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Canon Information[]
There is absolutely no televised information regarding Harleen Quinzel's childhood, upbringing, education, or city of origin. The earliest information available is in regards to her intern work.
Harleen was a gifted psychological doctor based in Gotham City. She was incredibly interested in what she called "extreme personalities" and so decided to intern for a while at Arkham Asylum, an insane institution known for housing the more eccentric and notorious criminals who plagued the city. Though she was warned to be cautious around the inmates, she quickly found herself fascinated by the patients, in particular the criminal known as The Joker. He himself seemed interested in her right off the bat.
The Joker expressed how he felt he could relate to her (one reason being her name sounding like harlequin) and he wanted to reveal the secrets he'd kept buried for years. Considering this her big break, Harleen studied up on The Joker and any information she could find on his clown-based persona and after three months, she managed to set up a session with him.
During the session, The Joker told Harleen stories of domestic abuse at the hand of his drunkard father. He describes his only fond memory with his father as the time they went to the circus. After this memorable event, he mentions trying to make his father laugh again afterward only to have his nose broken. The tales of The Joker's beatings seemed to horrify and disturb her incredibly, making her empathize with him more than a psychologist normally should have.
She soon came to the conclusion that the supposed "psychotic madman" known as The Joker was simply a child who never grew up, his gags becoming sadistic only after reoccurring abuse warped his perception of the norm. The renegade, self-proclaimed hero known as Batman seemed to serve as a looming shadow representing The Joker's abusive father.
After regular sessions, Harleen felt she understood The Joker more than anyone else, and soon found she had, in fact, fallen deeply in love with him. She kept this a secret in order to continue her sessions with who she considered to be "her" patient. However, after The Joker escaped from Arkham and was recaptured in a horrific beaten state (at the hand of Batman yet again), Harleen couldn't hold back her emotions anymore.
Arming herself with a plethora of gag-related weaponry (a rubber chicken for example), she donned a harlequin costume complete with mask and makeup and began her new persona of Harley Quinn. She caught the asylum's security off guard and broke The Joker out of Arkham in a grand escape. She has been working as his accomplice, personal bodyguard and loyal right-hand ever since.
She tends to get stuck doing much of the dirty work, such as driving the get away car, carrying loot, and being the look out or bait. She also does a good amount of the fighting for The Joker's side, wielding an impressive arrangement of weapons including machine guns, bazookas, giant mallets, pogo sticks, wrenches, mannequin body parts, and an oversize pop gun that shoots anything from a giant cork to a retractable punching glove. At their hideouts, Harley is the one who cleans, keeps the place in order, and feeds the two hyenas they keep as pets.
Though he would play along with "the kid" on a steady basis, The Joker obviously did not share in Harley’s sense of devotion. He wouldn't hesitate to hit her if she angered or annoyed him enough. On many occasions, he would literally throw her out the door to the curb, though he always expected her to come back (which she almost always did).
Despite a few honest attempts to leave her persona and The Joker behind, Harley never stays away from him for long. In fact, even when The Joker's abuse and manipulation drives Harley seemingly past the point of forgiveness, all he has to do is offer the tiniest indication of recognition or approval and she will fall for him all over again.
Most recently, Harley had tried pulling off a variation of one of The Joker's plans to both prove she could execute one of his plans on her own and eliminate Batman, the one thing she feels is plaguing The Joker's life. She successfully captured Batman and was close to destroying him completely before he reveals the painful past The Joker had shared with Harley at the beginning had been a lie. She allows her emotions to get the better of her and she is tricked into calling The Joker to the scene.
The Joker was furious beyond belief that she would try to kill Batman on her own, an honor reserved for him alone. In his rage, he hits her and sends her flying out the top story window and into a pile of garbage below. She is taken to Arkham once again, in bad condition but alive. She decides once again that this was the last straw and she would never again go back to The Joker. However, a single rose in her room with a brief get well message on it from "J" causes that thought to flee from her mind.
This is the last episode she is in for the rest of the series, however, not including Batman Beyond (which may/may not be included in her history).
Abilities/Powers: Harley Quinn has absolutely no magical or supernatural powers of any kind. No abnormal body parts or nuclear-powered machine guns infused into her flesh either.
Harley is small in frame but is actually incredibly strong, though not on a superhuman level. She is one of The Joker’s strongest goons and often serves as his personal body guard. Though she is usually seen wielding some kind of weapon, she is a good physical fighter, especially when it comes to martial arts. Her kicks are a thing to be reckoned with.
In addition to strength, Harley is extremely agile and acrobatic. She can often be seen cartwheeling into battle and back flipping through laser security systems. She has an astonishing amount of endurance and energy, especially considering how often she is bouncing around in battle. She'll of course get tired after an extended amount of this, but she can certainly last longer than the average person.
When Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy started working together, Ivy gave Harley a special shot that made her immune to all poisons and airborne toxins. She’s only seen receiving this shot once, but its effects seem to have lasted the entire series afterward, so it’s safe to say it’s still in effect.
Bulleted Version for Comic/TV Canon: -Exceptional agility and strength; skilled gymnast -Immunity to most toxins -Psychologist (trained in psychoanalysis), so she's pretty intelligent
NERF'D Version: - Smart, but a bit dim-witted at times due to her rather childlike tendencies (also a stereotypical blond) She isn't going to be making bombs anytime soon, even if she's not afraid to set them off. - She will maintain her agility/gymnastic abilities, but they will be more of a lifelike manner than the things she can manage on the cartoon. (ie: no leaping off buildings, rolling and surviving.) She will also be of normal, fit strength levels. (ie: she's a tiny little thing .. she might be wiry, but there won't be any lifting of huge bookshelves all by her lonesome) - Her toxin immunity might help, but will not fully protect her from the things she might will likely encounter on the boat. Effects from said toxins will not be stopped but will be lessened/slowed enough for her to do something about them.
Personality: An adult woman skipping, cartwheeling, singing to herself, blowing large bubblegum bubbles, and spinning around in her seat might normally be an extremely creepy sight. However, this juvenile behavior just seems to fit Harley to the point where one might not find it all that weird. Her behavior replicates that of a child to the point where many people find themselves calling her "kid" despite the fact she obviously isn't one.
Her devotion to The Joker has seemingly instilled a need to replicate the concept of "a big kid who never grew up" for herself. It's become second nature for her to the point in which she acts like this whether The Joker is present or not. As with The Joker, her childish antics often take a very morbid light when in the context of gangster activity.
Though her bubbly disposition and optimistic outlook is a large part of her charm, her allies can count on her loyalty first and foremost. She is fully and completely dedicated to those she considers her friends. Conversely, this dedication also causes her to be especially devoted against those who would harm those she cherishes. The problem here is her primary focus of loyalty is to The Joker, who is a well-known backstabber. When the two are together, one would have to watch out for her.
Aside from the Joker, Harley seems to generally get along with underground criminals. She also seems to get along with many of the other Arkham inmates, counting Poison Ivy, Two-Face and Scarface amongst her "friends".
It's this charisma that gives her a sense of a surrogate family of sorts among her friends. She even has "her babies," a pair of full-grown hyenas she fawns over like a loving mother. Where she and The Joker may have gotten these things is a mystery, but it's a good guess that they were probably stolen from a zoo or circus. Though they are The Joker's, Harley is the one seen caring for them and feeding them. They seem to understand what she says and follow her every command like a couple of dogs.
She treats many of her allies as family and tends to act as either "the mommy" or the little sister figure depending on the person. This idea of a family seems to be very important to her. It's not very clear why, but a good guess would be she is trying to replicate the family she feels The Joker never had the chance to experience.
Though she is very strong-willed, she allows "her puddin'" to hit her when he's angry without ever thinking of striking back. This is most probably because she sees his abuse as a replication of what his own father supposedly did to him. Violence is what he needs to get his rage out; this is the lesson Harley figures he has learned from his childhood abuse. Thus, she allows him to do so.
However, when the Joker's self-focused tendencies take hold and he decides to back stab her, she suddenly transforms into the girlfriend from hell, ready to throttle the daylights out of him. There was a point in which The Joker was going to bomb the city without stopping to rescue Harley from the asylum first. Though it took her a while, she finally understood that fact and was plenty ready to shoot the Joker in the face. However, she accidentally grabbed one of the gag guns that shot out a "Rat Tat Tat" flag instead of bullets, causing The Joker to laugh and the two to embrace as if nothing had happened.
Where The Joker is concerned, Harley is quick enough to forgive. Time and again he will betray her or hospitalize her, but she will always run right back to him, desperate for his acceptance and love. All he would need to do is offer her a smile and anything he may have done to her will be forgiven.
Appearance: Harley Quinn is about of average height (5'8": 145 lbs) for an adult woman of 26. She has medium length blond hair, which is usually kept in pigtails when out of costume, and bright blue eyes. She's thin and in peak physical condition. With a full body suit, she might come off as petite, but shorts or a t-shirt would show a bit of muscle, especially in the leg area. Her most prominent feature is the enormous grin she seems to have plastered on her face at all times.
When in costume, Harley wears a skintight black and red clown leotard with small diamonds symmetrically providing a simple design. She wears a clown hood which extends into two "ears" which very neatly fit over her ponytails. Her face is painted completely white, broken only by a black mask around her eyes and red-black lipstick.
Extra:
Elegante[]
Deaths: None
Warnings & Punishments: None