Margot Robbie's Return as Harley Quinn Officially Teased by DC Boss

The new DC Comics cinematic universe had a difficult birth, as it was born from the ashes of the previous one, which began with Man of Steel and petered out with Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The break between the two was not a clean one, as James Gunn was involved with both: thus, a movie like The Suicide Squad can be rooted in the previous universe, as a sequel to Suicide Squad, but also have afoot in the new, as it spun out characters like John Cena‘s Peacemaker who have continued to turn up in new DC projects. And that now raises a question about one of DC’s most popular characters, Harley Quinn, who was played by Margot Robbie in three big-screen projects, including The Suicide Squad. In a new podcast, James Gunn is now talking about the character, and whether Robbie might return.

Dr. Harleen Quinzel, alias Harley Quinn, was created for Batman: The Animated Series as the Joker’s right-hand woman, moll, and groupie. Later introduced to the comic books, she’s found her footing as a solo lead. She made her big-screen debut in 2016’s Suicide Squad as a one-time ally of the Joker (Jared Leto) who was dragooned into Task Force X, a black-ops squad of supervillains. She returned in 2020 in Cathy Yan‘s Birds of Prey, alongside Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett) and the Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and made her last appearance to date in 2021’s Gunn-helmed The Suicide Squad.

In a new special one-off podcast, The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?, Gunn addresses the title question. Several characters from that film have gone on to appear in new DC productions, including Peacemaker, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, who originated that role in Suicide Squad), Weasel (Sean Gunn), and John Economos (Steve Agee). Harley Quinn, however, has not. She almost certainly will, but she might not be played by Margot Robbie. As Gunn explains, “Harley is a character I’m almost certainly going to use in the DCU, and if Margot wants to play her, then I’ll bend over backwards to explain that in the world. But if she doesn’t, then I might go with somebody else, where I don’t have to be attached to what happens to Harley in this movie.” Gunn notes that she’s a difficult fit into the new DCU, as she’s defined by her role with the Joker, a character who has yet to appear in the new universe and will likely be radically different from the Suicide Squad interpretation of the classic villain.

Four villains, and four arguments the films were honest enough to
actually let them make. Here is the one you lean towards, the part of it that holds up, and the
exact point where it stops holding up.

You align with the one who was right about the problem and wrong
about the solution. Killmonger is the most persuasive villain Marvel has produced because
the film never pretends his anger came from nowhere.

• You notice who was abandoned and you cannot let it go, which is a moral instinct before
  it is anything else.
• His argument lands because Wakanda really did watch and do nothing, and the film makes
  T’Challa admit it out loud.
• Where it breaks is the method, since a man who was failed by power decided the answer
  was to hold more of it.
• Michael B. Jordan plays him as somebody performing certainty over grief, which is why
  the last scene of that film still works.

You align with the protector, which is the most understandable
and most dangerous position on this list. Namor is not chasing power or revenge, he is doing
whatever keeps his people hidden, and he has been doing it for centuries.

• Your loyalty has a hard border around it, and everything inside that border matters far
  more to you than anything outside it.
• Talokan is the best realised world Marvel has built since Wakanda, and the film makes
  you understand exactly what he is guarding.
• His logic is airtight right up until it requires somebody else’s people to pay for his
  people’s safety.
• He would rather be feared by the surface world forever than trust it once, and history
  has given him reasons.

You align with the patient one, the only man on this list with no
powers, no army and no hurry. Zemo lost his family in Sokovia and then spent years working
out that you do not fight the Avengers, you introduce them to each other’s secrets.

• You go quiet when you are hurt, and the quiet is where the thinking happens.
• Zemo is the only MCU villain who completely won, and he did it with a notebook, a plan
  and a great deal of self control.
• His grief is real, and the film is careful never to let you forget that he started as an
  ordinary man with a family.
• Where it fails is the cost, since taking apart the people who hurt him meant hurting a
  great many people who did not.

You align with the one who decided the answer was arithmetic.
Thanos is not angry and not grieving in any way he will admit to, he simply reached a
conclusion and never once revisited it, which is precisely what makes him frightening.

• You are capable of holding a position that costs you everything, and you would call that
  conviction rather than stubbornness.
• Infinity War works because it is structured as his film, with a goal, a journey and a
  sacrifice, and the heroes are the obstacle.
• The flaw in the plan is not the cruelty, it is that he never seriously considered a
  single alternative to it.
• Josh Brolin plays him tired rather than triumphant, which is the choice that turned a
  purple giant into a real character.

What’s Next for the DCU?

Clayface, another classic Batman foe, has just made his debut in theaters; the standalone body-horror film stars Tom Rhys Harries as Matt Hagen, a washed-up actor who becomes Gotham City’s most malleable menace. Next up is Man of Tomorrow, which will put Superman (David Corenswet), Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), and a legion of other heroes and villains against the alien threat of Brainiac (Lars Eidinger); it will hit theaters next summer. Also in the works is The People v. Gorilla Grodd, a mockumentary series featuring Daily Planet reporter Jimmy Olsen (Skyler Gisondo) and the sinister simian of the title (Jimmy Tatro).

Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

The Suicide Squad