DC Extended Universe Character Index
Vigilantes & Black Ops Teams
Gotham Vigilantes | Task Force X (Officials and Agents, Original Team, New Team)

Gotham citizens that have taken to crimefighting.

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Bat-Family

Batman

For the Batman native to the DCEU, see his page

For the Batman of Earth-89, see his page

Robin I

Richard "Dick" Grayson

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/robinsuit.png

"Why would you send a Boy Wonder to do a man's job?" — Joker

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Wayne Family

Appearances: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ^note Suit only | Zack Snyder's Justice League ^note Suit in the Knightmare only

Joker: Au contraire, my little fishstick. He knows exactly how it feels to lose someone he loves. You know, like...a father...like a mother...

Batman: Be very careful with the next thing you say.

Joker: ...like an adopted son. Isn't that right...Batman?

A former protégé and sidekick of Batman. He perished at the hands of the Joker.

Alternate Self: He has counterparts on Earth-9, Earth-66^note, Earth-97, Earth-167 and Earth-203
Composite Character: Takes the place of Jason Todd in being killed by the Joker.
Dead Alternate Counterpart: All his counterparts were last seen alive.
Dead Sidekick: He was Batman's sidekick in the past. Batman couldn't save him from the Joker, a mistake that has haunted him ever since.
Death by Adaptation: Most incarnations of Dick Grayson live long enough to become Nightwing. This one died while he was still Robin.
Kid Sidekick: Implied. His gravestone prop says that he was he was only 18 at the time of his death.
Non-Powered Costumed Hero: Like Batman, he was just a trained human without superpowers who wore a costume.
Posthumous Character: The Joker killed Robin a few years prior to the events of Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, and it still visibly haunts Bruce.
Red Baron: Joker refers to him as "Boy Wonder".
Red Is Heroic: Standard for the character, though either by design or through wear and tear (maybe even by immolation) the colors on the Robin suit are very dull.
Shrine to the Fallen: Bruce still keeps Robin's costume in the Batcave as a way to honor his memory and as a way to remind himself of his worst mistakes, with the Joker's "HA HA HA Joke's On You BATMAN" message spray still painted on it.
Sidekick: He was Batman's sidekick.

Birds of Prey

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/huntress_montoya_and_black_canary.png

"He's after all of us. He's sure as hell after me, I just robbed him. You just betrayed him. You just killed his BFF. And you're dumb enough to be building a case against him. So, unless we all wanna die very unpleasant deaths and let Roman go finger-fishing in the kid's intestinal tract, we're gonna have to work together."

—Harley Quinn

A team of female asskickers originally formed to have a chance to stand against Black Mask. It later evolves into a vigilante team.

In General

Action Girl: All of them are combat-capable except Cassandra Cain (who doesn't join the formally established roster at the end anyway).
Amazon Brigade: A team composed entirely of women, as in the source material.
Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: The Chanteuse and object of Roman's affections Dinah Lance (Beauty), hard-boiled detective with an almost clairvoyant ability to decipher clues Renee Montoya (Brains) and professional killer with a Hair-Trigger Temper Helena Bertinelli (Brawn).
Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Completely averted, as the three Birds all get grubby, bruised and cut during their fight scene against Roman's thugs.
Costume Evolution: Huntress and Black Canary get costume upgrades in the epilogue that are more comic-accurate.
Fighter, Mage, Thief: Hand-to-hand combatant Montoya (fighter), street smart metahuman Dinah (mage) and mysterious vigilante Helena (thief).
Fire-Forged Friends: They're all pitted against each other for the majority of the film, but immediately put it all aside as they've all got a reason to team up against Sionis.
Guest-Star Party Member: It turns out Harley Quinn and Cassandra Cain are not part of the team proper when it is established at the end of the film. They do participate in the genesis of the team during the Final Battle (Harley more than Cassie), but they depart after it, and Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya formally establish the team afterwards, name and all.
Negated Moment of Awesome: Having taken down all of the blade- and bat-wielding thugs that stormed into The Booby Trap, the Birds of Prey do a Power Walk out the front door — only to get immediately fired upon en masse by all of the gun-toting mooks Sionis still has stationed outside.
Origin Story: The Birds of Prey film is this for the team.
Power Trio: When it is formally established at the end of the film, the team is composed of Black Canary, Huntress and Renee Montoya.
Primary-Color Champion: Before they formally establish the team and don different outfits, Dinah Lance wears yellow, Huntress wears violet, Renee Montoya wears blue, and their Protectorate Cassandra Cain wears red.
Protectorate: In the latter half of the movie, the eventual crime-fighting team Birds of Prey plus Harley Quinn band together to protect little Cass from Black Mask and his many mooks.
Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: A vigilante, a driver for a mob boss, and an ex-detective teaming with an crazed ex-therapist and a young pickpocketer.
Signature Move: Each Bird has her own distinct close combat style.
- Black Canary favors kicks. The actress explained that because Black Canary is supposed to be one of the best martial artists in the DC universe, she should be very confident, and they tried to convey this with a fighting style where she stands her ground, confidently blocking and deflecting heavy attacks (which would seriously harm her if she didn't know what she was doing), then landing a solid kick to finish off her opponents. This contrasts her with Harley's chaotic, flashy gymnastic moves meant to confuse and misdirect larger opponents.
- Huntress uses shoulder throws. Because she's a trained assassin, she favors fast targeted strikes meant to efficiently disable an opponent as quickly as possible. In contrast with Harley's misdirection and Black Canary's heavy blocks, Huntress has a more offensive style following the strategy of taking out an opponent so quickly you hopefully won't have to make defensive blocks.
- Renee Montoya prefers punches, often using pistol-whips. She's an older woman, so logically she can't do the high-kicks and fast moves of the others, so she has a more grounded, "cop" style of fighting.
Vigilante Militia: A team of female vigilantes that's formed to fight crime in Gotham City.
Vitriolic Best Buds: They enjoy making fun of each other's character flaws.

Black Canary

Dinah Laurel Lance / Black Canary II

"Cover your ears!"

Species: Metahuman

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Black Mask's Gang, Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Jurnee Smollett

Appearances: Birds of Prey | Black Canary

A nightclub singer who gets recruited by Roman Sionis as his driver. She utilizes advanced martial arts, and inherited her signature Canary Cry from her mother.

Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the comics, her mom lives to see her through to adulthood, and Dinah was excited to follow in her footsteps by becoming a superhero. Here, her mother was killed brutally in the street and Dinah grew up jaded and cynical. Though they had their problems, it was her mother who looked at her past vigilantism scornfully, not Dinah Jr.
Adaptational Modesty: Zigzagged. Dinah's outfits don't bare her legs like they do in the comics, but her initial outfit does show off her midriff.
Adaptational Wimp:
- Dinah's a strong fighter, but her abilities are visibly less impressive; compared to Huntress and Harley, who both make use of flashy acrobatics or Combat Pragmatism, Dinah stays pretty grounded and seems to fight with strong but relatively limited kick-boxing moves, making Dinah seem the least-trained of the three, seemingly from being a street fighter. For reference, her comic self is considered one of the top fighters in the DCU, behind only Lady Shiva, Cassandra Cain, Connor Hawke, Batman, and Richard Dragon.
- The Canary Cry is about as powerful as it is in the comics, utterly laying out an entire army, but it renders her unconscious after usage, a limit she's never had in the comics.
Adaptational Villainy: Downplayed, she's far from a malicious person, but this take on Dinah has no interest in heroism or working with the GCPD, and has no qualms about working for Black Mask. In the comics, even at her lowest, Dinah would never tolerate working for someone as depraved as Sionis. Her Refusal of the Call is taken to an extreme as she's reluctant to help anyone; twice, Dinah even witnesses an obvious sexual assault happening, and hesitates to intervene, which as well is something her comic self would never have done.
Addiction Displacement: She seems to be attempting to quit smoking. When she first meets Harley, she has a cigarette tucked behind her ear. A close up of her arm shows she's using nicotine patches.
Affectionate Nickname: Sionis and Zsaz calls her "Little Bird". Dinah does not like this nickname, but can't talk back.
Alternate Self: Has two on Earth-Prime, one on Earth-167 and one on Earth-203.
An Offer You Can't Refuse: She gets the dubious "honor" of being promoted to Sionis' personal driver after he witnesses her combat abilities (that she kept hidden for years for a reason), on these grounds. She tries to politely decline a few times but he insists, making it clear that if she seriously said "no" she'd risk angering him, and possibly losing her face.
Awesome, but Impractical: Her Canary Cry is extremely powerful, able to shatter glass easily and immobilize multiple opponents at once but is also harmful to her allies, is hard to use in a close quarters fight and it drains her energy so much she passes out after using it. As such, she only uses it once in the finale and uses her fighting skills the rest of the time.
Batter Up!: At the Amusement Mile, Harley lends Dinah her bat, which she utilizes pretty well.
Beneath Notice: Spent years avoiding getting sucked into Black Mask's crime schemes by pretending to be "just another pretty face and set of lungs." All that flew out the window the second Sionis and Zsasz saw how well she could fight, and they needed another driver since Harley Quinn broke his driver's legs...
Big Sister Instinct: She tries to look out for Cassandra however she can. Whether that's comforting her while her foster parents are yelling, giving her money to buy food, or trying to make sure people like Renee can get to her in time before Black Mask does.
Blaxploitation: The changes to her costume seem to evoke this, with her largely wearing 70s-style jeans, tiny tank-tops, and bodysuits, rather than anything resembling her comic book costume. She eventually upgrades to something slightly more comic-accurate.
Broken Bird: Losing her mother young and being shuffled from foster home to foster home has left her with a very bitter outlook on life, and she tries to stay out of most conflicts, collect her check as a night club singer and bounce. Over the course of the film, her fondness for Cassandra, and increased inability to turn a blind eye to Sionis' horrible deeds helps her open up and protect others like her mother did.
Bystander Syndrome: At the start of the film, she tries to stay out of most conflicts and look out only for herself, but even she can't bring herself to allow Harley to get kidnapped by some creeps when she's too drunk to defend herself, or allow Sionis to cut up Cassandra Cain.
By the Hair: The movie goes out its way to avert this; her long hair gets in face more often than not when she's fighting, so during the Amusement Mile fight, Harley offers her a hair tie.
The Chanteuse: Her first job before she's hired as Black Mask's driver.
Composite Character: This version of Black Canary is explicitly Dinah Laurel Lance, but her initially working for the bad guy before revealing herself as a hero is taken from her mother, Dinah Drake.
Deadpan Snarker: She makes a lot of quips, especially if Harley is involved.
Harley: Hey, you're that singer no one listens to!
Dinah: Hey, you're that asshole no one likes!
Delinquent Hair: Dinah has bleached blonde hair that she styles into cornrows along the side of her head. In keeping with her delinquent status, she lives in the slums of Gotham, has a distrust of authority and took a job from a known crime boss because she needed the income.
Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Her sonic scream is powerful enough to lure people and shatter glass, and her Canary Cry is a sight to behold, but one full-use of the Canary Cry is enough to knock her out.
The Driver: She's coerced into this new job after Harley breaks Sionis' drivers legs.
Everyone Has Standards: Despite telling Renee she's only looking out for herself, she draws the line at men assaulting other women in any way. She shows this when a drunken Harley is almost kidnapped and despite trying to ignore the scene, she goes back to kick the men's ass and drive Harley home.
Failed a Spot Check: Dinah, if you're going to be an informer for the GCPD on your boss, do NOT leave the cellphone where you texted your handler in a place where The Dragon can see it when you're driving to the location.
Fights Like a Normal: She uses her power exactly once, and at a powerful enough extent that she gets Heroic RRoD. She always fights in hand-to-hand combat or with melee weapons, to great effect still.
Gale-Force Sound: Near the end of the Birds of Prey film, Black Canary unleashes a blast of sound that sends the Black Mask's henchmen flying through the air. It also pushes Harley on her roller blades forward as if she was being pushed by powerful winds.
Genre Refugee: She fits into the larger DCEU perfectly, but the only film she appeared in didn't include or even mention any other characters with superpowers.
Glass-Shattering Sound: When she starts singing at a higher pitch in Black Mask's club (without yet reaching the power of her Canary Cry), it shatters a glass.
Good Angel, Bad Angel: Tries to be the Good Angel to Zsasz's Bad Angel after she's "promoted" to be Sionis' personal driver, as the three are often alone together, and she tries to advice Sionis to be more merciful to his victims while Zsaz very much enjoys encouraging his violent and murderous behavior.
Kick Chick: Primarily uses strong kicks in her fighting style which takes a lot from Muay Thai, Taekwondo and kickboxing.
I Am Not My Mother: A less run-of-the-mill example in that she loves her deceased mother and thinks of her highly, but is actively avoiding being like her due to how other people exploited her ultrasonic powers, to the point that it killed her.
Legacy Character: She inherited the Black Canary power and mantle from her mother who has passed away by the time of the film.
Missing Mom: Her mother died when she was younger, which lead to her being shipped from one foster home to another.
The Mole: She leaks information about Black Mask's hit on Cassandra to Renee.
Morality Pet: She tries to be one for Sionis after she's unwillingly promoted to his personal driver, often trying to make the best of it by advising him to be more merciful, but unfortunately his right-hand man Zsaz loves encouraging his violent and sadistic behavior.
Ms. Fanservice: As to be expected for Black Canary. She even starts as a nightclub singer, explaining the sexy clothing.
Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Had Dinah not screamed out Cassandra's name and ran for her when she found out she had picked Zsasz's pocket, he might have never found her.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Dinah (reluctantly) saves Harley from being kidnapped by some creeps when she's too drunk to protest, and then gets the dubious "reward" of being promoted to Sionis' personal driver after he witnesses how well she can fight.
No-Respect Guy: Implied by Harley. Not only do Sionis and Zsasz affectionately (yet condescendingly) call her "little bird," but apparently she's worked as The Chanteuse for years and no one ever really appreciates her singing.
Harley: Hey, you're that singer no one listens to!
Dinah: Hey, you're that asshole no one likes!
Only in It for the Money: It's pretty clear she knows Sionis is a ruthless crime lord but sings at his lounge anyway (though given her Dark and Troubled Past, his fondness and possessiveness toward her, and him calling her his "little bird," it's possible she doesn't fully have a choice), though she collects her paychecks singing and tries to stay out of his other affairs as much as possible.
Painted-On Pants: Dinah wears some seriously tight trousers, especially visible when she comes to Harley's rescue outside the club. Huntress even hangs a lightshade on them by complimenting her on her ability to perform high kicks while wearing them.
Passive Aggressive Combat: At one point while working as The Chanteuse, she sings James Brown's "It's a Man's Man's World" while giving a Death Glare to Zsasz and Sionis, sings increasingly loudly to draw attention away from Sionis knowing he's a huge Attention Whore, and for her final note she uses a portion of her Canary Cry to shatter glass (it's a bar). It flies right over Sionis' head.
Power Strain Black Out: After Dinah uses her Canary Cry for the first time, she passes out soon afterwards. During the climactic confrontation with the False Face society, she uses it to dispatch Sionis' gang who have the Birds cornered. The Cry manages to take out all of them, but Dinah immediately passes out afterwards.
Race Lift: Dinah Lance is white in the comics and played by Jurnee Smollett-Bell, who is biracial (Ashkenazi Jewish and African-American).
The Spock: Despite not being the leader, Dinah is the most level-headed team member.
Super-Scream: Her superpower, which she uses exactly once but in all its glory during the Final Battle.
Token Super: In a cast of Badass Normals, she's the only one with a special power. Not that she needs it.
True Blue Femininity: Dinah tends to wear lots of blue. She starts out wearing denim, gets a dark blue suit when she starts working as Roman's chauffeur and has a blue suit when she becomes a proper vigilante.
Truer to the Text: Race Lift and different outfits aside, this take on the character maintains the mother-daughter Legacy Character aspect of her backstory, while also being a Fights Like a Normal Token Super with a Super-Scream; previous adaptations have tended to either not include one or don't go into enough detail.
Two First Names: Per a DC Comics habit. Lance is traditionally a male given name.

