No one could have expected the demented, yet cheerful associate of the Joker to rise to such fame, but she exceeded all expectations to her fame. Harley Quinn first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, and ever since then, she's had a meteoric rise in popular appeal, most recently appearing on the big screen in DC's 2016 Suicide Squad. The Joker's crazy sometimes-girlfriend is a hit, and it's enough to make you wonder why. Why all the adoration from millions of fans? What about Harley Quinn's tale causes so many to become enraptured with her character?

Related: Batman: Arkham Knight – 10 References To DC Comics You Missed

She's undergone quite a few changes since 1992, from costume changes to new versions of her backstory, but her magnetism has remained stalwart. We don't consider a Batman/Joker story to be quite as complete without her now. The tension she brings to encounters with the Caped Crusader or the Clown Prince of Crime with her silly mannerisms and temper tantrums is astonishing, but perhaps it isn't so surprising. Harley Quinn fans will know that one of the largest reasons for her appeal is that her origin story is just as tragic as Bruce Wayne's. The chipper villain (or anti-hero) we see on the page or on the screen has suffered from her mental state and the Joker's continual abuses, and yet she keeps coming back for more.

Harley's history across the various universes (yes, we said universes) contains some slight variations, but what you can never fail to find are shocking, and usually disturbing, elements to her story. So if you want to take a peek into one of the most enduring female villains' past, read on.

Updated May 5th, 2021 by Russ Boswell: Harley Quinn has been a mammoth part of the DC universe and she's easily one of the most beloved villains in all of Batman's rogues' gallery. She's seen a hefty spike in popularity lately and thanks to Margot Robbie's portrayal of her in Suicide Squad, fans are appreciating her more than ever. She's received multiple films, featured in a variety of comics, video games, and seen her face plastered over tons of merchandise. Even in 2021 she's a force to be reckoned with and easily one of the best characters to come out of DC Comics.

To help celebrate her success, we dove back into her lore to find even more surprising facts you may not know about the iconic character.

31 Joker's Relationship With Her Pets

Admittedly, the two hyenas frequently seen gamboling around Harley are technically the Joker's. But they actually seem to prefer Harley to the Joker. This could be because she's the one who showers them with affection, whereas the Joker just orders them around like attack dogs. Harley will call them her "babies" and pet and caress them. From the first moment that we saw them on Batman: The Animated Series, we knew that these were Harley's pets.

Things take a turn for the dark in the New 52 series. Joker turns good ole Bud and Lou into raging hyena monsters, and sets them on Harley. Harley realizes to her grief that Joker has purposefully given them rabies, and that's why they're mindlessly slavering. Harley is forced to eliminate her precious hyenas before they can eliminate her. People who are fans of the Harley-Joker relationship should really reconsider their shipping preferences.

30 She Shared A Moment With Hal Jordan

"In brightest day, in blackest night, no evil shall escape my sight." Those are the beginning words of the Green Lantern oath. Now, evil has a very loose interpretation on occasion, but we're fairly sure that the last time we checked, Harley Quinn has been considered a villain, eliminating dozens of people and harming hundreds of others. That's a fairly basic definition of the term "evil." So does she sound like the kind of person who should be wearing the Green Lantern ring?

Well, she manages to slip on Hal Jordan's ring for a brief moment and actually uses it. When Harley Quinn gets it into her mind to find a power ring, she runs into complications which brings Hal Jordan of the Green Lantern Corps to her rescue. While fighting a common enemy, the two of them are blasted in the sky, sending an unconscious Hal and a Harley with no flight abilities plummeting to Earth. Harley yanks off Hal's ring and saves the two of them with some quick Green Lantern action. Only those with extraordinary willpower can use the rings. But if Harley Quinn, the loveblind girl who constantly tags along after her "boyfriend" and can never seem to leave him, can use a Green Lantern Ring, does that mean that any old schmuck can put it on? The implications of this are disturbing.

29 She's Even Done Bad Things To Her Teammates

Batman Arkham City Harley Quinn's Revenge Harley Crying
Arkham City Harley Quinn's Revenge Harley Crying

In the New 52's Suicide Squad series, Harley Quinn does some pretty messed up stuff to one of her teammates. She gets an insane hankering to break into the Gotham City Police Headquarters so that she can steal Joker's face. That's right. We said face. In this universe, Joker cut the skin off of his face, so that when he peeled it off, it was a kind of mask. (Again Joker-Harley shippers, stop this madness.)

