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Harley Quinn

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Supervillain Origins- Harley Quinn

Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel Ph.D, is an enhanced human and reformed criminal. Quinzel was once a renowned psychiatrist in Gotham City, among the city's best and brightest. This was until she was sent to work at Arkham Asylum, being assigned to treat it's most dangerous inmate, the Joker. Over the course of many months, the Joker succeeded in mentally breaking Harleen down, causing her to become entirely devoted to him, and beginning her road into insanity. Quinzel would eventually aid the Joker in escaping from Arkham, becoming his new partner-in-crime under her new name, Harley Quinn. Together they led a new reign of terror and crime over the city, one of the worst in U.S. history. Behind closed doors however, Harley's relationship with the Joker was only that of abuser and prey. Even though Batman himself would point this out and try to persuade Harley of the Joker's manipulation of her, she refused to see it.

Harley and the Joker were eventually defeated by the Batman and the GCPD, and were both sent back to Arkham to serve out the rest of their lives. A few years later however, given a chance to redeem herself when Amanda Waller decided to recruit her into Task Force X, alongside Deadshot, El Diablo, Killer Frost, Killer Croc, Livewire and Black Spider. Other than her enhanced abilities, Waller

Eventually recaptured, Harley was again conscripted into Task Force X alongside two new members, Nightshade and Monarch. This time, she and the others were deployed to Qurac in order to help put down the metahuman terrorist organisation Onslaught.

Biography[]

Early Life[]

Harleen graduated high school and pursued a college degree in psychology, gaining her PhD. Following her graduation, Quinzel's theoretical thesis made a huge success that it led to her transfer into the job as a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum.

Meeting the Joker[]

When the Joker was imprisoned at Arkham following the murder of Jason Todd, Harleen took a particular interest in him, regularly visiting and speaking with him. As their sessions went on, Quinzel was gradually manipulated by the psychopath, using her own feelings of insecurity and disrespect she felt by the Arkham staff members. Eventually she fell in love with him, and she and the Joker began an escape plan.

Becoming Harley Quinn[]

Life of Crime[]

Main Article: Gotham's War on Crime

Incarceration[]

Joining Task Force X[]

Split from the Joker[]

Escape[]

Forming the Gotham City Sirens[]

Qurac Civil War[]

Personality[]

Quinzel was once a highly intelligent, calm, and compassionate young lady who worked at Arkham Asylum, before the Joker transformed her both mentally and physically into "Harley Quinn". After the Joker's manipulation, her mind and emotions were twisted to the point where she transformed into a person barely recognisable from the woman she once was. With this done, the Joker exposed her to the same chemicals he had been exposed to. Knowing she was now more than human, and believing she was now the soulmate of the Joker, Quinn would become a homicidal, sadistic, child-like, and somewhat psychopathic villain, who often used her sexuality and her playful personality to achieve her goals or to entertain herself, usually harming others in the process. Despite this, Quinn sometimes reflects on a desire to have a normal family life, albeit with he Joker and no one else.

During their reign as the "King and Queen of Gotham", Quinn followed the Joker in whatever he demanded of her, blindly smitten with the ruthless psychopath, affectionately referring to him as "puddin'". Harley carries almost an innocent persona, wide-eyed and bright, finding humor in otherwise dark situations, much like Joker himself. Batman noted that she would often maniacally giggle to herself in a sinister way after carrying out her assaults and attempted murders, happy and pleased with how funny she found it, showing how fractured her psyche had become. Behind this persona, Quinn was still highly intelligent and still displayed her psychologist expertise. During Task Force X's first mission, Harley made almost precise breakdowns of each of most of her teammates, knowing exactly what to say in order to get under their skin, including Deadshot and Steve Trevor, and almost causing Katana to attack her.

Harley is also quite tough and pathologically fearless (another trait she shares with the Joker), fighting alongside Task Force X and having fun doing so. Although often painted as a victim of psychological abuse, the Joker himself claims very little credit for Harley's condition, claiming the madness had always existed deep down, and that he himself had merely made all her madness rise to the surface (however, it should be noted that the Joker's insanity occasionally induces him to make conclusions that only make sense to him, hence this might not necessarily be the case).