Huntress

Helena Bertinelli / Huntress

"You know who I am?!"

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Appearances: Birds of Prey

"Okay, I feel like I just walked in on something I don't give two shits about."

The daughter of an assassinated mob boss. She vowed revenge on those who massacred her family and became a living weapon to accomplish this.

'90s Anti-Hero: Parodied. Helena's willing to kill for both revenge and necessity, wears some punkish gear, and rides a motorcycle, and is also portrayed as extremely immature in her fixations, a teenage girl in a woman's body who desperately wants to be taken seriously.
Actually Pretty Funny: The Birds of Prey are having Mexican food for lunch. Harley and Cassandra excuse themselves to the bathroom... which turned out to be a cover-up story for stealing Canary's car and making off with the diamond, plus ditching the bill for lunch for the other three to pay up. While Canary is annoyed, Huntress laughs her head off at this.
Adaptation Origin Connection: The impetus for Huntress getting involved in Harley's problems is that Zsasz was one of the mooks who killed Huntress's family. In the comics, Zsasz had nothing to do with it
Alternate Self: She has one on Earth-Prime.
Berserk Button:
- Dislikes being called "Crossbow Killer". It's Huntress, thank you very much.
- Don't say she she has rage issues or she will loudly and angrily tell you otherwise.
- And bows and arrows are for kids. She uses a crossbow.
Big Sister Instinct: She had a little brother in the past, and the last keepsake she has of him is his purple toy car. She gives it to Cassandra during the Amusement Mile fight, admitting Cassandra shouldn't be witnessing all of this violence and advises her to hold onto the toy and not think of anything.
Bruiser with a Soft Center: Helena shows her gentle side when she not only protects Cassandra, but also gives Cassandra her toy car and tells her to focus on it, showing she hasn't forgotten how traumatic it can be for a child to deal with mob violence.
Chained by Fashion: Huntress has a thick dark chain she wears across her chest.
Character Catchphrase: Huntress usually asks her victims "do you know who I am?" before she kills them. She's even seen practicing it in a mirror, to make it as intimidating as possible.
Combat Pragmatist: She uses a lot of tactical moves while fighting and is quick to kill larger opponents with her arrows quickly. She is also perfectly willing to use guns when arrows wouldn't be as practical.
The Comically Serious: She's definitely not the kind to joke around, rather much humor comes from her Insistent Terminology and having No Social Skills.
Conspicuous Gloves: Helena wears a pair of fingerless gloves that completes her biker image.
Dark Is Not Evil: She's not exactly heroic, but she does work with the other women to fight against Black Mask and she states that everyone she's killed had wronged her in the past, so she's not a Blood Knight.
Dinner Order Flub: At Doc's restaurant, Harley advises Cass to always order his Mongolian beef with extra hot sauce to completely mask the taste. A few minutes later, Huntress enters and, having no idea what she's getting into, orders the dish "mild".
Distaff Counterpart: To Batman. She became a vigilante after her parents were murdered and in her film debut she's not above murder, but quickly becomes a genuine hero and forms a team.
Enemies List: She drew a picture of the men who killed her family as a kid and kept it 'til this day as she crosses off each face.
Endearingly Dorky: Helena's less than stellar social skills certainly make her come across this way. When Dinah agitates her, rather than being startled she's instead on the verge of laughter.
Excessive Evil Eye Shadow: Which she's even seen reapplying just before the big final battle. But she's not evil, just more of an anti-hero.
Hair-Trigger Temper: After witnessing Helena's reaction to misnaming her signature weapon, Black Canary teasingly comments "I love this chick, she's got rage issues".
Huntress: I DON'T HAVE RAGE ISSUES!
Hero of Another Story: Her subplot is the least connected to any of the Birds’ arcs, being a solo revenge quest that only really intersects with the main plot at the climax. While Harley, Dinah, Cass, and Renee all talk to or fight each other at least once before the third act, Helena only briefly encounters Harley once in the first act. She notes this herself when encountering the others arguing at the Booby Trap, saying she feels like she’s stumbled into something that’s none of her business, and would’ve left if not for needing to fight alongside the others against Black Mask’s forces.
Insistent Terminology: Two of them;
- Being called to or referred as the Huntress, not the Crossbow Killer.
- Her weapon of choice is a crossbow, not a bow and arrow, thank you very much.
Dinah: What the hell is up with this bow and arrow schtick?
Huntress: IT'S NOT A FUCKING BOW AND ARROW! It's a crossbow, I'm not twelve!
In the Hood: Her first few appearances have her wearing her hood.
I Resemble That Remark!: This exchange between Black Canary and Huntress:
Dinah: I love this chick, she's got rage issues.
Helena: (yelling) I DON'T HAVE RAGE ISSUES!
Lean and Mean: Helena's a lanky woman with anger problems and a list of dead enemies.
Mafia Princess: She's the daughter of an Italian-American crime boss, though due to the massacre of her family she didn't get the benefits of this status when growing up in secret.
The McCoy: She's the most trigger-happy teammate outside of Harley Quinn.
Movie Superheroes Wear Black: Her outfit is much more tactical than in the comics, eschewing the purple cape and mask.
My Name Is ???: After Harley blows up the chemical factory and reveals to the world that she's broken up with the Joker (and is therefore no longer untouchable), people start coming after her to repay her for old grievances. When each one shows up, their name and grievance pops up on screen. But when Huntress shows up, we only get "Name: ??? Grievance: ???"
Named by Democracy: Because she kills with a crossbow, she is labeled "The Crossbow Killer". She is really annoyed by this and constantly tries to introduce herself as "Huntress".
Never Found the Body: When Montoya gets a good look at the adult Helena, she quickly identifies her. This is presumably because police not only never found Helena's body, but likely never found any evidence that she had died with the rest of her family, so she would be treated as a missing person instead of a homicide victim.
Non-Idle Rich: She does end up getting her family's fortune back, as a gift from Harley, despite having not sought it at all during the race for it. Helena remains more interested in being a crimefighter than resuming her family's old mob ways, and uses the money to fund the Birds of Prey.
No Social Skills:
- Huntress is a brilliant fighter, but her social skills are horrible. That tends to happen when you spent many formative years raised in secret, by killers.
- She actually practices her introduction in the mirror. Too bad nobody calls her the Huntress unless she tells them to.
Phrase Catcher: Before (and one time after) her proper name is shown, people refer to her as "The Crossbow Killer".
Raised by Dudes: Helena was raised by a brotherhood of assassins after one of them took pity on her when her family was massacred. She's grown up with some social awkwardness problems, although that may have more to do with the "assassins" part than the "brotherhood" part.
Revenge: This is her main goal for the film, which Harley examines and points out to her. In fact, despite the MacGuffin being the bank codes to her late family's fortune, Helena doesn't seem to care at all about the money or her former status on the top of Gotham's crime pyramid, only seeking to kill those who wronged her.
Statuesque Stunner: Like the comics, she's taller than her comrades (Mary Elizabeth Winstead is 5'8) and very attractive.
The Straight and Arrow Path: Helena favors a crossbow over traditional firearms. Clearly she's trying to get some recognition.
This Is Gonna Suck: Huntress does not seem enthused about the idea of joining up with the other women to take down Black Mask. Ironically she sticks with Harley Quinn longer than the others, as she offers a ride when Harley is chasing Roman.
Tragic Keepsake: She keeps her brother's toy car, which she clutched onto while he and the rest of her family were getting murdered. She ends up giving it to Cassandra to clutch for comfort during the fight in the funhouse
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: She's been training for blood-soaked Revenge since she was a child, as well as drawing graphic pictures of said vengeance rather than the typical child doodle subjects.
Vengeance Feels Empty: Played with. She gets her revenge against the last man to kill her family and afterwards, she feels like she has no purpose to have anymore. Harley and the others then point out that Gotham is filled with worse people than the one that killed her family.
Underboobs: Her top is cut to show the undersides of her breasts.
When She Smiles: She mostly has a look of anger or steely determination but when she's happy and smiling, it's a joyous sight.
Womanchild: She's pretty immature and childlike which is understandable given that she spent her formative years being trained to be a killer.

