20 Harlequinesque Facts About Harley Quinn
![20 Harlequinesque Facts About Harley Quinn](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/1/860291_320x180.jpg)
On September 11th (yikes), 1992 (okay, whew), Harley Quinn made her debut on Batman: The Animated Series just as a walk-on foil for the Joker to break up the sausage fest in his gang. Creator Paul Dini never imagined that the character would not only show up in other episodes, but be fully immersed in the DC Universe due to popular demand. Over the past 20 years, Harley Quinn went from being the abused member of Joker’s gang to having her sense of agency to having multiple comic book series, her own movie, and her own cartoon show.
Whether you like her or don’t, Harley Quinn’s popularity isn’t going anywhere. There isn’t a comic book convention out there that doesn’t have hundreds of fans cosplaying the mallet-wielding, high-pitch giggling heroine. Yet there are some behind the scenes facts about Harley that even the geekiest superhero fans may not be aware of.
That’s where we come in. Here are some informational morsels about Harley Quinn that may surprise you.
'Days of our Lives'
![HARLEY QUINN HARLEY QUINN WAS INSPIRED BY DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Writer Paul Dini came up with Harley after seeing Arleen Sorkin dressed up as a court jester during a dream sequence. Sorkin would actually end up voicing Harley in the cartoon. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/6/860306.jpg)
Source: Cinemablend
Batman: Arkham Asylum
![CRACKED.COM I WARDEN HARLEY QUINN SHE HAD HER REAL BREAK IN BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM. While the character hadn't exactly gone unnoticed before, it was the 2009 video game and its sequels that first showed that Harley could be much more than just the Joker's sidekick.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/5/860295.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Joel Schumacher
![HARLEY QUINN HARLEY QUINN WAS GOING TO BE IN JOEL SCHUMACHER'S MOVIES. Had Schumacher been given the green light to make a third Batman film, it would've featured Harley Quinn's first live live-action appearance (as the Joker's daughter rather than his lover, though). CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/1/0/860310.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Margot Robbie's Transformation
![HARLEY QUINN ... IT TAKES OVER TWO HOURS TO TURN MARGOT ROBBIE INTO HARLEY QUINN. The process requires full body paint, fake tattoos, a wig, and then adding blood or bruises based on what scenes are being shot that day. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/8/860308.jpg)
Source: Cinemablend
Superpowers
![HARLEY QUINN HARLEY QUINN HAS SUPERPOWERS SOMETIMES. Harley was retconned to get enhanced strength, speed, healing, and immunity to poisons during DC Comics' New 52 reboot. She is still a (somewhat) regular humanin most other versions, though. Y ONNER CRACKED.COM MOUNTS](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/1/860301.jpg)
John Wick
![10t HARLEY QUINN BIRDS OF PREY GOT HELP FROM THE DIRECTOR OF JOHN WICK. While director Cathy Yan had a vision for her movie, she was a newbie when it came to action sequences. She brought in stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski to consult when shooting fight scenes. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/1/3/860313.jpg)
Source: Cinemablend
Roller Derby
![HARLEY QUINN I, TONYA HELPED MARGOT ROBBIE PREPARE FOR BIRDS OF PREY. Robbie did most of the skating in the movie, thanks to the training that she had to do for her role as pro skater Tonya Harding. JEh CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/1/2/860312.jpg)
Source: Cinemablend
Suicide Squad
![CRACKED.COM SUICIDE SUICIDE SQUAD SQUAD HARLEY QUINN THE CARTOON DIGS INTO HARLEY'S SUICIDE SQUAD PAST. Early in Season One of Harley Quinn, Harley's gang gets a box of Suicide Squad swag, which she refers to, a group that keeps trying to get me to join.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/4/860304.jpg)
Source: Ranker
Stunts
![HARLEY QUINN MARGOT ROBBIE TRAINED IN GYMNASTICS AND MARTIAL ARTS FOR SIX MONTHS. While she had a stunt double on set for Suicide Squad, Robbie did most of the stunts herself. This includes the elevator fight. SLOVATORI AOIN 8 CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/2/860302.jpg)
