49 Fun Facts About Harley Quinn

Who voiced the Joker opposite Harley in Batman: The Animated Series, the show that introduced her?

Mark Hamill. While the rest of the cast sat in headphones he stood up and acted the part out, and the actress playing Harley said she sometimes forgot her own lines watching him.

In which 1992 Batman: The Animated Series episode did Harley Quinn debut?

Joker's Favor. She was meant as a one-off henchwoman, but when the rough footage came back the producers saw 'there's something here' and soon brought her back.

What is Harley Quinn's real full name?

Harleen Frances Quinzel. Paul Dini took the surname from a teacher of his at Emerson College named Quenzel, changed the spelling, and said he was sure the man never knew.

Harley Quinn's name is a pun on Harlequin, a stock clown from which theatrical tradition?

Commedia dell'arte. Her designer borrowed the Italian clown's jester hat, ruff and diamonds, but placed only a few diamonds on her suit because a costume covered in them could not be animated.

Which actress inspired and first voiced Harley Quinn?

Arleen Sorkin. It was her first voiceover job, and she found the voice by singing Adelaide's Lament from Guys and Dolls in the car on the way to the studio.

On which soap opera did Paul Dini see a college friend play the jester who inspired Harley?

Days of Our Lives. Dini thought the jester outfit 'kind of cute', modelled his wisecracking henchwoman on his friend's screen persona, and then asked her to do the voice.

From which Golden Age character did Harley's designer take her red and black colour scheme?

Daredevil. Not Marvel's hero but a 1940s namesake from another publisher, whose two-tone split suit her designer remembered as red and black and admitted he 'kind of stole'.

What was Harley's profession before she met the Joker?

Psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum. Her creators wanted a surprise in her origin: not just a hench girl but a doctor whose own patient had got into her head.

What is Harley Quinn's signature weapon?

An oversized mallet. It suits her clown act: Harley favours gag weapons such as pop guns, and the oversized hammer is the one that nearly every version of her keeps.

What are the names of Harley Quinn's pet hyenas?

Bud and Lou. A clown's pets needed comedians' names, so they are called after Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, the double act behind the 'Who's on First?' routine.

In which 1994 one-shot comic did Harley's two creators first tell her origin story?

Mad Love. It reversed the usual traffic between screen and page: the comic came first and won an Eisner award, and only five years later was it adapted as an episode of the cartoon.

Harley entered mainstream DC continuity in 1999 during which Batman storyline?

No Man's Land. In the one-shot, Batman: Harley Quinn, she finally has the Joker at her mercy and is about to finish him when he says sorry, and she forgives him on the spot.

Which comic series, a tie-in to the animated show, gave Harley her first appearance in print in 1993?

The Batman Adventures. Because the book was based on the cartoon and stood outside DC's main line, her debut in issue 12 did not make her part of the regular Batman comics, which took years more.

What did a serum from Poison Ivy give Harley besides enhanced strength and agility?

Immunity to toxins. Ivy took pity on her after the Joker tried to get rid of her by firing her off in a rocket, and the dose also left her strong enough to hold her own against Batman.

Which filmmaker named his daughter Harley Quinn after the character?

Kevin Smith. The studio had given him the bat used on screen in Suicide Squad, and when he passed it on to Harley Quinn Smith she cried tears of joy.

At the end of her origin story, what does the Joker send that makes a heartbroken Harley forgive him?

A flower and a note. She has just sworn off him for good in her Arkham cell when she spots them; her creator compared it to taking a crumb of affection and turning it into a whole cake.

Which 2009 series teamed Harley with Catwoman and Poison Ivy?

Gotham City Sirens. The team fell apart when Harley broke into Arkham meaning to kill the Joker and instead let him talk her into rejoining him, betraying her two partners.

Harley's accent gives away her hometown as which New York City borough?

Brooklyn. The accent came first, from the actress who originated her, and Paul Dini later made the borough her official hometown in the comics to match it.

In the New 52 Suicide Squad origin, how does the Joker transform the future Harley Quinn?

Pushes her into a chemical vat. The 2011 retelling made her origin a copy of his: it happens at the same chemical plant where he was transformed, to change her the way he was changed.

Which writing duo's 2013 series moved Harley out of Gotham and made her a landlord?

Jimmy Palmiotti and Amanda Conner. They agreed to write her only if they could do it their way, away from her old setting, and their run was the one that separated her from the Joker for good.

Who played the Joker opposite Harley in the 2016 film Suicide Squad?

Jared Leto. He was left disappointed by how little of his performance survived the edit, saying he had shot enough Joker material for a whole film of its own.

After Suicide Squad opened in 2016, Harley Quinn became that year's most popular what in both the US and the UK?

Halloween costume. Google's costume tracker had her as the most-searched character in America, and when she was named Britain's top choice, lookalikes paraded through London.

In the comics and on screen, which official forces Harley to join the Suicide Squad?

Amanda Waller. The writer who put Harley on Waller's team reasoned that no real authority would leave her locked up in the same institution as the Joker, so he moved her to another prison.

Which publisher called Harley the 'fourth pillar' of DC after Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman?

Jim Lee. He said it as DC's co-publisher after her 2013 solo series had become one of the company's best-selling books every month and set off a run of spin-offs.

What nicknames does Harley use for the Joker?

