NZ Herald
  • Home
  • Latest news
  • Herald NOW
  • Video
  • New Zealand
  • Sport
  • World
  • Business
  • Entertainment
  • Podcasts
  • Quizzes
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Viva
  • Weather

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • New Zealand
    • All New Zealand
    • Crime
    • Politics
    • Education
    • Open Justice
    • Scam Update
    • The Great NZ Road Trip
  • Herald NOW
  • On The Up
  • World
    • All World
    • Australia
    • Asia
    • UK
    • United States
    • Middle East
    • Europe
    • Pacific
  • Business
    • All Business
    • MarketsSharesCurrencyCommoditiesStock TakesCrypto
    • Markets with Madison
    • Media Insider
    • Business analysis
    • Personal financeKiwiSaverInterest ratesTaxInvestment
    • EconomyInflationGDPOfficial cash rateEmployment
    • Small business
    • Business reportsMood of the BoardroomProject AucklandSustainable business and financeCapital markets reportAgribusiness reportInfrastructure reportDynamic business
    • Deloitte Top 200 Awards
    • Deloitte Fast 50
    • Generate wealth weekly
    • CompaniesAged CareAgribusinessAirlinesBanking and financeConstructionEnergyFreight and logisticsHealthcareManufacturingMedia and MarketingRetailTelecommunicationsTourism
  • Opinion
    • All Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Editorials
    • Business analysis
    • Premium opinion
    • Letters to the editor
  • Politics
  • Sport
    • All Sport
    • OlympicsParalympics
    • RugbySuper RugbyNPCAll BlacksBlack FernsRugby sevensSchool rugby
    • CricketBlack CapsWhite Ferns
    • Racing
    • NetballSilver Ferns
    • LeagueWarriorsNRL
    • FootballWellington PhoenixAuckland FCAll WhitesFootball FernsEnglish Premier League
    • GolfNZ Open
    • MotorsportFormula 1
    • Boxing
    • UFC
    • BasketballNBABreakersTall BlacksTall Ferns
    • Tennis
    • Cycling
    • Athletics
    • SailingAmerica's CupSailGP
    • Rowing
  • Lifestyle
    • All Lifestyle
    • Viva - Food, fashion & beauty
    • Society Insider
    • Royals
    • Sex & relationships
    • Food & drinkRecipesRecipe collectionsRestaurant reviewsRestaurant bookings
    • Health & wellbeing
    • Fashion & beauty
    • Pets & animals
    • The Selection - Shop the trendsShop fashionShop beautyShop entertainmentShop giftsShop home & living
    • Milford's Investing Place
  • Entertainment
    • All Entertainment
    • TV
    • MoviesMovie reviews
    • MusicMusic reviews
    • BooksBook reviews
    • Culture
    • ReviewsBook reviewsMovie reviewsMusic reviewsRestaurant reviews
  • Travel
    • All Travel
    • News
    • New ZealandNorthlandAucklandWellingtonCanterburyOtago / QueenstownNelson-TasmanBest NZ beaches
    • International travelAustraliaPacific IslandsEuropeUKUSAAfricaAsia
    • Rail holidays
    • Cruise holidays
    • Ski holidays
    • Luxury travel
    • Adventure travel
  • Kāhu Māori news
  • Environment
    • All Environment
    • Our Green Future
  • Talanoa Pacific news
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Property Insider
    • Interest rates tracker
    • Residential property listings
    • Commercial property listings
  • Health
  • Technology
    • All Technology
    • AI
    • Social media
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
    • Opinion
    • Audio & podcasts
  • Weather forecasts
    • All Weather forecasts
    • Kaitaia
    • Whangārei
    • Dargaville
    • Auckland
    • Thames
    • Tauranga
    • Hamilton
    • Whakatāne
    • Rotorua
    • Tokoroa
    • Te Kuiti
    • Taumaranui
    • Taupō
    • Gisborne
    • New Plymouth
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Dannevirke
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Levin
    • Paraparaumu
    • Masterton
    • Wellington
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Blenheim
    • Westport
    • Reefton
    • Kaikōura
    • Greymouth
    • Hokitika
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
    • Wānaka
    • Oamaru
    • Queenstown
    • Dunedin
    • Gore
    • Invercargill
  • Meet the journalists
  • Promotions & competitions
  • OneRoof property listings
  • Driven car news

Puzzles & Quizzes

  • Puzzles
    • All Puzzles
    • Sudoku
    • Code Cracker
    • Crosswords
    • Cryptic crossword
    • Wordsearch
  • Quizzes
    • All Quizzes
    • Morning quiz
    • Afternoon quiz
    • Sports quiz