Renee Montoya

"We gotta clean this city from the inside out."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Gotham City Police Department, Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Rosie Perez

Appearances: Birds of Prey

"Harley Quinn just brought open season on herself."

A GCPD detective who investigates on Roman Sionis and Harley Quinn's antics.

Age Lift: In the comics she's in her late 20s to early 30s, around the same age as the other main characters (except for Cassandra). Here she's played by an actress in her mid-50s.
Alternate Self: Has one on Earth-Prime.
Boxing Battler: Her main fighting style is based on boxing.
Break-Up Bonfire: After Ellen rats on her to the police chief getting her suspended, Montoya tears up all the pictures of her ex from her mirror and is about to light them on fire when she gets interrupted by a text from Dinah.
Breast Attack: During one of their fights, Renee punches Harley right in the tit, using her handcuffs as an improvised brass knuckle. Harley even lampshades it.
Bring It: At one point while fighting Harley, she puts up both of her hands and gestures for Harley to come at her.
Brooklyn Rage: She has Rosie Perez's trademark Brooklyn accent and she's generally surly and ill-tempered.
Bulletproof Vest: The corset that Harley makes Renee wear to "protect the girls" is also a bulletproof vest that saves her life when she gets shot during the climax.
But Not Too Gay: Montoya's sexuality isn't given too much focus outside of Harley's narration pointing out that she works with her ex-girlfriend. To be fair, their spat does indicate their relationship has some history to it that goes beyond what would be considered professional.
Cardboard Box of Unemployment: Seen at the end of the film, when Renee Montoya quits the police force after realizing she's never going to be given any credit for her achievements.
Combat Pragmatist: Even though she's a cop, she's not above fighting dirty as seen when she's fighting Harley. She grabs the others hair while they wrestle and uses her cuffs as a makeshift brass knuckle.
Deadpan Snarker: She has a very dry and bitter sense of humor.
Determinator: When she has enough evidence for a case, she will never let go. She's also really determined in a fight as she continues throwing punches even after she's been thrown around.
Dude, Where's My Respect?: Montoya's never given credit for all her work and is stuck at a desk job because of it. Said partner once again getting credit for stopping Roman is the final straw that motivates her to quit the GCPD and become part of the Birds of Prey.
Female Groin Invincibility: During Harley and Renee's fight at the amusement park, Harley kicks Renee in the crotch and Renee kicks her right back. Both women suffer little more than brief annoyance.
Good Is Not Nice: She is not exactly the nicest person around, but she is still a true-blue cop and someone who cares about people.
Hard Boiled Detective: Everyone points out that Renee's attitude towards her job comes across as cliche and over-enthusiastic.
Helena: Does she always talk like a bad 80s cop movie?
Hell-Bent for Leather: Wears a black biker jacket at the end when she fights off bad guys along with Dinah and Helena.
Hero Antagonist: Renee Montoya is this for most of Birds of Prey, being a cop tasked with catching Harley. She is eventually suspended but still pursues her, until the end when she, Harley, and the other Birds of Prey have to join forces to fight off Black Mask.
Improvised Weapon: She uses a handcuff as improvised brass knuckle against Harley during the latter's mayhem at GCPD.
Intergenerational Friendship: She's about twenty years older than the other team members, going by the actresses' ages.
The Kirk: She's analytical enough to be a qualified detective, but she's also prone to making questionable decisions and drinks when she's in a bad mood.
The Lad-ette: Montoya's got delusions of being a hard-boiled detective and she hits the bottle pretty hard. Her T-shirt that says "I shaved my balls for this" is a noteworthy example.
Lady Drunk: She hits the bottle hard after getting kicked off her case. It's implied from earlier dialogue that this is nothing unusual for her.
Little Old Lady Investigates: Montoya's in her 50s and works as a detective.
Never Mess with Granny: Despite being past her prime and a little tipsy, Renee is able to hold her own and fend off the thugs that come for Cassandra.
Of Corsets Sexy: Near the end, Harley rips Renee's shirt open to reveal that she is wearing a corset that Harley made her wear that is actually bulletproof. Harley notices how sexy she looks with that corset.
Harley: Oooh! Aren't you glad you wore that? Sexy and bulletproof!
Out of Job, into the Plot: She gets suspended from her police job after trying to make a case on Black Mask. At the end of the movie, she leaves the GCPD taking all of her things with her as well to form the Birds of Prey.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Downplayed. She gets her ass kicked a couple of times, but is a formidable opponent towards Harley Quinn, which is impressive. In the movie, Harley (a 5'6", amoral, loony Dance Battler supervillain) barely breaks a sweat battling seas of hulking mooks, but her final altercation with Renee (5'1") actually gives her a real challenge.
Power Fist: Renee Montoya uses her handcuffs as a set of improvised brass knuckles when fighting Harley Quinn. She soon puts on a real set from the weapon stash for the climactic fight scene again Roman's gang.
Race Lift: Renee Montoya in the comics is usually portrayed as mestizo (mixed Spaniard and Native ancestry), while in the film she's played by Afro-Latina actress Rosie Perez.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Montoya's the red oni to her ex-girlfriend and her ex-partner's blue onis, though the latter's only calm because he got promoted over her.