Mistah J and Puddin'. The pet names sweeten a relationship her own creator calls abusive: by his account the Joker loves what he turned her into more than who she is.

What does Harley call Poison Ivy?

Red. Harley's pet name for her has outlasted every change between them: best friends and partners in crime at first, they became a couple in the comics in the 2010s.

Why is Harley on her own when she first teams up with Poison Ivy in 1993?

The Joker has fired her. Paul Dini had wanted to write a story where she goes off without him, and he chose Ivy as her partner because she was 'the strongest contrast to Harley'.

Which comic-relief hero did her first series' writer want as Harley's new love interest, only for DC to refuse?

Plastic Man. Karl Kesel pitched the stretchy ex-crook as a romance that wasn't the Joker, was turned down, and says the idea later grew into a heroine of his own, Impossible Jones.

In Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker, Harley is revealed as grandmother to which characters?

The Dee Dee Twins. Harley had seemed to fall to her death years before; in the film's last minutes an elderly, reformed Harley bails the pair out of jail, and they call her Nana Harley.

Which voice actress took over Harley in the Batman: Arkham games and has played her in many other projects since?

Tara Strong. When the 2016 film was cast, her fans protested that she ought to be playing the part on screen; she told them to chill out and said she approved of the choice.

Who played Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016)?

Margot Robbie. While still filming she pitched the studio a spin-off because, she said, 'Harley needs friends', and she went on to produce that girl-gang film herself.

In Birds of Prey (2020), Harley gets over her breakup by adopting a hyena and taking up what?

Roller derby. The film took it from her comics: the 2013 relaunch had put Harley on a derby team and given her a costume to match.

What is the name of the hyena Harley adopts in Birds of Prey?

Bruce. It is a joke she isn't in on: she names her pet after the billionaire Bruce Wayne without knowing that he is Batman.

Who directed Birds of Prey (2020)?

Cathy Yan. The film's star, who also produced it, had wanted a woman to direct, and said that in the end Yan simply was the best director for the job.

Who played Harley Quinn in Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)?

Lady Gaga. Her Harley goes by Lee, and the part gave the singer room to sing: unlike the first Joker film, the sequel is a jukebox musical.

Who played Harley Quinn in the 2002 Birds of Prey TV series?

Mia Sara. Known as Ferris Bueller's girlfriend Sloane, she came to the part late: Sherilyn Fenn played Harley in the unaired pilot and was replaced before the series began.

Who voices Harley in the adult animated Harley Quinn series?

Kaley Cuoco. She is also one of the show's executive producers, and her Harley spends it trying to make it on her own as Gotham's top criminal after splitting from the Joker.

On which service did the Harley Quinn animated series first premiere?

DC Universe. The show outlived its first home: after two seasons DC wound up the service's video side, and the series moved to HBO Max from its third season.

Which spin-off of the Harley Quinn series premiered in July 2024?

Kite Man: Hell Yeah! Its hero is a hapless supporting villain from the parent show, who opens a bar for Gotham's criminals with his girlfriend, Golden Glider.

Who voiced Harley in The Batman (2004) and Batman: Assault on Arkham?

Hynden Walch. She said she had always wondered why Harley wasn't everywhere, and she helped put that right, voicing her in DC animation for more than fifteen years.

Who voiced Harley in The Lego Batman Movie?

Jenny Slate. Her Harley is the Joker's one useful ally: when he and the other villains give themselves up, she stays free and later steals the device that brings him back.

Who voiced Harley Quinn in Batman and Harley Quinn (2017)?

Melissa Rauch. Her Harley has given up crime and is waiting tables in a superhero-themed restaurant when Nightwing tracks her down to ask for help.

Who voices Harley in the animated series Batman: Caped Crusader?

Jamie Chung. The series gives Harley a new origin with no Joker in it: her targets are Gotham's rich, whom she kidnaps and brainwashes into giving their money away.

In the unmade film Batman Unchained, Harley, written as the Joker's daughter, was to team up with which villain?

Scarecrow. The script made her a toymaker who learns who her father was and joins the fear-obsessed professor in a plot to drive Batman insane, but the film was never made.

In its full title, the 2020 film Birds of Prey promises the 'Fantabulous' what 'of One Harley Quinn'?

Emancipation. The freedom is from the Joker: the film opens with their break-up, which leaves Harley without his protection and with half of Gotham's criminals after her.

In her adult animated series, which supervillain club does a newly single Harley spend the first season trying to join?

The Legion of Doom. She believes membership would prove her a real supervillain, and her first attempt to gatecrash one of its jobs lands her at a bar mitzvah for the Penguin's nephew.

Who wrote and directed The Suicide Squad, the 2021 film that brought Harley back for a third outing?

James Gunn. His film drops Harley and a fresh team of convicts on a remote island, where the mission ends in a fight with a giant alien starfish.

DC's 2015 'Harley Quinn Month' included a special tied to which holiday?

Valentine's Day. DC gave her the whole of February because, it said, she was 'having a moment' on page and screen, and it published 22 variant covers of her across its line as well as the special.

Which actor plays the crime boss Black Mask, Harley's enemy in Birds of Prey (2020)?

Ewan McGregor. His vain gangster declares open season on Harley once her break-up with the Joker leaves her unprotected, which forces her into an alliance with three other women.