Harley Quinn

Harleen Frances Quinzel is a former psychiatrist, previously employed at Arkham Asylum, a former criminal, a mercenary, and the ex-girlfriend of the Joker, operating under the alias Harley Quinn.

After being manipulated by the Joker into assisting his escape from Arkham, Harleen was submerged in a batch of chemicals at Ace Chemicals, re-emerging as the Joker's right-hand woman. Over the years, Harley has become a nemesis of the Batman, growing to become known as the queen of Gotham City alongside the Joker, notably committing countless crimes, and while her allegiance with the Joker meant she was never in any real danger from other criminals, her long history of violence would later catch up with her.

Quinn was later imprisoned in Belle Reve after her arrest by Batman and recruited into Task Force X, a covert operations team led by Amanda Waller, where she was forced to work with other dangerous criminals to complete missions for the government in exchange for time off her sentence. On her first assignment, she and the team brought down Enchantress in Midway City, earning her ten years off of her multiple life sentences, but was later rescued by the Joker during a prison break.

The Joker eventually broke up with her, though she tried to claim that the decision was mutual. Following the breakup, she kept quiet for a while before announcing it in a very public way by ramming a truck into Ace Chemicals, setting off a massive explosion. She had declared her emancipation, but by doing so had essentially set off an open season on her for the many people who held a grudge against her. She at first sought the protection of Black Mask after he tried to kill her, but eventually found her independence by saving the life of Cass Cain and teaming up with the group who would become the Birds of Prey. She then founded her own mercenary group with Cass, Harley Quinn and Associates.

Shortly after, Harley was recaptured and sent back to Belle Reve. She rejoined Task Force X for their mission to Corto Maltese, with the intent to destroy any traces of the dangerous and mysterious Project Starfish. When she arrived on the island, Harley saw how her companions were killed by the Corto Maltese Armed Forces, but she survived because she was captured by the soldiers and brought before Silvio Luna, with whom she later began a relationship. But, upon hearing Luna’s evil plans, Harley killed him causing her to be locked up in the dungeon. Later, Harley managed to escape and joined a new Task Force X team to infiltrate Jotunheim. After the explosion, Harley and the surviving members, confronted Starro saving Corto Maltese and obtaining her freedom.

## Biography

### Early life

#### Childhood

"*This is me, Harleen Quinzel. When I was a kid, my dad traded me for a six-pack of beer. But however many times he tried to ditch me, I kept coming back. Eventually, he found me a new home. The good sisters of St. Bernadette’s taught me a lot. But I was never an establishment kind of gal. All things considered, I did good. I even went to college. I got my PhD. Had my heart broken once or twice. Finding love, it’s not easy. So I threw myself into my work, became a psychiatrist. That’s when I met him. Mr. J. My Joker.*"
―Harley Quinn[src]
   Harleen Frances Quinzel was born on July 20, 1990 in Gotham City. Harley's family life was largely dysfunctional as her drunkard father constantly tried to abandon her though she always found her way back home. At some point in her childhood, he sent her to an orphanage run by nuns in which her attitude landed her into trouble over and over again to the point that Harley smashed a nun with an oar.

Upon reaching high school, Harley became known as a model student, achieving excellent grades as well as extensive gymnastics training. For her efforts, she was rewarded a full scholarship to Gotham City University where she majored in Psychiatry for her undergraduate degree, receiving supervision under Dr. Odin Markus. There she experienced several heartbreaks and was known to have had at least one boyfriend named Guy Kopski.

When creating her thesis, Harley was known to have courted trouble. The subject of Harley's thesis centered around the circumstances by which a person would disregard the rules of society. According to her thesis a person would only commit to such an action under two distinct circumstances: 1) When they commit a crime or 2) when they're in love. Harley then proposed to Dr. Markus a way by which this hypothesis could be examined. She would use herself and her boyfriend Guy as subjects, exploiting their relationship and putting it to the test.

During the test, Harley fabricated a story to tell her boyfriend Guy. She told him that she had run through a red light in a stolen car after blackmailing and possibly shooting Dr. Markus. She then asked Guy whether he still loved her. Guy's psyche later cracked under the pressure. Harley later found him laughing in a gymnasium, where he had shot and killed a homeless man who he had mistaken for Dr. Markus. He then begged Harley to help him end his life. Guy was then killed by gunfire but the details of Harley's involvement with the shooting remained unknown.

It would later come to light that Dr. Markus had in fact tampered with the test somehow, but at the time Harley was unaware of this aspect, simply choosing to credit the results to random chaos.

### Becoming Harley Quinn

#### Falling for the Joker

"*She was assigned to the clown himself. She thought she was curing him, but she was falling in love. Talk about a workplace romance gone wrong.*"
―Amanda Waller[src]
Following her graduation, Quinzel's interest in chaos led to her transfer into the job as a psychiatrist intern at Arkham Asylum where she sought a first year residency. Her interest was simple: She wanted to monitor a patient called the Joker under the premise of writing a book about serial killers. After three months, the doctors finally allowed her full access to the Joker. This led to her regularly visiting and speaking with him. As their sessions went on, Quinzel was gradually manipulated by the psychopath, eventually falling in love with him, and the Joker got her to smuggle a machine gun into the sanitarium, leading to his escape. Before leaving however, the Joker subjected Quinzel to shock therapy, greatly affecting her mental state even further.

#### Chemical wedding

"*Would you die for me?"* *"Yes."* *"No. That was too easy. Would you... Would you live for me?""Yes.""Careful! Do not say this oath thoughtlessly. Desire becomes surrender, surrender becomes power.*"
―Joker and Harleen[src]
Quinzel later chased the Joker down and managed to get him to stop his car. She nearly killed him with a gun, even shooting a man who approached them. The Joker took the gun and taunted her. Quinzel wanted to come with him, so he took her to Ace Chemicals. While there, she was told to pledge an oath and was asked if she would die for him. She responded in the affirmative, and allowed herself to fall into the vat of chemicals that created the Joker years ago. The Joker considered leaving her to die, but promptly changed his mind and jumped in after her, pulling her up to the vat's surface. He then kissed her, and Quinzel awakened with the same frontotemporal dementia that her lover received via exposure to the chemicals and oxygen deprivation. She gazed at the Joker as he burst into maniacal laughter.

From that point on, the Joker dubbed her "Harley Quinn" (giving her a red-and-black Harlequin costume), and the duo of psychopathic lovers would go on a number of crime sprees in Gotham City together, which would often result in them coming into conflict with Batman, becoming (as Amanda Waller would later claim) the 'King and Queen' of Gotham City's criminal underworld.

After this, Harley Quinn committed numerous crimes, and while her allegiance with the Joker meant she was never in any real danger, her long history of violence would later catch up with her. Her crimes included theft, injury, and manslaughter.

#### Murder of Robin

The Joker, with Harley's help, managed to kill Batman's partner, Robin. To add insult to injury to Batman's loss, in hopes of crippling and driving their mutual adversary insane, the Joker vandalized the Robin suit, spray-painting "HAHAHA JOKE'S ON YOU BATMAN" in yellow. A devastated Batman would later place the damaged suit in an exhibit in the Batcave. The duo's murder of Robin was one of the major reasons Batman became increasingly ruthless and vengeful in his war on crime.