She Cleans Up Nicely: Renee Montoya is still attractive in her everyday outfits, but she's dressed a lot more modestly, in a way that doesn't draw attention to her looks. But when she actually wears one of Harley's Stripperiffic old ensembles, even Harley is appreciative of the Fanservice.
Sherlock Scan: Montoya could easily identify what happened at a crime scene at the beginning of the movie whereas her partner kept getting the details wrong. She also managed to figure out that the killer was a woman. She even immediately identifies Helena Bertinelli just by looking at her.
Stealing the Credit: She's a brilliant detective, however her partner usually takes all of the credit for her hard work. Harley notes this in her narration that while he gets promoted, Renee was stuck at the detective desk because of that.
Taken Off the Case: Montoya has been investigating crime boss Roman Sionis for six months, including four murders. Because she hasn't come up with any solid evidence of Sionis's guilt, her captain takes her off the case and puts another detective on it. She continues to investigate Sionis and eventually helps take him down.
Take This Job and Shove It: When she is told she's suspended for work, she says just about as much as she hands in her badge and gun. By the end of the movie she packs up all of her items and cooly leaves the workplace while the others celebrate her partner for the Black Mask case that he didn't even earn.
Team Mom: The oldest of the Birds of Prey and the one who decides to put the others on the path of justice.
Token Good Teammate: While none of the Birds are outright bad (except for Harley and arguably Cassandra, and neither of them are official members), as one of the few clean cops in Gotham, Renee is the most unambiguously heroic member of the team.
Turn in Your Badge: Around the end of the second act, Montoya gets suspended for bending too many rules in her pursuit of Sionis, with nothing to show for it. Lampshaded by narrator-Harley, who claims that this happens to every good cop sooner or later and marks the point where they really start getting things done. Instead of doing the trope thing of only making her more determined, it causes Montoya to give up, pulling an It's All Junk on her carefully hoarded evidence and settling down to drown her sorrows — until Black Canary appeals to her to help save Cassie from Sionis and Zsasz. Also, in a twist of the usual conclusion of this trope, even when she helps save the day, she's still snubbed from the acknowledgement and is thus not only never reinstated, but motivated to leave the force entirely to start the new Birds of Prey.
Twofer Token Minority: A Latina lesbian.
Working with the Ex: Renee works with her ex-girlfriend, Ellen Yee. Ellen, for her part, clearly still cares for her, but they butt heads due to their conflicting perspectives on breaking the law and due process to put criminals behind bars.

Others

Cyborg

See DCEU: Justice League.

Harley Quinn

Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/harleytss.png

"I'm the one they should be scared of! Not you, not Mr. J... because I'm Harley Fuckin' Quinn!"

^{Click here to see Harley in her main Birds of Prey outfit}

^{Click here to see Harley in her main Suicide Squad outfit}

^{Click here to see Harley before becoming a supervillain}

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Joker's Gang, Task Force X ("Suicide Squad"), Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Margot Robbie

Voiced By: Karla Falcón (Latin-American Spanish), Isabel Valls (European Spanish), Kanako Tôjo (Japanese), Dorothée Pousséo (European French), Catherine Brunet (Canadian French), Iara Riça (Brazilian Portuguese, Suicide Squad), Evie Saide (Brazilian Portuguese, Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad)

Appearances: Suicide Squad | Birds of Prey | The Suicide Squad

Other appearances: Suicide Blonde | Secret Files of the Suicide Squad

"No one is like me. If you wanted to even come close, you would have to go to medical school. Become a psychiatrist. Work in an asylum. Fall in love with your patient. Break said patient out of said asylum. Begin a life of crime. Jump into a vat of chemicals to prove yourself to a madman. Get arrested by the Batman. Go back to jail. Get out of jail with a bomb on your neck. Save the world. Go back to jail. And break out of jail before breaking up with the aforementioned madman and going out on your own."

A former psychiatrist who was once supposed to treat the Joker. She instead turned into a crazed supercriminal after being tortured by the Clown Prince of Crime and taking a bath of chemicals that bleached her skin, and became his lover. Together, they committed some infamous crimes such as the murder of Batman's sidekick Robin, and had the reputation of being the "King and Queen" of Gotham City.

Following Harley's arrest by Batman and her incarceration at the high-security prison of Belle Reve, Amanda Waller coerced her into taking part to the Task Force X ("Suicide Squad") initiative along with a bunch of other supercriminals. Harley proves that she's not beyond redemption by helping to thwart the Enchantress, though she was still sent back to prison with a 10-year reduction on her sentence.

The Joker later broke her out of Belle Reve, but their relationship deteriorated and they broke up. Without the protection that was ensured by her "Joker's Girlfriend" status, Harley quickly found herself facing numerous people with a beef against her (or the Joker, or both), including mob boss Roman Sionis/Black Mask. She then teamed up with what would become the Birds of Prey to stand a chance against Black Mask's army.

Circumstances, or as she put it, "A fit of road rage. In a bank", made her come back to Task Force X later on. Despite being captured by Corto Maltese forces, she caught the eye of then President Luna, who believed that, by marrying her, he could use her to unite his people as a symbol of anti-Americanism. He was wrong.

