

Robbie, who also served as producer, pitched the idea for Birds of Prey to Warner Bros. The film follows Harley Quinn, who, after breaking up with the Joker, is threatened by Gotham City crime lord Roman Sionis, and joins forces with Helena Bertinelli, Dinah Lance and Renee Montoya (who go on to form the Birds of Prey) to save Cassandra Cain. It stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor. Entertainment, it is the eighth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU), and serves as a spin-off and sequel to Suicide Squad (2016). Produced by Warner Bros., DC Films, Luck圜hap Entertainment, Clubhouse Pictures, and Kroll & Co. It’s not surprising then that the trailer revealed Harley is no longer romantically connected to the Joker, and in her struggle to get over him, she’s connected with a group of strong females.Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), also known as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey or simply Birds of Prey, is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson, based on the DC Comics team, the Birds of Prey.
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Everything about Birds of Prey screams that it’s looking to upset the norm, from its bright color palette to its role as the first female-led superteam movie to the fact that it’s written, directed and produced by women. It’s not that people can’t enjoy what made those stories speak to them, but it’s worth asking asking why these kind of violent, toxic and often dangerous relationships are the ones that are romanticized. In 2019, there’s a reconsideration of fictional relationships like that between the Joker and Harley.
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The series not only saw her get a very cathartic and bloody vengeance on the Joker, but also introduced a romantic relationship with her longtime friend Poison Ivy.
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Things changed in 2013 with Amanda Conner, Jimmy Palmiotti, and Chad Hardin’s groundbreaking Harley Quinn series offered up something new, an emancipated version of Harley free from the abuse of the past but still dealing with the toxic nature of the relationship she had shared with the Joker. Though she spends much of her first true appearance hunting down and attacking the Joker, she eventually forgives him after he apologizes to her, thus setting up a dynamic that would continue for over a decade. Readers follow Harley as she tries to get her revenge, after being saved by Poison Ivy, who, building on something introduced in the cartoon, gifts her with a potion that makes Harley immune to toxins. Written by Paul Dini with art by Yvel Guichet, Aaron Sowd, Richard Horie and Tanya Horie, the book established the toxic relationship between Harley and the Joker as the iconic villain abuses, manipulates and potentially even drugs his lover before trying to kill her. Part of the Batman: No Man’s Land storyline that also introduced her fellow Birds of Prey star Cassandra Cain, the story introduced two key players in Harley’s life: Poison Ivy, who would soon become her closest friend and ally, and, of course, the Joker. Her first canon DC Comic was the titular Batman: Harley Quinn. It wasn’t until five years later that Harley Quinn would officially join the realm of the company’s core heroes and villains in the main DC Universe. The issue was later adapted as an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, doubling down on the depressing backstory. She eventually fell in love with the Joker and helped him escape captivity. She then starred in the cult classic Mad Love comic, which gave her a problematic backstory as a young woman who was sexually abused before sleeping her way through college - therefore not truly earning her doctorate.

Harley’s first appearance on the pages of a comic book came in Batman Adventures No. The slapstick nature of the cartoon and the voice talents of Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin always kept the relationship on the right side of comedic, but when she headed to the comics, that all changed. Her romantic relationship with the Joker - or as she fondly calls him, “Mistah J” - soon became the core of her character with the pair fighting each other as much as they fought Batman. Harley stuck around and was soon one of the most beloved characters on the cult series. She quickly became a favorite of her creators Paul Dini and Bruce Timm. First introduced in the 1992 Batman: The Animated Series episode “Joker’s Favor,” Harley was originally supposed to be nothing more than a one-off henchman during a gag in the popular kids show.
