July brings the release of several major big-studio productions, ranging from the (unfortunately) controversial Ghostbusters remake to the latest installments of the Star Trek and Jason Bourne franchises. For many, however, all anticipation is aimed directly at Suicide Squad, David Ayer's promising adaptation of the DC property that gathers a gaggle of would-be villains to save a major city from destruction by some black, oily monster-disease-thing. And one of the major reasons that Ayer's film has so much interest is the film's cast, including Jared Leto, Will Smith, Viola Davis, Scott Eastwood, Joel Kinnaman, and, most importantly, Margot Robbie in the role of Harley Quinn.
Robbie's character was originally meant to be just an animated extra in Batman: The Animated Series but quickly became something of a fan favorite. She developed into a prominent villain for the bat, and the show peppered in some back story about her days as a soap opera actress on Days of Our Lives before turning to a life of crime. In the movie, however, her background is a bit different, according to Robbie, who revealed some minor tidbits about her Harley during an interview with Vanity Fair. Here's what Robbie said exactly via Vanity Fair:
“She loves causing mayhem and destruction. She’s incredibly devoted to the Joker. They have a dysfunctional relationship, but she loves him anyway. She used to be a gymnast — that’s her skill set when fighting.”
The whole "loves causing mayhem and destruction" thing was pretty obvious from the outset, but the gymnast thing is definitely a new crinkle in the make-up of this latest version of Harley Quinn. That being said, there were definitely some shots in the trailers that foretold this reveal, what with all her movements in her cell in the first teaser. As for her somewhat contentious relationship with Joker, it'll be interesting to see how far this goes and how this reflects the scenes in the trailers that seem to suggest that Harley will face a near-fatal attack at some point in the film. This might not do much to raise anticipation for Suicide Squad, a film that is already looking to at least be the best DC movie of the year, but it's nice to have a little bit more sense about the woman who became Joker's number one gal.