Adaptational Skimpiness:
- In Suicide Squad, Harley goes from her traditional jester suit covering everything except her face to glittery hotpants, fishnets, and a shirt barely big enough to fit her with some suggestively placed holes in it.
- Downplayed in Birds of Prey, where her outfits are still revealing, but considerably more modest.
- Averted by the time of The Suicide Squad where her outfit no longer shows off excessive skin and is far closer to her comics outfit.
Adaptation Dye-Job: As in Batman: Arkham City, the tips of her pigtails are dyed—though the red and black are replaced with pink and blue. She would eventually get her red and black hair in The Suicide Squad, complete with a more comic-accurate outfit.
All Girls Want Bad Boys: She admits in The Suicide Squad that she has very bad taste when it comes to love.
- Harley was smitten with the Joker, despite him being a notorious psychopath who was more than a little weird-looking.
- She also shacks up with Silvio Luna, the dictator of Corto Maltese. Downplayed in that Harley breaks things off with him once she finds out he has no qualms over murdering children.
Alternate Self: Has four, one on Earth-Prime, one on Earth-66, one on Earth-89, and one on Earth-203.
Anti-Villain: Despite being insane, violent, and selfish, Harley has a fair amount of redeeming traits. She comes to regard Task Force X as her Family of Choice, even stating her reason for killing the Enchantress as being due to her trying to kill her friends. She also really does care about the Birds of Prey, and while she does leave them eventually, she says it's because they can make it on their own, implying she'd come back to help them if they were ever hopelessly outclassed.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: The trope becomes a salient part of her characterization in Birds of Prey. Director Cathy Yan even made the movie a colorful sensory overload to reflect Harley's darting attention span. During her chase scene with Montaya at her heels, she stops to admire and snag a glittery fanny pack. In at least one instance, this also winds up saving her life (Huntress shoots in her direction — though not at her — and she avoids being collateral damage because she was picking up something from the ground that caught her eye).
Ax-Crazy: Joker's torture has left her sanity in very short supply, to say the least. The consequences of her violent impulses catch up to her once word gets out that Harley and the Joker are finished.
Badass Adorable: She could easily earn the "World's Cutest Supervillain" award. Some people think because she's so little and cute she poses no threat and they can take advantage of her. Such fools rarely survive to realize their mistake.
Badass Normal: She holds her own very well against Enchantress' supernatural mooks with just a bat and a revolver. Enchantress herself is more of a problem.
Batter Up!:
- She carries a baseball bat around as her signature melee weapon in Suicide Squad. "Good Night" is written on it in promotional material, while the movie itself has Joker's speech from Joker's Favor scrawled on it.
- She still uses a bat in Birds of Prey, during her attack on the GCPD headquarters to get to Cassandra Cain, one that's made of aluminum this time around. Just before the Final Battle, Harley lets Black Canary use the wooden bat she keeps at the Gotham Amusement Mile while she uses her mallet instead.
- During the warehouse scene in Birds of Prey, she comes across a chainsaw, a katana and a baseball bat. She chooses the bat without any hesitation.
Being Tortured Makes You Evil: She was a relatively sane psychiatrist before she was seduced by the Joker, and some flashbacks in the film show her being tortured by him.
Berserk Button: She hates it when people assume she's dumb, and will violently attack them while reminding them that she has a PhD.
Beware the Silly Ones: She may be a goofy, bubbly ditz dressed like a harlequin, but she's still a dangerous murderer that can slaughter trained combatants with ease.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: Her firearm is a .357 Magnum Chiappa Rhino with white grips and gold decorations.
Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: Well, engagement dress. Once suitably torn to allow for movement, it becomes her defaut outfit for the climax of The Suicide Squad.
A Boy and His X: She adopts a male hyena in Birds of Prey.
Breakout Character: The character had a resounding success among audiences when Suicide Squad came out. It allowed Margot Robbie to take the lead in the production of a Birds of Prey movie, in which Harley has a much more prominent role than she had in Suicide Squad, and it also ensured she came back in The Suicide Squad (though her character isn't given as much focus).
Broken Tears: She shows this side more in Birds of Prey, the first time when she drunkenly confesses to Dinah that she's broken up with the Joker for good. The second time was when she realizes that Doc sold her out.
Brooklyn Rage: She's a violent criminal with a Brooklyn accent (although at least in her first appearance it lapses into Australian at points), which Margot Robbie says is inspired by famous Brooklynite actress Lorraine Bracco.
But Not Too Bi: A brief instance in Harley's younger days as shown in Birds of Prey reveals that she's had at least one love interest who was a woman. Said woman looks similar to Poison Ivy.
Card-Carrying Villain: Her justification for smashing a shop window and stealing a handbag during the mission in Suicide Squad.
Rick Flag: The hell is wrong with you people?!
Harley: We're bad guys. It's what we do.
Carry a Big Stick: Harley's mallet makes a short appearance in Suicide Squad. She uses it to kick ass aplenty in the climax of Birds of Prey.
Character Development: In The Suicide Squad, once Luna gives off blatant bad signs by revealing that he's willing to hurt a child, she immediately shoots him to avoid being in love with men like him. Quite a far cry from when she first fell in love with the Joker and also shows that her bond with Cassandra really helped make her a less terrible person.
Chewing the Scenery: An important part of the character is her being theatrical.
Combat Pragmatist: Played to the max in Bird of Prey. She uses whatever is nearby if it gives her an edge such as her fight at the police station. She uses the jail cells and doors to slam into the inmates, spin and leap off of, as well as using as many items in the evidence room as weapons like a bowling ball, aluminum baseball bat, cocaine and a lighter. She even manages to use a phone as a weapon.
Combat Stilettos:
- In Suicide Squad. And ones Margot Robbie said the pain they caused was only matched by how badass they look.
- Averted in The Suicide Squad where she wears boots.
Cool Bike: Her bike is a Harley Davidson Street 750.
Costume Evolution:
- Harley sports new outfits in Birds of Prey, notably a pair of pompons as shoulders during most of the film as well as a pair of golden overalls in the climax. They are overall more modest than in Suicide Squad.
- Her main outfit (which is mostly made of red and black leather) in The Suicide Squad resembles what she wore in Injustice 2.
Critical Psychoanalysis Failure: She was in charge of the Joker at the Arkham Asylum, and she became his lover and a psycho herself.
Cute and Psycho: Her adorable appearance is matched by her psychotic tendencies. As warden Griggs puts out, she's "a whole lot of pretty in a whole lot of crazy".
Dance Battler: Birds of Prey establishes this as her preferred battle style. Her gymnastic proclivities aren't exactly absent in Suicide Squad, but in Birds of Prey, she actively makes frequent use of such talents in combat.
Dark Action Girl: A woman who takes pride in her villainous antics and despite her size can take out several people in a room by her lonesome.
Deadpan Snarker: She makes a lot of witty remarks for her own amusement and just to see if she can get under someone's skin. She also doesn't hold back when she psychoanalyzes someone.
Didn't Think This Through: She sometimes has an idea for a plan going in, but doesn't think about the consequences of her actions or what to do if things don't exactly go her way. Most of the time she's pretty much winging it.
