Margot Robbie"s Return As Harley Quinn Just Got The Biggest Boost In More Than A Year

:0:1

2024 has been a surprisingly big year for Harley Quinn, despite the most popular screen version of the character sitting it out again. Lady Gaga brought a controversial new version to Joker: Folie a Deux, Batman: Caped Crusader reinvented her entirely, the animated series got a Kite-Man spin-off, and The Penguin introduced its answer to Harley Quinn. And yet, no Margot Robbie DC return is currently in sight.
It’s now been 8 years since Robbie first appeared as Harley in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, returning twice since, and calls for her to continue playing the character have been impressively consistent. Gaga’s version avoided complicating matters thanks to Joker 2’s timeline quirk, but the DCU has notably avoided announcing anything for the character. No continuation in any of the future DCU movies, no reboot, nothing.
Alongside Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, Robbie is one of only two actors who survived James Gunn’s soft reboot for The Suicide Squad and made it out alive. Waller is returning, thanks to Creature Commandos’ DC timeline loophole, but Harley Quinn appears to have skipped off to some unseen playground. That doesn"t mean we won"t see Margot Robbie again, of course, and James Gunn"s comments about working with her again certainly offer some hope:

"I haven’t talked to Margot about Harley for a long time. But I’d love to work with her again as Harley or as someone else. There are no plans at this time for anyone else to play Harley. I mean, other than in [Joker: Folie à Deux] or the animated shows."

And now, with the start of the DCU and a major clarification on the new DC canon, there"s even more reason to be hopeful...
Creature Commandos Makes Peacemaker DCU Canon, So Surely The Suicide Squad Is Too? You Can't Have One James Gunn DC Release Without The Other

Despite previous claims that nothing that previously happened in the DCEU would be canon to the DCU, James Gunn has now confirmed that both Peacemaker and The Suicide Squad are "light canon", with a qualifying caveat that allows certain things - like the controversial Justice League cameo in Peacemaker"s finale - to be decanonized:

"Yeah, they’re light canon. Peacemaker is pretty straightforward, with the exception of the appearance by a certain group at the end. They don’t exist yet . But the rule is: If we mention [something from the past] in one of the new DCU shows [and movies], then it happened. So that’s the way we’re dealing with it."

The point on mentioning specific events being the key to making them canon is something to focus on. Creature Commandos confirms the events of Peacemaker are canon in its first two episodes, but it stops short of talking about them too specifically. Gunn"s comments make it more clear that pretty much everything is canon other than the Justice League appearance (which he"s promised will be dealt with in season 2), so that surely means The Suicide Squad has to be canon too?
Peacemaker is driven by the events of The Suicide Squad in an irresistible way, and we already know Peacemaker season 2 will deal with Rick Flag Sr"s desire for vengeance over the death of his son. In other words, the "light canon" classifier doesn"t really disqualify any of the movie. Sure, Harley Quinn hasn"t been mentioned by name yet, but what purpose would there be in writing her out of canon? She"s key to killing Starro, after all.
Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn Is The Best Thing About James Gunn's DCEU Canon Close Let"s face it, while there were some excellent characters in The Suicide Squad cast, and good newcomers in Peacemaker, Margot Robbie stole the show of the former. Any ranking of the characters in James Gunn"s DCEU projects has to have her top (perhaps with some competition from Sylvester Stallone"s King Shark, admittedly). Her story has come a long way since her debut, and even then, she was the best thing about Suicide Squad.
Margot Robbie"s Harley Quinn Appearances
Year
DC Release
2016
Suicide Squad
2020
Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)
2021
The Suicide Squad
If Gunn can bring back Sean Gunn"s Weasel, Viola Davis" Amanda Waller, and various other supporting characters (not to mention the entire cast of Peacemaker), then he can and should do what it takes to bring Margot Robbie back. There"s clearly a liberal approach to canon in the DCU already, and Gunn"s creative team can pick and choose what they want to keep from Harley"s story without too much concern. She"s free at the end of The Suicide Squad, and she"s simply too good a character not to bring back.
What Margot Robbie Has Said About Returning As Harley Quinn Close Margot Robbie"s most recent comments on returning as Harley Quinn came at the start of 2024, when she spoke to Variety about her hopes for the future of the character. Without outright saying she won"t be back, Robbie did suggest that she"d be happy to see someone else play her:

"I always wanted Harley to be a character that would get passed on to other actresses to play, the way there are so many iconic male characters. That was always the dream for her. Harley’s so fun and can go in so many different directions. You put her in someone else’s hands, and it’s like, "What are they going to do with her?" The options are endless."

Previous to that, though, Robbie talked about the one piece of major unfinished business she feels she has as Harley Quinn: a romance with Poison Ivy. She spoke to ComicBook not only about her desire to return, but also to see the two DC supervillains come together for their DC Comics relationship:

"No, I"ve had enough of a break. I"m ready to do her again. I did Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad back-to-back, so that was a lot of Harley all in a one-year period, but that was a while ago now. I"m always ready for more Harley!"
"I have been pushing for that for years. I cannot tell you how hard I"ve been pushing for that. I want it too. Honestly, when I pictured, I always picture like Poison Ivy in the comics. I don"t really actually picture an actress doing it, but I agree, that would be so good."

Let"s hope Robbie"s enthusiasm to scratch that narrative itch sees her take advantage of Gunn"s desire to work with her again in the DCU. Because the world needs more of her Harley Quinn.

[圖擷取自網路，如有疑問請私訊]