Harley Quinn is so much better without the Joker - and that's as true in the movies as it is in the comics themselves. Harley Quinn made her debut in Batman: The Animated Series, as the Joker's girlfriend and sidekick. Her backstory was famously introduced in the episode "Mad Love", which revealed Harley had been a psychiatrist who treated the Joker at Arkham Asylum, and who was ultimately drawn into his madness.
Although Batman: The Animated Series focused on Harley Quinn's relationship with the Joker, it was brutally honest about the twisted romance. "Mad Love" climaxed in a scene in which the Joker tossed Harley out of a window. Committed to the Asylum, Harley decided it was time to leave the Joker once and for all; then he sent her flowers, and she fell in love with him all over again. It was a textbook abusive relationship, possibly one of the darkest themes in Batman: The Animated Series.
It didn't take Harley Quinn long to transition into the comics themselves, and she became an important part of the Batman universe. And yet, surprisingly, the comics make it abundantly clear Harley Quinn is better off out of the Joker's shadow.
The Joker Is Just The Beginning Of Harley Quinn's Story
Batman: The Animated Series originally defined Harley Quinn by her relationship with the Joker, and she was consistently portrayed as a victim of physical and emotional abuse who couldn't escape the Joker's orbit. When Harley transitioned to the comics, however, writers began to define her in a different way. In the comics, Harley's romance with the Joker is her origin story, nothing more; it's as important to her as the spider-bite is to Spider-Man, but not every story needs to deal with it, just as few Spider-Man stories need to find new ways to explore the irradiated spider.
The comics view Harley Quinn as a woman whose true self was repressed by the structure of society, and who was drawn to the Joker because she saw the opportunity to unleash the anarchy of her own soul. The very definition of a free spirit, she was stronger than the Joker believed, too strong to be crushed by him; she broke free of the Joker's influence, and it's a long time since she's been defined by "Mr. J" in the comics.
Batman: The Animated Series saw Harley Quinn as an abuse victim, but the comics redefined her as an abuse survivor. It's true the Joker will keep turning up again; he's a proud man, angered by the fact Harley has been able to move on from him, insulted by the fact the woman he expected to do nothing more than look up at him adoringly now has a life of her own. But those stories now work precisely because they are the exception, not the norm; because the Joker is now an occasional part of Harley's life, not the definition of it.
Harley Quinn's Best Stories See Her Grow Beyond The Joker
Harley Quinn's best stories consistently see her step well and truly out of the Joker's shadow. She should really be seen as DC's answer to Deadpool, a chaotic and anarchic force who refuses to be defined by labels like "good" and "evil." Sometimes she's a villain on a crime spree, sometimes she's working with Batgirl to stop a supervillain. The best Harley Quinn comics feel like superhero slapstick, an adult version of the old "Looney Tunes" cartoon where actions don't have consequences, where the hero swings a mallet and fires an impossible number of bullets.
DC Universe's Harley Quinn animated series attempts to capture this by showing the adventure through her own eyes, reinterpreting classic Batman characters in a remarkably entertaining way. As executive producer Justin Halpern explained in an interview with Den of Geek:
"Everything's seen through Harley's eyes, right?... I think through Harley’s POV, Joker is probably kind of like a petulant man-child, you know? He’s a sh**** ex-boyfriend at his core. That’s what he is. And Bane probably is a big lumbering idiot who doesn’t feel that threatening to Harley, because she’s not seeing him in the context that everybody else is seeing him."
Harley Quinn has been portrayed as crypto-queer, with hints of a relationship with Poison Ivy that have only recently been made explicit in the comics, as part of the New 52 relaunch's Gotham City Sirens series. There, Harley Quinn confronted Ivy with the fact she knew Ivy loved her - but, unfortunately, the series was canceled before the plot was ever addressed. DC subsequently openly acknowledged the two were a couple in a post on Twitter, of all things, when they called the pair "girlfriends without the jealousy of monogamy." Since then, though, Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy have been treated like on-again, off-again romantic partners. It's a far more preferable, and infinitely more enjoyable, relationship than Harley's romance with the Joker; and, importantly, both women refuse to allow it to define them.
The Post-Joker Harley Is DC's "Fourth Pillar"
Back in 2016, DC publisher Jim Lee told CBR Harley Quinn had become their "fourth pillar," standing behind the classic Trinity of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. That gives a sense of how important a character she's become in the comics, where she's always a good seller, and regularly cameos in other books. In a surprise twist, recent issues of Superman even went so far as to imply Harley Quinn has joined the Justice League.
Her profile has been significantly increased due to her breakout role in the DCEU, where she's portrayed by Margot Robbie, and the movies are attempting to chart the same kind of post-Joker life for the character. Birds of Prey made that explicit, with the Joker even cut from flashback scenes. While it's true that film didn't gross as well as DC hoped, it was also a low-budget, R-rated flick, meaning it should still be seen as a success. It will be fascinating to see what the future has in store for Harley Quinn - and, hopefully, it won't involve the Joker.