Regions

  • Northland
    • All Northland
    • Far North
    • Kaitaia
    • Kerikeri
    • Kaikohe
    • Bay of Islands
    • Whangarei
    • Dargaville
    • Kaipara
    • Mangawhai
  • Auckland
  • Waikato
    • All Waikato
    • Hamilton
    • Coromandel & Hauraki
    • Matamata & Piako
    • Cambridge
    • Te Awamutu
    • Tokoroa & South Waikato
    • Taupō & Tūrangi
  • Bay of Plenty
    • All Bay of Plenty
    • Katikati
    • Tauranga
    • Mount Maunganui
    • Pāpāmoa
    • Te Puke
    • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Hawke's Bay
    • All Hawke's Bay
    • Napier
    • Hastings
    • Havelock North
    • Central Hawke's Bay
    • Wairoa
  • Taranaki
    • All Taranaki
    • Stratford
    • New Plymouth
    • Hāwera
  • Manawatū - Whanganui
    • All Manawatū - Whanganui
    • Whanganui
    • Palmerston North
    • Manawatū
    • Tararua
    • Horowhenua
  • Wellington
    • All Wellington
    • Kapiti
    • Wairarapa
    • Upper Hutt
    • Lower Hutt
  • Nelson & Tasman
    • All Nelson & Tasman
    • Motueka
    • Nelson
    • Tasman
  • Marlborough
  • West Coast
  • Canterbury
    • All Canterbury
    • Kaikōura
    • Christchurch
    • Ashburton
    • Timaru
  • Otago
    • All Otago
    • Oamaru
    • Dunedin
    • Balclutha
    • Alexandra
    • Queenstown
    • Wanaka
  • Southland
    • All Southland
    • Invercargill
    • Gore
    • Stewart Island
  • Gisborne

Media

  • Video
    • All Video
    • NZ news video
    • Herald NOW
    • Business news video
    • Politics news video
    • Sport video
    • World news video
    • Lifestyle video
    • Entertainment video
    • Travel video
    • Markets with Madison
    • Kea Kids news
  • Podcasts
    • All Podcasts
    • The Front Page
    • On the Tiles
    • Ask me Anything
    • The Little Things
  • Cartoons
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Entertainment

Harley Quinn could be 2016's most popular movie character

David Betancourt
Washington Post·
2 Aug, 2016 01:00 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save
    Share this article
A new trailer for the movie Suicide Squad.

A deranged psychiatrist wouldn't seem like something you'd want to be for Halloween, but once Harley Quinn is unleashed on the world this week, it very well could be the hot costume this fall.

One of DC Comics most popular anti-heroes, Harley Quinn is the doctor who thought she could get in the Joker's mind and understand what makes him tick. She fell in love instead, and craziness has ensued ever since.

Now, with the character's major motion picture debut just days away - in Suicide Squad, played by Australian actress Margot Robbie - Harley Quinn could be the next big pop-culture icon.

Margot Robbie stars as Harley Quinn in a scene from the movie, Suicide Squad. Photo / AP
Margot Robbie stars as Harley Quinn in a scene from the movie, Suicide Squad. Photo / AP

"I think (Harley Quinn) is going to go from queen of the cult characters to mainstream very quickly," said Paul Dini, Harley Quinn's co-creator. "When you hear comedians making jokes on late night (television) and using the name of your character, it's like, OK, the character has broken through."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Harley Quinn has become so popular within the pages of DC Comics it is easy to forget she actually made her debut in the '90s classic cartoon Batman: The Animated Series. Dini, who helped co-create Harley Quinn with animator-artist Bruce Timm, was looking to create a female character to play off the Joker as one of his gang members. He was inspired by the villain henchwomen who appeared on the 60s Batman television show, and the 1940s Batman comic-books in which the Joker's diverse gang would occasionally include a "girl gone wrong."

"I thought it would be fun to do a 90s version of that," Dini told The Washington Post. "There's a tremendous freedom in writing (Harley Quinn) where any crazy idea that pops into my head, I can put down on paper and it always seems right for her. She can be funny, sad, sexy, heroic and a real pest, and be all of those things at the same time. I think a lot of people respond to that kinetic element of her personality. She's a great character to express personal freedom in that she doesn't have to take any rules from anybody."

All of a sudden there was a new dynamic duo in the animated adventures of Gotham City. Harley Quinn's red and black jester outfit, with her chalky white face and black domino mask, were the perfect complement to the Joker.

Harley Quinn in the '90s classic cartoon Batman: The Animated Series.
Harley Quinn in the '90s classic cartoon Batman: The Animated Series.

The Joker is a character that normally didn't need a lot of people around him to be effective, but "because Harley was funny and cute and was able to stay one step ahead of him, she added an interesting dynamic to the Joker," Dini said. "For the first time we saw him in something like a relationship, where (Harley) was following him not because she was getting paid or a cut of the loot, but because she really loved him. That was something new for the Joker's personality."

