Margot Robbie As Harley Quinn In ‘Suicide Squad’: Should We Be Bracing For Controversy?
Monday morning brought an apparent confirmation that Suicide Squad, the “Dirty Dozen with supervillains” flick due out from Warner Bros., has landed one of its big star targets, The Wolf of Wall Street’s Margot Robbie. As the Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn, though, is Robbie just setting herself up to be at the center of a massive controversy?
Harley Quinn has come a long way since her first appearance in Batman: The Animated Series, and the news that Margot Robbie is supposedly set to play the character will no doubt have Harley fans jumping for joy. Of course, the Quinn casting isn’t set in stone until we get official confirmation from Warner Bros., but Collider seemed pretty confident in its report.
The new Quinn casting report also jibes with earlier reports that Warner Bros. had its eye on Robbie for Harley’s role from the time the Suicide Squad movie was announced. If Robbie does take on the role, it could signal a good deal of interest in Hollywood for the Suicide Squad flick, which would be a good sign, as the DC supervillain movie has targeted some really big stars for its headliners.
The role of Harley Quinn in particular, though, seems just about ripe for controversy, whether it is indeed Robbie playing her or any other actress. Quinn debuted on September 11, 1992, not in the Batman comics, but in Batman: The Animated Series, in what was supposed to be a short-term, walk-on-like role. Fans of the series loved Quinn so much, though, that DC introduced her into the Batman comics a year later.
Born Harleen Quinn – because why not, huh? – Harley’s backstory has her starting out as an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist that developed a truly twisted infatuation with the Joker. Something something something, comics, and she puts on a harlequin outfit and becomes the Clown Prince of Crime’s right hand woman.
Where’s the controversy? Calling the relationship between Harley Quinn and the Joker “abusive” is an understatement on the level of saying there are just a few superhero movies coming out over the next few years. Since Quinn left Arkham to be with the Joker, the two have battered, bruised, and betrayed each other continually. To an extent, though, the abuse is one-sided, with the Joker being the one who dishes it out and Harley being the one that continually forgives him and comes back to him.
Harley’s even gotten to the point where she has set out with the goal of killing the Joker, but she’s always stopped short. After all, in one alternate universe – again, comics! – she’s got a kid with the Joker.
Yeah, see, that’s messed up. There’s no telling how much of Harley’s screwed up mythos Margot Robbie would be bringing to the screen, but it seems almost certain that the Suicide Squad movie will at least touch on her odd, abusive relationship with the Joker. There are, after all, rumors that Warner Bros. is looking to cast Jared Leto in the role of Batman’s greatest enemy, and it’s a no-brainer that the film will at least touch on their bizarre and unhealthy relationship.
All this, of course, isn’t even touching on the controversy over DC’s sex-bomb remake of Harley’s costume over the years. That’s a whole other controversy in and of itself.