The Joker's face is in police evidence, so Harley breaks in to steal it. The rest of the Squad go after her in order to stop her. Deadshot gets too close to her, and she knocks him out before he can take her out. He wakes up tied to a chair with his mask off and Joker's face slapped over his own. Harley then tries to have a conversation with the "Joker." If her sanity wasn't in question before, it definitely is now.

28 Harley Had A Dark Role In Injustice

The entire story of Injustice is tragic. It makes for a great fighting game, but for comics fans, it's not easy to see the world's greatest superhero become the world's greatest villain. Superman has always stood for truth, justice, and the American way. But when the Joker tricks him into killing Lois and their unborn child, Superman wants to stand for nothing but a cold fist of revenge through the Joker's chest.

Harley Quinn was along for the whole ride. She kidnapped Lois with the Joker (also offing Jimmy Olsen in the process). She performs surgery on Lois, syncing her heart with a trigger to a nuclear bomb in Metropolis. So when Superman is tricked into ending Lois (fear gas laced with Kryptonite made him think she was Doomsday), not only does he lose his wife, but he loses his city. Is there anybody left who doesn't believe Harley Quinn is a villain?

27 Harley Quinn's Rise Was Different Than Most Characters

Batman has an impressively large rogues' gallery, which many of his most iconic and challenging foes coming from the pages of DC Comics. Some of the best Batman baddies were once nothing more than ink, receiving a visual upgrade, movement, and a voice when they moved from paper squares to animated adventures. Harley Quinn's rise to stardom flipped the process on its head.

Related: 10 Batman Storylines That Should Be Adapted to Video Games

It might be surprising to some that the iconic villainess actually got her start in 1992's Batman: The Animated Series. Prior to her introduction, she'd never featured in the pages of a comic. That would change in the future, thanks to adoration from fans. Roughly a year later, she'd be immortalized in ink via The Batman Adventures #12.

26 Ivy And Harley, Best Of Friends

Now Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn is a ship we can get behind. Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn have been an unbeatable duo since they met in Batman: The Animated Series. They pull off crimes perfectly together and they have oodles of fun doing it. And what's better, Poison Ivy is actually a good influence on Harley. She comforts her whenever the Joker dumps her and tries to convince her that she should leave him.

The truly depressing thing about their relationship is that Harley never listens to Ivy. It's clear that Ivy holds a special place in Harley's heart, but time and again, Harley betrays her to go back to "Mistah J." The one friend who truly seems to care for Harley can't get her to quit her relationship with the Joker.

25 The Joker Tried To Eliminate Her Completely

Harley Quinn with a baseball bat in the Harley Quinn show

There is no straight set of guidelines for what a former Joker henchman should do after he or she leaves the Joker's service. Besides a long stint in prison, there's nothing much to look forward to. Not to fear. Joker has his own plans for what should happen after you part ways with him.

While recovering from a nasty head wound in Arkham Asylum, the Joker was meeting secretly with Harley Quinn as she pretended she was his speech therapist. On Joker's orders, Harley had been eliminating former members of his crew while he was stuck in Arkham. Little did she know that he wanted to off her as well, since she was/is the most prominent person among his followers. In the end, she is saved by Batman, and she shoots the Joker in the shoulder. However, she follows after the Joker as he is dragged back to Arkham, asking him pleadingly if he still loves her.

24 Her Pale Skin Is Permanent

In early comics and in the animated series, Harley Quinn's skin is not naturally that white. She applies paint or powder in order to achieve that pale-clown look that the Joker always possesses. She's seen several times out of costume with a regular skin tone. With the coming of New 52, Harley's origin story was revamped slightly, and her skin's whiteness became a permanent part of her.

Harleen Quinzel, Harley's name before she joins up with the Joker, still helps Joker escape Arkham in the New 52. However, in this rebooted universe, he takes her to the vat of acid he fell into when he had his transformation into the Joker and forcibly pushes her into it.  The acid bleaches her skin permanently and turns her insane.

23 She Was A Respected Psychiatrist First

Harley's origin story doesn't start when she decides to apply white paint on her face or when she's pushed into a tub of acid, depending on which universe you're reading from. It starts a little bit before that when a young psychiatrist at Arkham named Harleen Quinzel takes over the Joker's therapy. As she interviews him, Harleen finds herself falling in love with this mad killer and sympathizing with what she supposes are his motives. She eventually falls in love with him so much, that she helps him escape the asylum and becomes his accomplice.

