How did Harley Quinn become so popular?
- Thread starter PhoenixAKG
- Start date
Really great character in stuff like the Harley Quinn animated show. Absolutely fantastic. Really fun in a lot of different stories.
Awful af character in everything else. Writers putting her in with the Justice League and letting her be around when people's secret identities get revealed or making her an icon for young girls. Dumb as all hell.
Awful af character in everything else. Writers putting her in with the Justice League and letting her be around when people's secret identities get revealed or making her an icon for young girls. Dumb as all hell.
She was an absolutely break out character in The Animated Series. I'm sure her toys and everything else flew off the shelves. I think her character design, voice, and everything else were lightning in a bottle from the jump off.
They've done a good job stewarding the character through modern times and trends, she's not a character tied to 30's and 40's morality and ideals. Her toxic relationship with Joker is very relatable to a lot of people.
They've done a good job stewarding the character through modern times and trends, she's not a character tied to 30's and 40's morality and ideals. Her toxic relationship with Joker is very relatable to a lot of people.
It's because of Birds of Prey and the animated series for me. And if I remember correctly, you're one of the persons that convinced me to give the animated show a try here :p
I don't get the "she's hot" replies
Margot Robbie and several comicbook incarnations are hot alright, but what about the original Harley Quinn from Batman: TAS? This is where she actually became popular, and her design in that series isn't exactly sexy
Margot Robbie and several comicbook incarnations are hot alright, but what about the original Harley Quinn from Batman: TAS? This is where she actually became popular, and her design in that series isn't exactly sexy
I think her appeal came first. The aggressive glow up she has received as a character is because:
A) - Breakout characters are infrequent, and Marvel and DC jump on that shit as hard as they can when they can
B) - Due to her climbing popularity, the shittier things about her and her circumstances needed to be sanded down. So yes, that is how you get the character reaching hero status.
Oh nice! Glad you enjoyed it, can't wait for S3 myself
I don't get the "she's hot" replies
Margot Robbie and several comicbook incarnations are hot alright, but what about the original Harley Quinn from Batman: TAS? This is where she actually became popular, and her design in that series isn't exactly sexy
Yeah, the Animated Series and Birds of Prey did me in.
There are some comics with her that are fun as well. Now I am invested in the character enough to be angry when DC does something shitty with her.
The creators of Batman TAS tapped into some kind of shared consciousness horny. I read Mad Love for the first time last year and it was disappointing at how the horniness of Bruce Timm and Paul Dini got in the way of the story telling (though it is well illustrated). Instead of being a successful and astute psychology major, in Mad Love Harleen Quinzel sleeps her way to the top of her class. And then half the comic she's wearing this night gown and trying to seduce the Joker.
I do think later iterations of her character are compelling. For instance, the Arkham videogame series (despite the doubling down of horny on the costuming).
Tbh that always made sense to me.
I've never bought the fact that an intelligent psychologist would fall for the Joker because he told her a sob story about being abused as a child.
This is interesting since Harley has pretty much moved away from The Joker and is having Ivy as her actual lover in most modern interpretations which is also helping her appeal.
I havent seen it yet. I dont really like any of the recent DC movies, but the Harley Quinn show was so good Im going to give it a shot
It seems to be a love it or hate it kinda movie. I think it's the best DCEU flick by far.
Real talk: Back in the day, in Batman TAS, the way she used to say "Mista J" for me was instant neuron activation
Chicks love dressing up as her I don't even know. It's always the daddy's lil monster/margot robbie version too. Tired of it TBH.
Need some more Violet Beauregardes like that one time a few years ago.
Need some more Violet Beauregardes like that one time a few years ago.
She was popular from the get go. She is the crazy, sexy clown type and her almost Bostonian/New Jersey accent drew people in. Her more recent popularity is because they have been leaning more to the sexy part of her which like most things sex sells.
I wouldn't say that about either the animated series or the Birds of Prey movie, both of which are directly related to her popularity among some demographics.
Idk, I have a difficult relationship with Harley Quinn, absolutely love her in concept. A crazed maniacal killer clown woman? Speaks to my soul.
I absolutely love Margot Robbie's take on the character, even in the shitty first Suicide Squad movie she's a bright spot imo.
Everything else like the relationship with Joker and how the character is treated in general I really dislike.
Also miss me with this "people only like her because she's sexy" bullshit.
I absolutely love Margot Robbie's take on the character, even in the shitty first Suicide Squad movie she's a bright spot imo.
Everything else like the relationship with Joker and how the character is treated in general I really dislike.
Also miss me with this "people only like her because she's sexy" bullshit.
I am just glad DC and WB have moved passed trying to make The Joker and Harley an actual relationship that should be glorified.
I think the idea that she's a brilliant mind gaslit by the Joker is waaaay more compelling, for both characters involved.
That, and releasing an hard R rated movie about a character popular with the same demographic that can't go see the film was just one of DC's failures to read the room.
Being a newbie comics fan, I don't really know why, but between Birds of Prey, the Harley Quinn DC series, and Stjepan Sejic's "Harleen" which re-told the character's origin story, I am really enjoying all the dramatic stories that Harley Quinn is getting while still showing how the character can be fun to watch without putting her in a sidekick role.
So before Birds of Prey, Harley Quinn was only popular with kids that liked to ogle at her because of how "hot" she is. I see.
She is definitely made to look like a bimbo every time she is not in full costume though, which is her couple of episodes with Ivy and any time she decides to leave the Joker.I don't get the "she's hot" replies
Margot Robbie and several comicbook incarnations are hot alright, but what about the original Harley Quinn from Batman: TAS? This is where she actually became popular, and her design in that series isn't exactly sexy
Case in point, that rabbit themed villain from the New 52 whose name I can't even remember.
So you're saying they should have leaned in on male-gaze Harley?
So basically a better version of Catwoman?
Or the flip side to Catwoman as Joker is to Batman?
No, where did they say that. Suicide Squad's Harley Quinn probably hit all demographics so releasing an R-rated movie about a character that is immensely popular with teenagers was the wrong move. At least financially speaking.
And the title didn't help either.
That person missed the point of the original comment.
And the post was about reception, not success.
I think the reception was okay to good wasn't it? The gender split at the box office was also 50-50 slightly in favour of men iirc so I think they just marketed it the wrong way.
In what world is a fit, hourglass-shaped woman in a skintight body-suit not considered sexy?I don't get the "she's hot" replies
Margot Robbie and several comicbook incarnations are hot alright, but what about the original Harley Quinn from Batman: TAS? This is where she actually became popular, and her design in that series isn't exactly sexy
Absolutely.
In fact I basically refused to watch the show, I'm really not in to animated superhero type shows.
But then I would occasionally see the show's thread bumped and I'd dip my head in just to see what all the fuss was about. It seemed fun, more closer to adult comedy animation which I favor, and everybody was raving about it.
Anyhoo, it is now quite easily in my top 5 of most looking forward to the next season shows.
The people who tend to downplay the movie are the ones who value her as a sexpot.
The movie was critically well received, and does well amongst the female audience.
she has personality not only in the way that she behaves/acts, but in her voice - her's 90's animated series voice was perfection imo. TBH, I feel like WB needs to dig deeper into the animated series for their live action movies. If they presented Mr. Freeze the way that he was in the animated series in a movie I think they could make him into an even more popular villain in Batman's roster.
Because god forbid women liked comic books in the 1990s.
It was a fun character at the time that appealed to an audience that just started tuning in.
It was a fun character at the time that appealed to an audience that just started tuning in.