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

According to Dini, after her animated debut, all the writers and directors on Batman: The Animated Series wanted to do an episode with her. That sentiment transferred over to DC's comic-book division, where Harley Quinn debuted in a series based on Batman's animated adventures and eventually arrived in DC's main comic-book universe, where she has her own series as well as frequently appearing in other titles.

'Harley Quinn is going to go from queen of the cult characters to mainstream very quickly'.
'Harley Quinn is going to go from queen of the cult characters to mainstream very quickly'.

Dini says he won't soon forget the first time he saw the live-action Harley Quinn. It wasn't in one of the trailers from the film, but from leaked footage that had hit the Internet while Suicide Squad was filming in Toronto.

The leaked scene showed the Joker (Jared Leto) and Robbie's Harley Quinn racing down Toronto's streets in a purple Lamborghini as Ben Affleck's Batman chased them in the Batmobile. Dini couldn't help but smile when he saw the video for the first time.

"I said, 'Look at this. Isn't this amazing?' How many times have we done this on the show, where Batman has been chasing after the Joker and Harley. And now they're doing it (in the movie)," Dini said. "I felt like we had sort of put a big joke over on the rest of the world, because we'd put something into our cartoon show and it made it out there into a movie. I thought, That's pretty great."

Discover more

Entertainment

Margot Robbie suffers wardrobe malfunction at Tarzan premiere

06 Jul 05:03 AM
Entertainment

Comic-Con: The best bits

25 Jul 06:00 AM
Entertainment

A history of smart-arse superheroes

26 Jul 08:47 PM
Entertainment

Is she the next Bond girl?

28 Jul 05:00 AM
A scene from the new anti-hero movie Suicide Squad.
A scene from the new anti-hero movie Suicide Squad.

When Dini experienced a brutal mugging that almost brought an end to his writing career, he decided he would turn his darkest moment into a graphic novel, Dark Night. In the story, Dini recounts many of the Batman characters he's written guiding him on the path to recovery in his mind. One character he kept at a distance until the end was Harley Quinn.

"I kept Harley kind of at a minimum throughout Dark Knight, mostly because I wanted to tell the story through other characters, but also because at that time Harley symbolised joy and fun in my life - and there wasn't any," Dini said. "But yet she's still there in the fringes and when she comes back in the end, that's sort of indicative of where my life is now. There's fun and there's happiness."

Save
    Share this article

Latest from Entertainment

New Zealand

Mel Robbins to launch global Let Them! Tour in Auckland

19 Sep 01:21 AM
Entertainment

What to watch: 6 shows to stream this weekend

19 Sep 12:00 AM
Entertainment

Jamie Oliver admits he ‘got the basics wrong’ in restaurant collapse

18 Sep 11:41 PM

Sponsored

Sponsored: Invite nature in - but not winter

14 Sep 06:03 PM
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Recommended for you

Remains found in search for father accused of killing 3 daughters
World

Remains found in search for father accused of killing 3 daughters

19 Sep 05:31 AM
Photographers called to capture NZ’s wild beauty in $15k photo contest
New Zealand

Photographers called to capture NZ’s wild beauty in $15k photo contest

19 Sep 05:20 AM
'Trust our systems': The key area Black Ferns need to address in semifinal
Black Ferns

'Trust our systems': The key area Black Ferns need to address in semifinal

19 Sep 05:00 AM
Diver’s harrowing missions: From fatal shipwrecks to pirates and nuclear tests
Northern Advocate

Diver’s harrowing missions: From fatal shipwrecks to pirates and nuclear tests

19 Sep 05:00 AM
Taika claims first running of Great NZ Hurdle
Racing

Taika claims first running of Great NZ Hurdle

19 Sep 04:47 AM
'We do the complicated missions': Inside IDF's Haruv commando unit
World

'We do the complicated missions': Inside IDF's Haruv commando unit

19 Sep 04:17 AM


Latest from Entertainment

Mel Robbins to launch global Let Them! Tour in Auckland
New Zealand

Mel Robbins to launch global Let Them! Tour in Auckland

Mel Robbins to open her tour in Auckland's yet-to-be opened convention centre theatre.

19 Sep 01:21 AM
What to watch: 6 shows to stream this weekend
Entertainment

What to watch: 6 shows to stream this weekend

19 Sep 12:00 AM
Jamie Oliver admits he ‘got the basics wrong’ in restaurant collapse
Entertainment

Jamie Oliver admits he ‘got the basics wrong’ in restaurant collapse

18 Sep 11:41 PM


Sponsored: Invite nature in - but not winter
Sponsored

Sponsored: Invite nature in - but not winter

14 Sep 06:03 PM

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search