- For other uses of Harley Quinn, see Harley Quinn (disambiguation).
- "Human beings are essentially selfish creatures, Helena, no matter how we try and mask it to the world or ourselves."
- —Harleen Quinzel to Helena Kyle[src]
Dr. Harleen Quinzel is a psychiatrist and a close associate of the Joker, known as Harley Quinn. She attempted to restore respect to his name within New Gotham City once again only to be defeated by the Birds of Prey.
Biography[]
Working with the Joker[]
At some point Harleen met and became close with the Joker and became his associate, known as Harley Quinn. The two eventually began a romantic relationship until he was later caught by the police, being sent off and locked up.[1]
Restoring Joker's name[]
Working as a psychiatrist[]
Realizing that crime in New Gotham City was almost nonexistent without the Joker, Harleen returned to the city a few months prior[1] to the seven-year anniversary of his greatest defeat.[2]
Harleen began working as a psychiatrist, in order to sow discord and discontent among her patients, and through society in general.[1]
After four businessmen formed Phoenix Industries, Inc., in order to purchase the dockyards of New Gotham City, Harleen had one of them, Larry Ketterly, kill the rest in order to use the dockyards to take over the city. At the same time, she took on a new client, Helena Kyle, who had been mandated therapy for anger management. During their time, Dr. Quinzel attempted to get to the bottom of Helena's anger, suggesting it had to do with her father, whom Helena brought up as having never been around. After Larry failed in acquiring the papers for the dockyards, and made brain-dead by the Huntress, she knocked him about in his Arkham Asylum cell, also having been assigned to check him out.[2]
Harleen had Silas Waters hijack an armored truck, but he was caught in doing so. He came to meet her, where she chastised him for being unable to do the one thing he promised he could, grabbing his testicles to hurt him. Because of this, he went after the three detectives that arrested him, unable to bribe them. He met with Harleen again, during which she told him of her job being simply a hobby, enjoying spreading chaos through the city, using George as an example of how she can influence others to do her bidding as she merely watches events unfold in her favor. She reminded him of his last target, Jesse Reese, sending him away to finish the job. The following day, Helena returned to Harleen's office, opening up about a guy she'd met.[1]
Harley contacted Dr. Lewis Melfin at Simcron Labs, having him genetically engineer a baby to act as a henchman for her. However, after Simcron lost the baby, having been initially taken by a lab assistant, Quinzel called in Dr. Melfin and expressed her annoyance at his inability to keep the child, telling him he'd be replaced in locating the baby. She called in a mercenary and his men, asking him to locate the baby for her, much to his surprise. They were drawn to Club Slippery, Harleen visiting with the mercenaries. However, when he wasn't there, she remotely turned on his attack mode. While this was expected to have the boy kill everyone around him and return to her, he broke through his programming. Due to this, Dr. Quinzel snapped the neck of the lead mercenary that failed.[3]
Becoming a meta-human[]
Facing the Birds of Prey[]
Powers and abilities[]
Powers[]
- Meta-human physiology: Harley was not born with meta-human powers. Instead, she gained the power of hypnotism in a manner similar to the way that Clifford DeVoe stole the powers of the "bus-metas" on Earth-1, through an experiment to transfer meta-human powers from one host to another. Also like DeVoe, this left the meta-human who originally had this power dead.
- Hypnosis: Harley is able to mind control humans and meta-humans. Her powers of hypnosis have proven to be extremely powerful and even deadly as they allowed her to completely drive someone insane, as seen when she managed to break the mind of Gibson Kafka, rendering him a mumbling mess. She was even capable of using her powers to drive the whole of New Gotham into chaos.
Abilities[]
- Peak of human physical condition: As a criminal, Harley is in top physical condition and shown to be an experienced gymnast. She was strong enough to swiftly break a mercenary's neck and was also capable of jumping high enough to reach a railing on the second floor of a building.[4]
- Acrobatics: During her battle with the Birds of Prey in the New Gotham Clock Tower, Harley was very graceful and manoeuvrable in her combat, being able to incorporate multiple acrobatic moves into her fighting style and also utilise several dodges and flips in order to evade attacks.[4]
- Expert Hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Harley is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant and martial artist. She was able to hold her own against Helena Kyle, who had been known for her much more powerful agile meta-human abilities, during her takeover of the New Gotham Clock Tower.[4]
- Genius-level intellect: Harley was able to set up an entire criminal operation in secret outside of the eyes of the law, along with earning multiple degrees in psychology.
- Deception/Manipulation: Harley was able to fool Helena and trick her into trusting her and giving her intel vital to bringing down the Birds of Prey.
- Psychiatry: Harley is a skilled psychiatrist knowledgeable in many methods of care along with being able to break minds further using these skills. Combined with her powers she later possessed, she was able to break the mind of Gibson Kafka.
Weaknesses[]
- Polarized contact lenses: Barbara Gordon managed to create specialised contact lenses that acted as a one-way mirror, shielding an individual from Harley's hypnosis, thus rendering her powers useless.[4]
Equipment[]
- Harley Quinn suit: As Harley Quinn, Harleen wore a protective black and red suit as she took over the New Gotham Clocktower.
Appearances[]
Birds of Prey[]
Gallery[]
Promotional images[]
Birds of Prey[]
Behind the scenes[]
- Harley Quinn served as the main antagonist of Birds of Prey.
References[]
| Other versions of Harleen Quinzel | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To see other versions of this character, click the Earth name below for that Earth's counterpart of Harley Quinn. | ||||
| New multiverse | ||||
| Earth: Prime | ||||
| Original multiverse | ||||
| Earth: 1 • 203 | ||||
| Transmultiversal multiverse | ||||
| Earth: | ||||