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The Ultimate Guide To Suicide Squad

The key to a successful universe is balance – something proven to be the case in both fact and fiction - on the page, and on the screen. Everything has its opposite, and you cannot have one without the other. There can be no good without evil, no light without darkness, and no heroes without villains. Thus, we have Suicide Squad – DC’s antidote to its morally conscientious Justice League, and the largely criminal yin to that overwhelmingly valiant yang.

Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie)

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Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel burst into the life of Batman in animation form in 1992 as an accomplice of The Joker, and later, Poison Ivy, in Batman: The Animated Series. As she became more of a comic book fixture, she was revealed to have been a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, where she fell instantly in love with The Joker while analyzing him. She repeatedly helped him to escape, but was finally driven insane when The Joker was returned to the Asylum, badly injured by Batman.

While Quinn is notoriously violent, she does exhibit compassion on occasion. Her relationship with The Joker can be characterized as abusive, with him often exploiting the psychological and emotional power he holds over her, and repeatedly plotting her demise. For her part, Harley Quinn often does The Joker significant damage in self-defence, but remains attached.

Harley Quinn was recruited, forcibly, into Suicide Squad as part of the New 52 relaunch of DC properties – during which time she was re-designed as a more scantily-clad supervillain, who was disfigured with bleached skin by The Joker when he pushed her into a vat of chemicals. The rumoured death of The Joker further unhinged her mind, but storylines evolved to cast her as more of an anti-hero than a supervillain, with the influence of The Joker gone.

Suicide Squad represents the most high profile appearance for this very popular character, having previously appeared in live-action on the TV show Birds Of Prey, portrayed by Mia Sara. In animation, she has been voiced by Hynden Walch, Meghan Strange, Tara Strong, Arleen Sorkin, and Laura Bailey.