What makes Harley Quinn so scary in Batman: Caped Crusader? No, it's not the maniacal laugh, the signature colors or her close connection to Gotham City's Prince of Crime, the Joker — it's everything else in between that DC has yet to explore.
Harley Quinn's Most Terrifying Iteration Is A Villain All Her Own
While a number of DC fans appear to have been disappointed with Harley Quinn's missing signature red and blue, Caped Crusader perfectly crafted what the Cupid of Crime would look like if she was a villain all her own.
Given the 1940s setting of Batman: Caped Crusader, this new version of Dr. Harleen Quinzel stands out from the rest of Harley Quinn's historical portrayals. In this case, her crimes involve paying "close attention" to her own patients. Ahem.
Dr. Quinzel still keeps her identities both as a therapist and as the clown-suited villain, Harley Quinn. But don't forget she's a licensed therapist.
And as much as she had hoped that Bruce Wayne would open up about the childhood trauma of losing his parents, that's not all that's in it for this unhinged villain. Episode 5 finally starts to reveal some of that.
For starters, she is convinced that cornering her patients in an underground lab is a good way to advance her career.
But what makes her even more dangerous is that she knows Bruce Wayne's secret. Based on their short sessions together, coupled with investigations into the Dark Knight's clandestine crime-fighting, Dr. Quinzel has figured out Wayne and Batman are one and the same.
Caped Crusader Showrunner Bruce Timm Did a "Basic Flip" on Quinzel
According to Batman: Caped Crusader showrunner Bruce Timm, it was a deliberate choice for Harley Quinn to be her own villain and not merely the Joker's girlfriend and henchwoman. That, coupled with a basic character flip, might be the secret to why she's so darn terrifying.
"A big part was just doing a basic flip. The original Dr. Quinzel was a little bit more serious, and then when she became Harley, she got really goofy and weird. So we thought, what if we reverse that?" Timm recently shared.
In this case, Dr. Quinzel's "warmer" persona hugely benefited her in her therapy practice. As she told Bruce Wayne, patients usually respond to that by sharing their deepest darkest secrets and guilt. However, despite the tactic, she failed to nail Bruce's.
What sets this Harley Quinn apart is not entirely reliant on the absence of the Joker, but the implications of just how far she would go with her experiments to "treat" her patients the right way, that is to say, the Harley Quinn way.
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DC fans can check out all episodes of Batman: Caped Crusader streaming on Prime Video.
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