Disabled in the Adaptation: While she might've been joking, she made a comment about hearing voices in her head, something the other versions of Harley never dealt with.
Ditzy Genius: Birds of Prey consistently depicts her as intelligent and erudite (traits that were merely hinted at in the previous film). All the neurological and psychological damage she's undoubtedly endured mean that she's still forgetful, rash, and easily distracted, however.
Drowning My Sorrows: Drowning and eating her sorrows away at the beginning of Birds of Prey after she splits with the Joker.
Dumb Blonde: Averted. She gets mad when others call her dumb and she broke a guy's legs because of it.
Harley: Don't call me dumb. I have a PhD, motherfucker.
Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Harley's as madly in love with the Joker as ever. She also forms a close relationship with Deadshot and genuinely considers the rest of the Suicide Squad her friends. Even Enchantress can't get her to betray them.
- In Birds of Prey she absolutely adores her pet hyena Bruce and was beyond heartbroken when she thinks he got killed in the explosion. At the end of the film, Bruce is alive and was apparently roaming around Chinatown.
- She also loves Doc, a restaurateur with extensive knowledge of (but no real involvement in) Gotham's criminal world, like family. This is why she undergoes a quietly simmering Villainous Breakdown when she learns that he's sold her out, though in hindsight their relationship — Harley being a Batman Rogues Gallery fixture and Doc being a civilian — was always precarious anyway.
Even Evil Has Standards: She is particularly disgusted and even enraged when Diablo doesn't own up to the accidental murder of his kids. Though it could also just be projected guilt, as in this continuity, she was complicit in the murder of Robin. In The Suicide Squad, she kills Luna when he admits he has no qualms on killing children which, given this is after Harley has bonded with Cassandra, makes sense.
Even the Girls Want Her: When everyone in the squad is gearing up, Harley is busy putting on her hot pants and shirt, causing all of the soldiers around her — both male and female — to stop and stare.
Evil Virtues: Loyalty and Love. If you show Harley Quinn genuine kindness and earn her respect, you will be family to her, and she will love you, care for you, and go through fire, water, and Hell itself to protect you. Not even a veritable goddess like The Enchantress can stand up to her wrath when she threatened Task Force X, whom she has come to love like thus. Birds of Prey showcases it further in the way she interacts with the soon-to-be Birds of Prey and especially Cassandra. In The Suicide Squad, she is shown to have become good friends with Captain Boomerang since their first mission together and is genuinely distraught over his death, and if you pay attention to the background in a later scene, she immediately jumps to help Nanaue after his “new dumb friends” turn out to be carnivorous and attempt to maul him to death.
Expository Hairstyle Change: After splitting up with the Joker, Harley chops her pigtails down, resulting in a scruffier hairdo. Her hair has grown out by the time she rejoins the Suicide Squad.
Faux Affably Evil: While Harley can be a serious threat, that mostly seems to apply to people who have deliberately crossed her. She's pretty friendly most of the time. That said, she's prone to suddenly screwing people over with a smile, even when they haven't done anything wrong to her, if it results in some benefit for her.
Feet-First Introduction: In her old Harleen Quinzel identity. The first camera shot of her before her transformation starts with her stiletto-heeled feet doing a Supermodel Strut, suggesting (since that isn't even a little bit appropriate for a prison psychologist!) that she's already not quite right. Birds of Prey gives this sadder context, with the "already not quite right" bit most likely being her desperate for love and attention thanks to her background as a child abused by adults (her father, the nuns at the Catholic school, etc.).
The Friend Nobody Likes: A class 5, as it turns out that just about everyone in the Gotham underworld hates Harley's guts, but they had to put up with her bullshit because she was the Joker's girlfriend and they were all terrified of him. As soon as they learn she's been dumped by Mr. J, they all feel free to take revenge on her. The regulars on Task Force X seem to like her, though.
The Gadfly: She's this in Suicide Squad where she pretends to psychoanalyze Killer Croc and makes fun of him, causing him to feint a punch which she giggles at. When Dead Shot asks why she's messing with people who would kill her without a moment's hesitation, she grumbles that she's bored and wants someone to play with, pick apart and spit in their skull. She still has shades of these in Birds of Prey if her long list of grievances against Roman Sionis is anything to go off of.
Gallows Humor: Her Bond One-Liner after Slipknot got his head blown off.
Harley: Now that's killer app!
Gasshole: Two of the grievances Roman Sionis has against her are "burped the alphabet" and "ripped a loud one."
Girlish Pigtails: Dons this hairstyle for most of Suicide Squad and thus highlights the immaturity caused by her craziness. Before she met the Joker, she had a more professional look. She shortens said pigtails in Birds of Prey, but they've grown back by the time she's drafted back into the Suicide Squad.
Go-Go Enslavement: Before she joins Silvio Luna at his mansion, he orders her to put on a red, ballgown-esque flamenco dress, and has his stylists do her hair and makeup. Harley isn't thrilled with the makeover—until she sees the result.
"I'm a princess..."
Groin Attack: She delivers plenty of these during Birds of Prey.
Guys Smash, Girls Shoot: Inverted when teaming up with Floyd Lawton/Deadshot. Deadshot avoids melee combat where possible and favours ranged weapons, while Harley relishes the chance to knock heads with her baseball bat and uses her revolver at close range only.
Hallway Fight: Engages in one as she flees her erstwhile paramour.
Handy Feet: The Suicide Squad shows that her legs and feet are acrobatically limber and flexible enough to work as a second pair of arms, which comes in handy when her hands are chained to the ceiling and she needs to snag some keys to free herself.
Hated by All: Birds of Prey shows that she's pissed off enough people in Gotham City to have someone trying to kill her at nearly every corner.
Hearing Voices: She claims to hear voices that encourage her to kill her guards, then says she was kidding, and adds they actually said something different. While this is probably just Harley playing up her reputation to weird them out, it can't be discarded that she hears voices for real. There are a couple of moments in Birds of Prey where, as in the Connor/Palmiotti comic run that the film is heavily influenced by, she seems to hear her stuffed beaver talking to her.
Heartbroken Badass:
- When the Joker appears to have died, she goes from Laughing Mad to Stepford Smiler; her (seeming) agreement to the Enchantress' service is that she "lost [her] Puddin', but [Enchantress] can bring him back". When Joker shows up to break her out, we manage to get a heartwarming moment from two of the biggest criminals in Gotham.
- She's a mess after breaking up with the Joker in Birds of Prey, but then she gets to kick ass several times over the course of the film, including alongside the ragtag gang of women she joins to fight Black Mask's army.
Hidden Depths:
- When the Enchantress uses her power on Harley to see her most desired dream comes true, it's her living a normal family life with the Joker (yes, both of them as completely normal human beings, and not in their insane criminal personas), with two children to boot, suggesting that deep down, she might still wish to lead a normal life devoid of craziness and violence with the man she loves.
- Despite being the Joker's lover and accomplice, she comes off as quite heroic in the climax, when she could have run away easily (though the apparent death of the Joker probably helped her to go back to the only other people who meant something for her).
- Despite being nuts, she's still able to use her psychiatric credentials to throw off Black Mask with an uncomfortably accurate analysis of his daddy issues. Later, she gives Huntress advice about letting go of her need for revenge. As she herself notes when called dumb, "I have a PHD, motherfucker!".
