8 Things DC Want You To Forget About Harley Quinn

8. How They Keep Romanticising Her Abusive Relationship

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Warner Bros.

Recently - in the comics at least - a real effort has been made to disassociate Harley Quinn from the Joker. Harley's got a girlfriend in Poison Ivy, hates the Joker with a burning passion, and is very much over the purple-clad clown in every sense of the word. The part of her life where she was with Mister J isn't looked upon fondly - it's remembered for being the abusive relationship that it was.

That hasn't stopped fans and studios alike from misreading the relationship entirely, however. Suicide Squad presented an utterly painful dynamic where Harley and Joker were very much in love with each other, and it's one that will, ostensibly, be further mined when the team that brought you the Hangover make a rom-com revolving around the pair. Blurgh.

It's just wrong. It's tacky, and it's wrong. And despite the aforementioned efforts to distance the character from her synonymy with the Clown Prince, it's an element DC keep returning to. Harley is and has been more than her relationship for many years now. Why is that so difficult to translate off the page?

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Content Producer/Presenter
Content Producer/Presenter

Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.