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Harley Quinn And Her Joker: Exploring The Suicide Squad Romance

Once in a while, controversial things happen in comic books. Wonder Woman killed Maxwell Lord to save Superman and Batman. The Joker tortured Barbara Gordon. Batman kills a whole bunch of people. More recently, over at Marvel, Captain America was announced as being a secret agent of Hydra. While they serve a creative purpose, these narrative developments are, by their very nature divisive, with consequences and ramifications echoing through respective series for extended periods of time. Thus far, live-action cinema adaptations of comic book stories have largely avoided the most contentious plot points – but that’s all about to change, with the release of Suicide Squad.

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Harley Quinn helps Joker escape

The Joker is a character that is almost as old as his nemesis – Batman. He first appeared in the debut issue of Batman in 1940, and the two icons have been closely connected ever since. This means we were very familiar with the Clown Prince by the time Batman: The Animated Series introduced Harley Quinn to audiences in 1992. While The Joker is an integral part of the Batman canon, Harley was invented outside of that narrative, as a one-off supporting character in the animated show.

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Audiences responded strongly to Harley, however – possibly because she enabled a different side of The Joker to be seen – and she became a recurring side-kick character in the show. She featured in the one-shot comic book, The Batman Adventures: Mad Love, in 1994 – but again, this was outside the Batman canon. Harley was not officially integrated into DC lore until 1999, with Batman: Harley Quinn, by Paul Dini and Yvel Guichet. This debut story finds Harley rejected by The Joker, which leads to her bonding with Poison Ivy. Ivy gives Harley strength, reflexes and immunity to poisons – something that proves useful in Harley’s ongoing, problematic relationship with the Clown Prince Of Crime.