitten with the ruthless psychopath, affectionately referring to him as "puddin'," prior to their final breakup. She also demonstrates a severe case of Stockholm Syndrome, as she was unable to see through the Joker's abuse and genuinely believed it was the Joker's way of showing love. After the end of the relationship and her emancipation, her Stockholm Syndrome disappeared completely, not only being able to perceive the abuses, but she also starts to hate the Joker and be more careful before relating to someone.

After realizing that her relationship with the Joker was extremely toxic, Harley Quinn is shown to be severely traumatized by the Joker's abuse, so much so that as soon as she notices Silvio Luna's troubled personality, her first action is to kill him while remembering her previous relationship with extreme suffering and hatred.

Harley carries almost an innocent persona, wide-eyed and bright, finding humor in otherwise dark situations, much like Joker himself. After attacking Belle Reve guards and seriously injuring a couple before finally being restrained, she maniacally began giggling to herself in a sinister way, happy and pleased with how funny she found it, showing how fractured her psyche had become. However, behind the smiles laid a very depressed, broken and melancholic woman with poor self-esteem suffering from her dependence on the Joker to the point to obviously she is hurt emotionally than being truly happy, despite claiming otherwise. In fact, Joker treated Harley more like a piece of property than someone he truly loves.

However, despite her seemingly flaky demeanor, Harley is still highly intelligent, even showing traces of her psychologist expertise, as Harley was able to make swift breakdowns of the psychological profiles of her teammates, knowing exactly what to say in order to get under their skin (proudly referring to herself as "vexing"), though Deadshot calls her out on this. Her intellect also extends itself to tactical skills, as Harley notably assisted the Joker in the murder of Robin, suggested to Deadshot and Captain Boomerang a feasible escape option from the Suicide Squad, and even swiftly improvised a plan to weaken and take down the extremely powerful Enchantress, which proved successful.

Harley is also quite tough and pathologically fearless (another trait she shares with her boyfriend), fighting alongside the Suicide Squad and having fun doing so. With the team, she is shown to get along well with them, once she got to know them a bit better, with Harley acting as a bartender at a derelict bar. She even seemed horrified before El Diablo's death, imploring Rick Flag not to blow him up even though she knew it was their only way to destroy Incubus.

She has a very dim view on a regular life, stating "normal is a setting on the washer" to El Diablo, who lost his family because of his powers; however, until her emancipation Harley once had the dream of having a family with the Joker, as Enchantress' implanted vision revealed. She secretly holds a desire to be normal and hopes the Joker does the same for her.

Following her breakup with the Joker, Harley Quinn was initially devastated beyond endurance, frequently crying and binging in order to relieve the pain she was going through. As a mark of her pathological fearlessness, she also adopted and tamed a hyena. After her emancipation, she was forced to look out for herself. She was troubled by the specter of those who told her that she couldn't succeed on her own, but quashed those voices to make her own way. Although she at first sought the protection of the Black Mask from the powerful enemies she had made, she eventually displayed remorse at selling out Cassandra Cain to him and turned over a new leaf by fighting off him and his forces before making Cain her apprentice.

Much like Billy Batson, her experiences with her new team have been a journey of renewal for her as she finds a new family that has experienced similar hardships and has similar goals. In addition, her ability to genuinely love, while impaired by her subjection to chemicals, seems to have been restored as her regard for human life increases, albeit to a limited extent, coupled with her gradually realizing that everything people do inevitably carries some form of an aftermath. Despite this, she never truly reached hero status, as most of her decisions were still rather self-serving in nature.

Although often painted as a victim of psychological abuse, the Joker himself claims very little credit for Harley's condition. According to the Clown Prince of Crime, Harley was always sad and depressed deep down (simply better at controlling her insanity than most), and that he himself had merely made all her madness rise to the surface. It should be noted, however, that Joker's insanity occasionally induces him to make conclusions that only make sense to him, hence this might not necessarily be the actual case.

Harley also displays an extroverted, charismatic and playful attitude. This trait of herself makes capable of befriending almost anyone she meets. She quickly formed a genuine friendship with her teammates of the Suicide Squad, notably Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, and years later with Rick Flag and Bloodsport. She also shows concern about those she sees as her friends, she showed great horror when Captain Boomerang died in a cruel way and mourned Flag's death. She also seems to have some moral standards, she shot and killed Silvio Luna after hearing his capacity of sending children to death.

Harley Quinn's physical appearance in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) varies across different movies. In Suicide Squad, she is depicted wearing a white t-shirt, a jacket with a blue left side and red right side, and leggings. Her hair is styled in pigtails with mashes of the same color as her jacket. She has multiple tattoos on her body and a heart symbol on her face, along with smudged eyeshadow and red lipstick. She is often seen carrying a baseball bat.

In Birds of Prey, Harley's attire changes to a pink top and ripped jeans, with a mantle of confetti over her top. She removes the smudged eyeshadow and is seen with colored nail polish. Her weapon of choice shifts to a mallet.

In Suicide Squad 2, Harley's clothing undergoes another transformation, featuring a shirt and pants with jester motifs in black and red colors. Her makeup includes red eyeshadow and black lipstick and nail polish. Her hair is now styled in braids with black tips, and she wields a firearm.