Suicide Squad, the next film in the DC Extended Universe, hits theaters in a little less than a month and will shine a spotlight on anti-hero Harley Quinn in her very first cinematic appearance. In the highly anticipated movie, written and directed by David Ayer, a secret government agency led by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) recruits a motley crew of imprisoned super-villains to embark on a highly dangerous black ops mission in exchange for clemency.
Following up on yesterday’s Deadshot and Amanda Waller trailers, Warner Bros. has debuted a new character trailer for Suicide Squad featuring everyone's favorite villiainess Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). The new Clown Princess-focused trailer gives us a glimpse of never-before-seen footage of Daddy's Little Mistake in action. Sporting tiny shorts and her signature cotton-candy colored pigtails, the joyfully psychotic Harley is shown checking her hair and makeup in an elevator, that is, until a faceless enemy crashes through the glass. Without a second of hesitation, Harley breaks into beast mode and takes him down with her baseball bat, then goes back to texting her beau, The Joker (Jared Leto). You can give it a watch, above.
Harley Quinn is the epitome of a wildcard - we never know what she's going to pull next. She first debuted as a "walk-on" character wearing her classic red and black jester costume in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series, where she jumps out of a cake and takes Gotham's finest hostage. Best known as "the Joker's girlfriend," Harley went on to star in her own series of comic books and graphic novels. In the 1994 one-shot Mad Love, readers learned of her rather unique origin story, which we will be seeing in Suicide Squad. Harleen Frances Quinzel, M.D. was an Arkham Asylum psychiatrist who fell for her patient, the Joker and became his accomplice and on-again, off-again lover.
Screen Rant recently spoke with writer/director David Ayer on the movie’s set, where he singled out Harley's tempting personality and appearance as one of the major reasons he included her in his Suicide Squad roster:
“I wanted Harley. She’s freaking cool, and she represents so many dichotomies in today’s world where everything is sensitive, and you can’t talk about anything, and you can’t represent anything, and you can’t do anything… she doesn’t care. She transcends everything. And that’s what’s so fascinating about her, you know? She’s so many things, and such a powerful woman who’s living life on her own terms, and so honestly in the moment, and a person of this incredible joy in the moment. It’s great to be able to work with that character, and Margot is knocking her out of the park.”
It sure seems as though Suicide Squad is setting up Harley Quinn to be a superstar in the DC Extended Universe. Talk of Harley getting her own spinoff film, pumped full of girl power, has already taken place in hopes of putting more superheroines and lady villains like Batgirl, Birds of Prey and Poison Ivy up on the big screen.
Suicide Squad is scheduled to arrive in theaters on August 5, 2016; Wonder Woman is slated for release on June 2, 2017; followed by Justice League on November 17, 2017; Aquaman on July 27, 2018; an untitled DC Film on October 5, 2018; Shazam on April 5, 2019; Justice League 2 on June 14, 2019; an untitled DC film on November 1, 2019;Cyborg on April 3, 2020; and Green Lantern Corps on July 24, 2020. The Flash is currently without a release date.
Source: Warner Bros. Pictures