8 Worst Things Harley Quinn Has Ever Done

by Ewan Paterson

1. Torturing Tim Drake

Joker Harley Return Of The Joker
Warner Bros.

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker may just be the best Batman film ever made (it's a tie between it and Mask of the Phantasm, at least), and the chief reason why involves the ten minute flashback that comes during its second act.

Centred around the disappearance of Tim Drake, BTAS' second Robin, the flashback details the night the Joker died. With Tim missing for weeks on end, it becomes apparent to Batman and Batgirl that he's been kidnapped by the Joker, with the location of his whereabouts only being revealed after Bruce and Barbara had exhausted all their options interrogating every thug, informant and supervillain in Gotham.

They head to the newly derelict Arkham Asylum, with Barbara hiding above while Batman confronts the pair head on. It turns out that Joker and Harley had been living a twisted suburban fantasy in Arkham, and that Tim had been living as their adoptive son. It soon becomes apparent, however, that Tim had been brainwashed and tortured both mentally and physically - emerging from the darkness as a mini-Joker unable to utter a single noise other than a chilling, nervous laugh.

Harley was complicit in all of this, and while she does show a hint of remorse as the flashback draws to a close, reiterating her role as a victim in all of this, she plummets to her 'death' with this being the last act of her years as Joker's partner.

She returns to scold her grandchildren in the feature's ending as 'Nana Harley', but there's no getting away from the horror - and tragedy - of the DC Animated Universe's most chilling moment.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.