8 Things DC Want You To Forget About Harley Quinn

5. Everything To Do With Suicide Squad

Harley Quinn Suicide Squad New 52
DC Comics

God, the New 52 really was pants, wasn't it?

Without getting into the myriad of reasons of why, exactly, it was doomed to fail, one of the most egregious errors the reboot made involved Harley Quinn, with DC having attempted to synergise the character's looks with the edgier, less iconic redesign that had appeared in Rocksteady's Arkham series. This entailed a new origin (which we'll get to in a moment), but also some bizarre alterations that came in 2011's Suicide Squad comic.

There, Harley began a romance with Deadshot, and exemplified pretty much every comic book cliché when it comes to the design and characterisation of women in the medium.

The series itself was a critical flop, and while other characters featured throughout the run fared no better, none emerged worse than Harley, who again, seemed to typify all that was wrong with the relaunch's attitude to women on and 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.