Abilities[]

After being exposed to the same chemicals the Joker had accidentally been exposed to, she would gain the same affects of the chemical, but psychological and physical.

  • Peak Human Durability: After her exposure to the chemicals, Harley's skin became near invulnerable to physical damage.
    • Peak Human Condition: Harley Quinn, as a highly skilled and experienced supervillain and gymnast, is in top physical condition (from frequent villainous escapades with her boyfriend the Joker) for a woman her age, to the point that she could hold her own against the formidable Eyes of the Adversary troops of Enchantress. She was notably however, far weaker than her nemesis Batman, who subdued her without much effort.
    • Limited Pain Suppression: As another side of affect of the chemicals, Harley's nerve endings were damaged, only allowing her to feel large amounts of pain.
  • Toxin Immunity: Other than her skin becoming inhumanly durable, Harley, like the Joker, became completely immune to most toxins and chemicals.
  • Expert Combatant: Harley Quinn is a highly skilled and formidable armed and hand-to-hand combatant, managing to seriously injure 5 Belle Reve guards before finally being restrained in an extra-secure cell. She also quickly overpowered 2 far larger Eyes of the Adversary troops of Enchantress in rapid succession (with nothing but her agility, combat skills and baseball bat), and swiftly cuts open Enchantress' chest with a samurai katana, in a single swift motion. However, she was swiftly defeated by Batman (with the latter knocking her out with a single mighty punch) and by Enchantress in their final battle, primarily due to the mystical metahuman's superior strength, durability (as Enchantress was unfazed by a mighty baseball bat blow from Harley), and tendency to teleport around the battlefield every so often. 
  • Expert Acrobat: Harley Quinn is shown to be skilled in various acrobatics, including pole dancing and other agile maneuvers, often incorporating agile moves while fighting opponents, notably able to flip over one monstrous Eye of the Adversary when the managed to get a hold of her (thus twisting herself out of his grasp), and to easily dodge slashes from Enchantress's daggers.
  • Expert Markswoman: Harley Quinn, while not nearly on par with Deadshot, is nonetheless a highly skilled markswoman, landing several headshots on some of Enchantress' monstrous Eyes of the Adversary troops.
  • Gifted Intelligence: Harley Quinn, while still Harleen Quinzel, was (and likely still is) exceptionally smart, having been an excellent academic achiever in high school, which earned her a full scholarship to the prestigious Gotham State University, where she would go on to write a very successful graduate thesis. Harley's intellect extends itself to her psychological, tactical and deception skills. 
    • Expert Psychologist: Harley Quinn, while still Harleen Quinzel, was a highly skilled psychologist, majoring in psychiatry at Gotham State University, with her psychology graduate thesis being a huge success, and allowing her the opportunity to work as a psychologist at the infamous Arkham Asylum itself. Even after being rendered psychopathic by the Joker, Harley shows at least traces of her psychologist expertise, being able to make swift breakdowns of the psychological profiles of El Diablo, Killer Croc, and Katana, knowing exactly what to say in order to get under their skin. Hence, she even proudly proclaims to Rick Flag that "[she] is known to be quite vexing." 
    • Expert Tactician: Harley Quinn, while not quite on par in this regard with her boyfriend Joker, is nonetheless highly skilled with improvising criminal activities, managing to trap and murder Batman's protegé Robin (though she notably had the assistance of Joker in this), to suggest a feasible escape option to Deadshot and Captain Boomerang, and to swiftly improvise a plan to weaken and take down the fearsome and powerful Enchantress.
    • Expert Deceiver: Harley Quinn is a highly skilled deceiver, thus when Deadshot pretended to shoot at her, she convincingly pretended to have been killed only to reveal that she is still alive and later on, managing to trick Enchantress into thinking that she was about to swear allegiance to the latter, and to subsequently use that distraction to suddenly cut open Enchantress's chest with Katana's sword, exposing and pulling out the supervillain's vulnerable heart.
  • Pathological Indomitable Will: Harley Quinn (much like the Joker) possesses an obliviousness to danger that makes her invulnerable to fear and intimidation, which are usually Batman's greatest weapons in combat. Unlike Joker, however, Harley does seem to fear death, as she was dismayed by the Jokermobile crashing into a river, due to her inability to swim.

Relationships[]

Family[]

Allies[]

Enemies[]

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