The Joker wooed her over with stories of pain he suffered at the hands of his father. Not only did she believe them, she believed that he truly loved her, which inspired her to constantly aid him in all of his plans. She foregoes her name of Harleen Quinzel and adopts the name of Harley Quinn for the persona she becomes, the red-clad jester accomplice in the Joker's schemes.

22 The Joker Put Her On A Rocket And Set It Off

Have you ever loved someone so much you want to place them in a rocket and launch it into outer space so you never have to see them again? Well, the Joker did. In a rare show of "affection," the Joker tricks Harley into going into a rocket ship and then seals her inside. There's a video screen within the rocket, and Joker's image appears there as the rocket takes off. He confesses to Harley that he has been feeling all these mushy romantic feelings about her.

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This must have made Harley's day, but of course, the Joker then declares that he hates those feelings. Love and affection distract him from the things that he really needs to focus on. Like sowing discord in Gotham and Batman. Harley manages to land the rocket very roughly and survives mostly intact. We're sure her love for the Joker remained intact as well.

21 She Developed A Graduate Thesis On Love

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Back when Harley was Harleen, she attended Gotham State University, looking to get a degree in Psychiatry. She wanted to enter a graduate program under that major, so in order to do that, she created a graduate thesis, which she showed to one of her professors. Harleen's thesis stated that people only disregard the rules of society when they are committing a crime or when they are in love.

Her graduate thesis is a huge foreshadowing for Harleen's fate. Harleen, or should we say Harley, disregards the rules of society as she commits crimes because she's in love. In the origin for Harley Quinn that they set in Batman: The Animated Series, her thesis holds true at least for herself. They diverged from this in the New 52, where the majority of Harley's psychological problems are born when she is pushed into the acid vat by the Joker unwillingly.

Ever since her introduction, fans have been gushing over Harley Quinn. Her design is iconic, her mannerisms are entertaining, and she's pretty strong for a villain. But, strangely enough, Harley Quinn was never meant to be a regular character in the Batman universe. The powers that be for Batman: The Animated Series intended her to simply be a cameo.

All the writers and animators needed was for Harley to jump out of a cake, a simple gag in the episode she featured in. Unbeknownst to them, her appearance would get a firestorm of attention from fans, who loved the idea of a Joker counterpart. The reception was so positive that show creators were forced to turn her into a full-fledged character.

19 She Spent Some Time In The Afterlife

Demise has been overused in comics. Too often have superheroes been offed in order to increase the drama of a story, only to be brought back as if nothing had happened. Resurrect a character enough times, and perishing, the greatest threat that faces everybody, starts to mean less and less.

Unfortunately, even Harley Quinn did not escape this treatment. She gets killed after having moved to Metropolis with Poison Ivy, and winds up in Hell. She stirs up trouble there because she's stuck in Hell with several former associates of hers who she eliminated, but in the end, she is kicked out. Of Hell. That's right. Kicked out. Expelled. Banished. When she is resurrected, she goes back to Arkham Asylum and turns herself in because she finally understands that she needs help. (Spoiler: She goes back to her old ways, completely unreformed.)

18 Harley Was A Landlady For Some Time

Harley Quinn becomes a landlady in the New 52, a strange departure from her normal occupation of being the Joker's welcome mat. Somehow, she is given a four-story property on Coney Island to take charge of. Within are an assortment of tenants that Harley befriends and we're assuming collects rent from.

Harley Quinn becoming a landlady is one of the changes that the New 52 brought about when DC decided to reboot their comics and erased almost thirty years of continuity. It's by no means the worst of the changes. It's merely indicative that DC was only keeping core concepts from their original stories; they wanted to reinvent their characters. Harley striking out on her own is a clear departure from her previous iterations in which she was always attached to the Joker.

17 She Once Beat Up The Joker

Batman Arkham City Harley Quinn's Revenge Angry
Arkham City Harley Quinn's Revenge Angry

Speaking of the changes that New 52 has wrought upon our beloved heroes and villains, one of the biggest changes that occurred was Harley distancing herself emotionally from the Joker. At the beginning of New 52, Harley's character was still emotionally drawn toward the Joker, as seen by the disturbing Joker's-face-on-Deadshot's-face scene. But when she moved away from Gotham, a clearer change began to occur.