Source: WhatCulture/YouTube
Mia Sara
![CRACKED.COM HARLEY QUINN HARLEY WAS PLAYED BY MIA SARA IN THE EARLY 2000s. Do you remember the Birds of Prey TV show? Then you also won't remember that Dr. Harleen Quinzel was the main villain, played by Ferris Bueller's girlfriend.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/7/860307.jpg)
More: 6 Superhero Films (That Made Your Favorite Heroes Idiots)
Perfect Egg Sandwich
![CRACKED.COM HARLEY QUINN THE SANDWICH IN BIRDS OF PREY WAS MADE WITH DUCK EGGS. Margot Robbie is allergic to chicken eggs, so duck eggs were used for her perfect breakfast sandwich.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/5/860305.jpg)
Source: Fandango All Access/YouTube
Harley and the Joker
![HARLEY QUINN THE HARLEY AND JOKER SCENES IN SUICIDE SQUAD WEREN'T REHEARSED. To capture the unpredictability in the characters' relationship, director David Ayers decided not to have any rehearsals between Margot Robbie and Jared Leto. You decide if that was a good call. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/3/860303.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Green Lantern
![HARLEY QUINN HARLEY QUINN IS A GREEN LANTERN (SORT OF). In Harley's Little Black Book #2, Harley takes a Green Lantern ring off of Hal Jordan and uses it to defeat some aliens with a giant mallet made of green energy. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/1/1/860311.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
Pet Hyena
![CRACKED.COM UINN HARLEY QUINN HARLEY'S PET HYENA IN BIRDS OF PREY WAS ALMOST REAL. Director Cathy Yan considered using an actual hyena, until she learned how stressful and expensive it'd be to safely have a wild animal on set. She ultimately went with a dog that was turned into a hyena via CGI.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/9/860309.jpg)
Source: Cinemabend
'Birds of Prey' and 'The Suicide Squad'
![HARLEY QUINN JAMES GUNN DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT BIRDS OF PREY WHILE WRITING THE SUICIDE SQUAD. Still, both movies work well together to give Harley a natural progression from breaking up with Joker to trying to make healthier choices about her relationships (in the very peculiar sense that the word healthy can take around Harley Quinn). CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/9/860299.jpg)
Source: Screen Rant
A Fantabulous Subtitle
![HARLEY QUINN BIRDS OF PREY'S SUBTITLE WAS NEVER INTENDED TO BE USED. Screenwriter Christina Hodson just wrote the title Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) as a cheeky, absurd placeholder, but the bosses fell in love with it. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/7/860297.jpg)
Source: Cinemablend
Codependent
![Daddyle L HARLEY QUINN MARGOT ROBBIE STUDIED CODEPENDENT RELATIONSHIPS TO UNDERSTAND THE CHARACTER. Robbie had trouble relating to a badass character that repeatedly fell for a jerk. She had a bit more understanding after reading the play Fool for Love, along with articles and books on codependency. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/8/860298.jpg)
Source: WhatCulture/YouTube
Accent
![CRACKED.COM HARLEY QUINN KALEY CUOCO'S HARLEY ACCENT IS INCONSISTENT ON PURPOSE. According to Harley Quinn executive producer Justin Halpern, Harley puts the Nu-Yawker thicker when she's around the Joker and her family, as many real people do that when they return to their roots.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/4/860294.jpg)
Source: /Film
Arrow
![CRACKED.COM A.R.G.U.S. HARLEY QUINN HARLEY HAS A CAMEO ON ARROW. Harley has a blink-and-you-miss-it scene in the episode Unthinkable, begging to be let out of an A.R.G.U.S. facility. Apparently she was going to be featured on the show, but DC nixed that due her being appearing on the Suicide Squad movie.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/2/9/6/860296.jpg)
Sources: Gizmodo, ComicsAlliance
Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy
![HARLEY QUINN HER RELATIONSHIP WITH POISON IVY DEVELOPED VERY SLOWLY. First teaming up in a 1993 episode of Batman: The Animated Series, it wasn't until 2009 that comics introduced romantic feelings in their relationship, and they were made an official couple in 2015. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/3/0/0/860300.jpg)
Source: MovieWeb