| Harley Quinn | |
| |
| General Information | |
| Real name: | Harleen Frances Quinzell |
| First Appearance: | Birds of Prey |
| Created by: | Paul Dini |
| Abilities: | Clinical psyciatry |
| Portrayed by: | Mia Sara |
Harley Quinn was the main antagonist of the short-lived television show Birds of Prey. Her character was portrayed by actress Mia Sara. In this show, Harley is portrayed as a far more calculating and sinister character than her bubbly comic and cartoon persona. She also does not wear a costume per-se, although she does wear an outfit that is reminiscent of her cartoon costume in the series finale, "Devil's Eyes".
History[]
Unlike her comic book counterpart, very little is known about femme fatale Doctor Harleen Quinzel's origin. Picking up where The Joker had left off, Harleen used her day job as a therapist to achieve her savage purpose - to take control of the city of New Gotham. Quinzel carried out her sinister agenda from afar, manipulating others into doing her dirty work for her.
In the midst of her plans, Quinzel met regularly with Helena Kyle, secretly the vigilante Huntress, who was under court mandate to see Quinzel for anger management issues. Quinzel discovered Helena's secret, when Helena accidently blew her cover to save hostages from the Gotham gangster Clayface and his goons. Feeling that she could trust Quinzel with her secrets, Helena let her guard down and told Harleen everything about her secret identity, including information about her crime-fighting partners, the Birds of Prey.
After Harleen Quinzel gained metahuman hypnotic abilities, she set a plan in motion to take over New Gotham and destroy the Birds of Prey. With Helena in her thrall, she managed to infiltrate the clocktower and from there broadcast her hypnotic commands all over the city, creating chaos. Only Barbara remained unaffected, and was able to create a device to reverse the effects of Quinzel's hypnotism to rescue Helena and put a stop to Quinzel's madness before New Gotham tore itself apart. Barbara (Oracle) fashioned reflective contact lenses to block her hypnotic gaze, and a reversal to Quinzel's insanity broadcast. Though Quinzel is defeated her ultimate fate is left unrevealed. Presumably she would have been imprisoned, quite possibly in Arkham Asylum.
Trivia[]
- Sara replaced Sherilyn Fenn who played the role in an unaired pilot episode.