Warner Bros. Planning To Turn Harley Quinn Into The DCEU’s Deadpool

Say what you will about David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, but Margot Robbie’s portrayal of Harley Quinn is nothing short of a highlight performance. Fortunately, we know the character is all set to return in next year’s Birds of Prey, but it sounds like she’s coming back with more than just a new look.

We Got This Covered has heard from multiple sources that Warner Bros. is taking a page out of the Marvel playbook, setting up a framing device in Birds of Prey that will allow Harley to break the fourth wall and address the meta-context of her own films, much like Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool does.

While it sounds unlikely that she’ll show off this ability in the larger team-up movies in DC’s future – such as James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad – Quinn is expected to continue to address the audience throughout Gotham City Sirens and the Joker and Harley Quinn pair up film.

If there’s ever a DC character that could bite an ability from Deadpool, Harley Quinn is probably the best bet. Her engaging charisma and broken psyche would perfectly serve an unreliable narrator who’s equally funny and twisted. Plus, Margot Robbie is no stranger to meta-commentary, as she portrayed herself in a fourth-wall breaking cameo in The Big Short.

That being said, Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad are the only two of the aforementioned movies in active production right now. David Ayer is said to still be working on Gotham City Sirens, but any updates about the Joker and Harley Quinn film – which was intending to bring back Jared Leto’s much maligned-take on the Clown Prince of Crime – have been few and far between. 

Maybe it’s for the best that Warner Bros. pivots Harley Quinn away from the Joker though and instead spends more time fleshing out her identity. After all, the character is set to have a pretty big upcoming year; Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) – that’s its full title by the way – hits cinemas on February 7th, 2020. Meanwhile, The Suicide Squad is still in the casting phase and is expected to start production later this year.