Related: Batman: 10 Things Unique Only To The Rocksteady Arkham Version Of The Character

When she is breaking a friend of hers out of Arkham Asylum, who should she run into but the Joker. He tries to cajole her into letting him out so that they can reunite. Harley lets him out, but only to give him a piece of her mind. She uses her words and her fists alike, beating the Joker until she is clearly the victor. She pulls a gun on him, but then doesn't shoot, realizing that the escalation of violence is all that the Joker wants. This Harley is a far cry from the Harley who would betray Poison Ivy and Catwoman to free the Joker from captivity. And we think we like her for it.

16 She Had Her Own Henchman

Who says the Joker's the only one who can have henchmen? Harley Quinn forms her own criminal band of henchmen who work solely for her. They are set up to perform heists, but their progress as a band does not go well. Harley functions surprisingly well as a team player, especially if the Joker's not around. When the Joker's around, you always get the feeling that he's about to double-cross someone. Harley's lightheartedness and surprising loyalty to her friends makes her an asset to any team that she wants to be a part of.

When Harley does her tour of The Underworld, she runs into her Quinntets, all of who have died and landed themselves there, one of them deceased at Harley's hands. Together, they all plan to escape the confines of the terrible place. Harley makes it out, but sadly, it is presumed that the rest of her team could not.

15 She Has A Scholarship In Gymnastics, Degree In Psychiatry

Geek Insider

Harley Quinn attended Gotham State University with the help of a gymnastics scholarship. Even though she pursues a career in psychiatry, it is interesting to note that she has this background in acrobatics. It definitely comes in handy when she begins her career in villainy with the Joker. Her former life ends up assisting her, similar as to how Dick Grayson's former life as an acrobat in the circus plays a large role in how he fights as Robin and Nightwing.

During combat, Harley's style of fighting clearly shows her apparent skill in gymnastics. She's considered to be an Olympic-level gymnast. It is depressing to imagine that if Harley had decided to pursue a career in gymnastics instead of psychiatry, she might never have met the Joker and turned to a life of crime. Of course, her delightful antics do crack us up, and we would miss them.

14 She Had Other Relationships Besides The Joker

Although Harley Quinn is head-over-heels for the Joker most of the time, it doesn't mean she hasn't had other relationships, even after meeting him and developing feelings for him. Most fans know that Harley and the Joker's relationship can be a bit much and there have been many instances in which the two "parted ways," usually by the hand of the Joker himself. Unfortunately for her, Harley always seems to find her way back to him.

But there were a couple of times in her history that Harley didn't end up in the arms of the Clown Prince of Crime. She's actually dated a handful of others and even some other supervillains. She saw romance with both Poison Ivy and Deadshot. They both seem like much better partners for her.

13 She Willingly Jumped In Chemicals With The Joker

via: youtube.com (Aymann Hafiez J.)

The scene in Suicide Squad where Harley and the Joker leap into a vat of milky white chemicals is a different take on the New 52's storyline following the same events. In the comics, the Joker leads Harley to a vat of acid at an Ace Chemicals plant. Ace Chemicals is where the Joker himself fell into the acid that sparked his change into the Clown Prince of Crime. He takes her there for her rebirth, transforming her from Harleen Quinzel to Harley Quinn. In the comics, she is fearful and struggles against being pushed into the acid, and when she emerges less than sane, it tinges her character's backstory with even more tragedy because it is no longer her fault for having those violent tendencies.

Some Harley Quinn fans were upset that her agency in following after the Joker had been taken away from her. Upon seeing flashes of the scene in Suicide Squad's movie trailer, fans bemoaned that DC was going to rehash the same thing. However, the movie spun the scene differently. Harley jumps into the vat of her own volition, losing her sanity in one swift jump, and retaining her agency as an avid Joker lover.

12 We Saw Harley's Family Life In One Comic

Written by Paul Dini, Gotham City Sirens #7 takes us into the dysfunctional home of Harley Quinn, where her mother, father, and brother live. Harley's identity is known to the public, so her family is fully aware that she is a "villain." Even so, her interactions with her family members are unnervingly dysfunctional in a normal way.

Related: Batman Arkham Knight: 10 Most Intense Moments

Her brother is lazy by nature, even though he has two kids out of wedlock. We get the feeling Harley's mom is providing for her two grandchildren more than their own father. Her father is in prison for cheating a woman out of her money, and her mother is supporting the household. Harley tells her father that he is the reason she got into psychiatry, because she wanted to understand why he would put his family through what he did. Reading that, we wanted to cringe. She inadvertently blamed him for her meeting the Joker, freeing the Joker, joining the Joker, and basically becoming a criminal with the Joker. Talk about family issues.