99 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.

Which duo recorded Heathens, the lead single from the soundtrack of Harley Quinn's 2016 film Suicide Squad?

Twenty One Pilots released the song in June 2016, more than a month before the film opened, as the first single from the soundtrack album.

Which Hollywood star played the hitman Deadshot alongside Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016)?

Will Smith played Deadshot, an expert marksman and assassin whose one wish in the film is to be reunited with his daughter Zoe.

Suicide Squad (2016), Harley Quinn's first live-action film, is the only DCEU film to win what?

An Academy Award for Best Makeup and Hairstyling went to Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson for the looks they gave the squad.

Which wrestler-turned-actor plays Peacemaker alongside Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad (2021)?

John Cena plays Peacemaker as a ruthless, jingoistic killer who believes in achieving peace at any cost.

Which action-movie veteran voices King Shark alongside Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad (2021)?

Sylvester Stallone voices King Shark in the film's second team, which also includes Idris Elba's Bloodsport and Daniela Melchior's Ratcatcher 2.

In Birds of Prey (2020), Harley Quinn is chased across Gotham just after ordering which breakfast?

An egg sandwich from her local bodega is what she has just bought when Detective Renee Montoya and several others start chasing her, and it ends up splattered on the pavement.

Harley Quinn became a playable outfit in which hugely popular battle royale video game?

Fortnite offers her look as a playable outfit, long after her first video game appearance in a 1994 platformer based on Batman: The Animated Series.

What is the real name of Poison Ivy, the plant-loving best friend and love interest of Harley Quinn?

Pamela Isley first befriended Harley in a 1993 episode of Batman: The Animated Series, where writer Paul Dini paired them because Ivy was the strongest contrast to Harley.

Paul Dini created Harley Quinn for a 1992 episode because a scene needed someone to burst out of what?

A cake was meant to hide a surprise henchwoman, because having the Joker pop out himself seemed too strange; in the end he hid inside it anyway and she stayed in the episode.

Which giant mind-controlling alien is Harley Quinn's team sent to destroy in The Suicide Squad (2021)?

Starro the Conqueror is a giant alien starfish that makes smaller copies of itself to control people's bodies; in the film, American astronauts brought it to Earth.

Which official name is used by the Suicide Squad, the team of jailed villains Harley Quinn joined in 2011?

Task Force X is the squad's formal title, and writer Adam Glass put Harley on it for the 2011 relaunch because, he said, the team needed a bad girl and she was the best one DC had.

In the comics, Harley Quinn once wrote a love advice column under an alias for which newspaper?

Daily Planet readers knew her as Holly Chance, the alias she wrote under after moving to Metropolis with her best friend Poison Ivy.

In the 2019 cartoon DC Super Hero Girls, Harley Quinn's best friend is secretly which teen hero?

Batgirl, known in civilian life as Babs Gordon, has no idea at first that her old friend is a villain, and Harley is just as unaware of the secret Babs is keeping.

Which alien invader has enslaved the heroes Harley Quinn must stop in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?

Brainiac has taken over Metropolis and turned Superman, the Flash, Green Lantern and Batman into his servants, so Harley and three fellow convicts are sent in to kill them.

In the comic Heroes in Crisis, Harley Quinn and which fellow survivor become the prime suspects in a massacre?

Booster Gold and Harley are the only survivors of the killings at Sanctuary, a rehabilitation centre for traumatised heroes, which is why suspicion falls on the two of them.

Which Twin Peaks star played Harley Quinn in the unaired pilot of the 2002 TV series Birds of Prey?

Sherilyn Fenn was replaced before broadcast, but her version survives: the unaired pilot is included on the four-disc DVD set of the series.

Harley Quinn's 1994 origin comic by Paul Dini won which comics industry prize for Best Single Issue?

Eisner Award voters honoured the one-shot in 1994, and it took the Harvey Award for best single issue or story in the same year.

In her first solo comic series, launched in 2000, Harley Quinn led a gang of henchmen with which punning name?

The Quinntets backed her in writer Karl Kesel's run, which began in December 2000 and followed Harley as she left the Joker to become a solo criminal.

One comic backstory has Harley Quinn meet her pet hyenas while interning in animal research at which DC company?

S.T.A.R. Labs gave her the internship in Harley Loves Joker, a story co-written by her creator Paul Dini that also explains why she traded her jester suit for a modern look.

Harley Quinn's team is sent to which fictional South American island nation in The Suicide Squad (2021)?

Corto Maltese has just fallen to an anti-American regime in the film, and its new dictator has Harley captured and then decides he wants to marry her.

In Joker: Folie à Deux, Arthur Fleck first meets the film's Harley Quinn at which kind of session inside Arkham?

Music therapy brings the pair together, and this version of Harley goes by Lee and claims she grew up in the same neighbourhood as Arthur.

Which crossbow-wielding vigilante, a gangster's orphaned daughter, joins Harley Quinn in Birds of Prey (2020)?

The Huntress is Helena Bertinelli, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who survived her family's massacre, trained as an assassin and is picking off the men responsible.

In Birds of Prey (2020), which young pickpocket does Harley Quinn protect after the girl swallows a stolen diamond?

Cassandra Cain lifts the gem from a crime lord's henchman and swallows it after she is arrested, which earns her a bounty on her head.

Which hero played by Jurnee Smollett in Birds of Prey (2020), alongside Harley Quinn, has a hypersonic scream?

Black Canary, real name Dinah Lance, inherited the scream from her mother and spends the early part of the film singing in a club owned by a crime lord.

In Birds of Prey (2020), which Gotham landmark does Harley Quinn blow up to announce her breakup with the Joker?

