DC Facts

Her character was created for Batman: The Animated Series back in 1992. She came into being when one of the show’s creators was watching an episode of daytime soap opera, Days of Our Lives. He watched an episode where Arleen Sorkin’s Calliope Jones Bradford is in a dream sequence dressed as a court jester. Thus, Harley was born.

Harley is a notorious animal lover and her love for hyenas was sprung from the Joker getting two hyenas named Bud and Lou to keep as attack “dogs”. Harley immediately fell in love with them and claimed them as her “babies”. When she broke it off with Joker, she took custody of the creatures.

Gotham is sometimes thought to be a more “grounded” comic book world. Batman has no powers and a lot of the villains he interacts with lack powers as well. Usually, Harley Quinn is counted as one of these villains. However, in the 2011 relaunch of DC comics, she was given an immunity to toxins, superhuman strength, speed, and super healing.

It’s pretty common knowledge that Harley and Joker have a terribly unhealthy and crazy relationship and just about the opposite of “couple goals”. But, did you know one time she decided to steal Joker’s literal face? Yep. She did. After finding out the front of his face is sitting in evidence at Gotham City Police, Harley decided to steal it. The Suicide Squad tried to stop her, but to no avail. She ends up knocking out Deadshot and he wakes up to joker’s face placed on top of his like a mask, with Harley talking to him like he’s the Joker. Yeah… Harley’s a weird gal.

Another of Harley’s many weird-isms has to do with a taxidermy beaver. After a breakup with a guy named Bernie, Harley steals the dead beaver as a keepsake and names him after him. Her ex-boyfriend is incarcerated, but Bernie the Beaver becomes a close companion to Harley that she frequently talks to. You know, when she’s not with her hyenas or stealing Joker’s face…

She actually wins a charity auction event where Bruce Wayne auctions himself off for a night out on the town with the highest bidder. Harley becomes the highest bidder. After stealing a ton of money… The date goes sour after the man she stole to money from comes after her.

Harley possess excellent gymnastics skills rivaling that of Catwoman and Nightwing. She can jump very high and perform dangerous acrobatic feats with little effort. She is also a very impressive fighter, integrating her acrobatic skills in her fighting style.

Harley is shown to be great with a variety of weapons, particularly with her trademark weapon; a large mallet which she wields with surprising skill, despite its large size and unwieldy appearance. She is also shown to be capable with firearms as well.

After Batman: The Animated Series and The New Batman Adventures, Harley makes several other animated appearances. She appears as one of the four main female characters of the web cartoon Gotham Girls. Eventually, she makes her way into the comic book cannon and then ends up in multiple different movies.

Shortly after DC’s 2011 relaunch of its titles, Harley Quinn’s costume and appearance is fully revamped. She is given a more revealing costume, new hair color, and bleached skin. Her hair is half-red and half-black, like the jester cap of her previous incarnation, rather than fully blonde. Consistent with her new origin, her bleached skin is the result of being kicked into a vat of acid by the Joker.