One of the benefits of dating a massive comic book geek (and also a Star Wars geek, a Star Trek geek, and a Disney geek. The list goes on, but you know, rule of threes.) is that the two of you get to enable each others’ nerdiness. Case in point: We’ve both agreed that Harley Quinn is our favorite comic book character of all time, to the point where we named our dog after her. And now she’s finally going to make it to the big screen in the upcoming Suicide Squad movie, and according to Uproxx, she’ll be played by Margot Robbie …
The news — not official yet, we’ll reluctantly admit — comes from Collider. If true, it would explain how this movie could have The Joker in it even though he would never be on the Suicide Squad (although he does love it when a plan comes together). This would also be Harley Quinn’s big screen debut, and in a movie director Ayer has described as “The Dirty Dozen with super villains.” Did we mention yes yes a billion times yes?
Which brings me to the other major story from Uproxx, which is that the Joker is also going to be in the movie and Jared Leto is in talks to play him …
They say Jared Leto wants the role as an iconic DC Comics character, having been rebuffed by Marvel when he went after the Doctor Strange role. I’m not sure if Leto has the coiled menace for it, though. On the other hand, he just won an Oscar and hasn’t signed for a movie since. Maybe he’ll be a huge surprise, if given the role. The Joker does like surprises.
Here’s why I’m super f*cking exited about this: Harley is quite possibly one of the most narratively interesting characters in the Batman universe. There’s a reason why the Harley-centric episodes from the 90’s animated series are on the better end of the spectrum, and it’s because they really gave her layers and nuance. Yes, she’ll tag along with The Joker and blow some sh!t up, but she isn’t inherently bad, so much as she’s chaotic and deeply in love with someone to whom she shouldn’t get too attached. She’s someone who can try and (gleefully) feed Batman to sharks, but still remains empathetic enough that you still kind of root for her!