Ace Chemicals goes up in flames after a drunk Harley overhears her drinking buddies debating whether the split is real, and the blast tells every criminal with a grudge that she is unprotected.

Which witch, possessing archaeologist June Moone, do Harley Quinn's team fight in Suicide Squad (2016)?

Enchantress turns on her government handlers, conquers Midway City and summons her brother Incubus to destroy mankind.

Which army colonel leads Harley Quinn's team in Suicide Squad (2016) and returns in the 2021 sequel?

Rick Flag is the squad's military leader, and when one recruit tries to run in the first film he sets off the bomb implanted in the man's neck.

In Suicide Squad (2016), the government recruits Harley Quinn and five other inmates from which penitentiary?

Belle Reve holds the squad at a black site between missions, and at the end of the film the Joker breaks in to rescue Harley.

Which actor returns as Arthur Fleck, the love interest of Harley Quinn, in Joker: Folie à Deux?

Joaquin Phoenix reprised the role from the first film, and the sequel earned him and his co-star the Golden Raspberry for Worst Screen Combo.

Harley Quinn is a playable fighter in which video game series, whose first entry is subtitled Gods Among Us?

Injustice made her a playable fighter in 2013, and its sequel puts her in the main campaign as an ally of Batman.

Which mutant cannibal is one of the six inmates recruited alongside Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016)?

Killer Croc joins a roster that also includes the hitman Deadshot, the thief Captain Boomerang and Slipknot, a mercenary who can climb anything.

Which Addams Family actress voices Harley Quinn in the podcast Harley Quinn and The Joker: Sound Mind?

Christina Ricci plays her in the audio drama, following Gillian Jacobs, who had voiced Harley in an earlier Batman podcast.

In the adult animated series Harley Quinn, which member of Harley's crew breaks out as an actor?

Clayface finds work as an actor once the crew starts to drift apart, while his crewmate Doctor Psycho starts a self-help podcast.

Which Seinfeld star voices Sy Borgman, a member of Harley Quinn's crew in her adult animated series?

Jason Alexander voices Sy, one of the misfits Harley recruits when she sets out to make a name for herself in Gotham's criminal underworld.

Which actress voices Poison Ivy opposite the title character in the adult animated series Harley Quinn?

Lake Bell voices Ivy, the best friend who helps Harley step out of the Joker's shadow and who becomes her partner as the series goes on.

In the 2017 animated film Batman and Harley Quinn, Nightwing tracks down Harley, who has taken a job as what?

A waitress at Superbabes, a restaurant whose staff dress as superheroes and supervillains, is the job Harley holds while she tries to go straight and live a normal life.

Harley Quinn makes a cameo, played by Cassidy Alexa, in an episode of which live-action superhero series?

Arrow gave her a brief cameo in an episode titled Suicide Squad, and a further appearance planned for the season two finale was cut for time.

Which character in the later seasons of the TV series Gotham was loosely inspired by Harley Quinn?

Ecco appears in episodes from 2018 and 2019, standing in for a Harley whose name is never used on screen.

In the Batman: The Animated Series episode Harlequinade, Harley Quinn helps Batman after the Joker steals what?

An atomic bomb puts all of Gotham at risk, so Batman offers the jailed Harley a pardon in exchange for helping him track the Joker down.

In the Batman: The Animated Series episode Harley's Holiday, a freed Harley Quinn returns to crime after a mix-up where?

A clothing store misunderstanding undoes her just after Arkham gives her a clean bill of mental health, and Batman and Robin try to help before she is locked up again.

Which painter's cover Tango with Evil, showing Harley Quinn dancing with the Joker, was recreated in a 2016 film?

Alex Ross painted it for the 1999 one-shot that made Harley part of DC's main comics canon, putting the Joker in a tuxedo for the dance.

Paul Dini's first rough design for Harley Quinn, a blonde in a miniskirt, was modelled on which 1960s sitcom star?

Barbara Eden, the star of I Dream of Jeannie, was his model, mixed with 1940s screwball actresses such as Betty Hutton and Claudette Colbert.

Which artist drew Harley Quinn's first ongoing comic series in 2000, with his wife Rachel inking his pencils?

Terry Dodson was the choice of writer Karl Kesel, who thought his art complemented the character's cartoonish roots and worldview.

Before choosing the name Harley Quinn, Paul Dini considered which other name taken from a traditional stage character?

Columbine was on his list, but Dini wanted a pun in line with other Batman characters' names and thought Harley was a fun name for a girl.

Which longtime voice of Batman returned opposite Harley in the 2017 animated film Batman and Harley Quinn?

Kevin Conroy had voiced Batman since the 1992 animated series in which Harley made her debut, and the film was made as a successor to that show.

Which pyrokinetic former gang member, played by Jay Hernandez, serves beside Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad (2016)?

El Diablo reveals that his powers led to the deaths of his family, and he finally embraces them to sacrifice himself in the last battle.

Which sadistic right-hand man of crime lord Roman Sionis hunts Harley Quinn's allies in Birds of Prey (2020)?

Victor Zsasz carves a tally mark into his skin for each victim he claims, and he dies at the hands of a vigilante whose family he helped to kill.

Which Arrested Development actor voices the villain Doctor Psycho in the adult animated series Harley Quinn?

Tony Hale voices the villain as a member of Harley's first crew, and he also voices Felix Faust in the same show.

Which former Doctor Who star plays the Thinker opposite Harley Quinn in The Suicide Squad (2021)?

Peter Capaldi plays the Thinker as the lead scientist of a secret government project, and the squad spares his life in exchange for a way into his laboratory.

Which studio behind the Batman: Arkham games made Harley Quinn a lead in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?

Rocksteady Studios had been rumoured to be making a Superman game before it announced this one in August 2020, and it ended support for the game in January 2025.