Harley Quinn's first appearance in Batman: The Animated Series could reveal Joker: Folie à Deux's story. As both a follow-up to 2019's Joker and going further into the unpredictable mind of Arthur Fleck as a musical, Joker 2 looks set to be a success. But the movie happening at all was a rather surprising, and exciting announcement after the apparent one-off story of its predecessor. Joker 2 will also include Mr. J's girlfriend Harley Quinn with Lady Gaga assuming the role, and a look back on her origins could shed some light on the film's story.
Harley Quinn (voiced by Arleen Sorkin) first debuted on Batman: The Animated Series in the episode "Joker's Favor", in which a man named Charlie Collins is coerced into providing The Joker with a favor. The Joker cashes said favor in by calling upon Charlie in his plan to plant a bomb to kill Commissioner Gordon during a dinner event. Harley Quinn is also a key player in organizing the nefarious deed and this episode could well be the perfect basis for Joker 2.
Batman himself has a very secondary role in the episode. With the young Bruce Wayne possibly becoming a villain after Joker rather than his famed destiny as Batman, it would be easy to remove The Caped Crusader altogether in a live-action version of "Joker's Favor". More importantly, the episode is the introduction of Harley Quinn and could be retrofitted into the musical format of Joker 2, and also deliver on the subtitle's promise of insanity shared by two individuals (as Folie à Deux refers to).
How Joker's Favour Would Explain Harley Quinn In Joker 2
Exactly what Arthur Fleck's plot or story in Joker 2 will be remains unclear, but introducing Harley in a manner similar to her role in "Joker's Favor" would create a great narrative conduit for her arrival as Arthur's literal partner in crime. The implications of Joker 2's musical story also add to how the film can embellish on the Joker's plot in "Joker's Favor". With the basic idea of Joker and Harley being out to eliminate a high-level target, whether, in the GCPD or someone else, a whole new spin could be put on it with the film's musical numbers and the absence of Batman.
Harley herself would also reshape the focus of both Joker 2 and "Joker's Favor" with the rumor that the film will take place from her perspective. Adapting Harley Quinn's origin as a character into a literal Harley origin story told through her own eyes in Joker 2 would be one further way that the film could adapt "Joker's Favor" for its purposes. With Joker 2 potentially altering the Joker-Harley romance in certain key aspects, such an origin could also show the madness of the pair, with Harley's insanity brought on, as always, by her relationship with Mr. J. Joker made clear that the stories about The Clown Prince of Crime that director Todd Phillips aims to tell are a far cry from more typical comic book movies. Still, that does not rule out adapting elements of the Joker and Harley Quinn's backstories in both comics and animation. "Joker's Favor" is exactly the kind of story that would fit Joker: Folie à Deux perfectly.