- That she voted for Bernie Sanders, let alone voted at all, is quite surprising.
Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Harley's dad traded her for a 6-pack of beer. When she escaped and made her way back home, he ditched her at a boarding school where the nuns would beat her. Showing the whole thing as a Looney Tune-style cartoon is what keeps it from being too dark to be funny.
Hospital Hottie: She was a therapist for The Joker before he turned her insane, and her attractiveness is noted several times in-universe.
Iconic Outfit:
- Her look in Suicide Squad was probably the most imitated in cosplays for the year 2016. It is inspired by a look◊ Debbie Harry sported in 1976. She later upgrades to a Darker and Edgier version that's made of leather, has black segments instead of blue and overall has a more tactical design.
- In a very brief flashback in Suicide Squad, she is seen wearing her iconic harlequin costume, recreating the famous cover art of Batman: Harley Quinn by Alex Ross.
- In her Imagine Spot in Birds of Prey, she's seen wearing that in her summation of Joker up to that point.
I Just Want to Be Loved: As a child, she kept on trying to win over a father that constantly tried to get rid of her. This resulted in a string of dysfunctional relationships in later life. Harley also narrates that finding love wasn't easy as she apparently went through three relationships that ended in heartbreak for her. The iteration of the Joker that this Harley was in love with literally electrocuted her as just one way of manipulating her into "loving" him, so it's safe to say the Joker/Harley relationship was the worst of all.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Offers two sides, saying to Diablo it is impossible for them ("Normal is a setting on a dishwasher! Not something for people like us!") yet the vision she has while entranced by Enchantress has Harley and Joker without the Evil Makeover, Happily Married in a regular household.
Important Haircut: She chops off her long pigtails at the beginning of Birds of Prey signifying her cutting off her past from the Joker.
Improbable Weapon User:
- She uses a beanbag gun when storming the GCPD, and is very effective with it.
- In The Suicide Squad she tears off a piece of her dress to use as a garrote.
Inappropriate Role Model: Cass looks up to Harley, even though the latter is hardly someone to look up to, her Hidden Depths buried in Ax-Crazy villainy. Just as a taste, Harley's "first lesson" for Cass is robbing a grocery shop, and not even with finesse.
Innocent Fanservice Girl: She changes into her Stripperiffic outfit as everyone, including the women, are watching, and is confused when they are distracted.
I Surrender, Suckers: In the climax of Suicide Squad, she appears to be giving up her loyalty to Enchantress, but was getting close enough to cut out her heart to weaken her.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold:
- A sadistic and violent supervillain and accomplice of the Joker, though she does grow genuinely fond of her fellow teammates of Task Force X, referring to them as her friends right before cutting out Enchantress' heart. She also deeply loves the Joker, and as a hallucination sequence shows, wishes to raise a family with him.
- In Birds of Prey she openly admits to Cassandra that she's not a good person. But when Cassandra's life is in danger and the other women assemble to help, she's willing to go the extra mile for the kid and the two leave together.
Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: In The Suicide Squad she spends most of the film fighting in a beautiful (if progressively damaged) flamenco dress. Subverted in that she grabs a pair of combat boots, averting the usual stilettos (they come in handy for kicking doors in people's faces).
The Lad-ette: She has a foul mouth and a crude sense of humor, proudly belches and farts, and talks openly about her bathroom habits.
Large Ham: As any wacky villain needs to be, she has a large presence.
Leaning on the Fourth Wall: She sometimes addresses the audience, says stuff from her narration out loud, and when interrogating Cassandra she even looks at the camera in frustration.
Leg Focus: Both Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey introduce Harley with a pan up her legs.
Love Interest: Of the Joker. So much that he conceives an elaborate plan to get her back. They break up later on, however.
Love Makes You Crazy: Helped the Joker escape Arkham and later consented to being tortured so she could join him in his insanity. This means it doubles as Love Makes You Evil.
Mad Love: True to form, her relationship with Joker. By her own description, being with Joker made her lose all sense of who she was, to the point where her entire life revolved utterly around him.
Made of Iron: Harley can withstand hours of torture and still be battle-ready in an instant.^note
Mama Bear: To Cassandra Cain. Lay a finger on her and Harley Quinn will make you see who has the last laugh.
Motor Mouth: In Birds of Prey, she can talk a lot when she's stalling or just trying to annoy someone as seen when Sionis tries to torture her but she goes on a long rant about how predictable his motives are as she diagnoses him.
Ms. Fanservice: Harley's glittery hotpants don't leave much to the imagination. She's also seen bending a lot and likes pole dancing. She is very much a Male Gaze magnet. This is downplayed a good deal on purpose in Birds of Prey. Aside from anything else, she's played by Margot "Frickin'" Robbie.
Murderous Thighs: Harley uses a combination of this and slick gymnastics to escape a strappado bind.
Multiple-Choice Past: The film offers two different suggestions as to what caused her madness. It may have been being (with consent) tortured with electroshock machinery, or it may have been taking a dive into a vault of acid. It may even have started during her therapy sessions with the Joker, since she brings him an AK-47 at his request.
Nonconformist Dyed Hair: The playful and mentally unstable Harley Quinn has blonde hair dyed pink/red at the ends, like her comic book counterpart.
Nothing Personal: She tries to use this excuse when choosing to "trade" Cassandra for Black Mask's promise that he won't send half of the city after her.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: With her flamboyant and friendly personality, it's easy to forget that Harley is involved in Robin's murder.^note
Odd Friendship: Genuinely thinks of Rick Flag as a friend despite him being a government agent that is authorized to kill her. His death breaks her heart.
One-Woman Army: Harley's shown to be able to singlehandedly slaughter the entire garrison of a Corto Maltese secret police prison, even after enduring hours of torture. There's a reason why Amanda Waller considers her more dangerous than the Joker.
The Ophelia: She has an almost childlike, peaceful serenity surrounding her when she's in her cell, and is quite an Ax-Crazy Cloudcuckoolander.
Outlaw Couple: Harley and the Joker were lovers and partners in crime for some time.
Harley: [shooting Batman during a high-speed chase] You're ruining date night!
Perpetual Smiler: Harley's almost always grinning, laughing, or otherwise acting cheerful. If she stops smiling for even a moment, it's a sign that Harley's really upset, or that the situation is truly dire.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She is tiny compared to the other members of the Suicide Squad. That doesn't stop her from beating the living crap out of men twice her size with her bare hands or lifting a full grown man of the ground with nothing but her legs while hanging from the ceiling. She also takes some pretty hard hits in every movie with little trouble getting back up, usually immediately.
Playing Possum:
- When Batman rescues her from drowning, he gives her mouth-to-mouth and she reveals she was faking it when she starts kissing him.
- Pretends to pass out from torture. Then one of her torturers leaves...
Practically Joker: A criminal prone to committing acts of extreme violence, constantly smiling as she very brutally mows down enemies with gleeful joy and doing it mainly for the sake of it, engaging in madcap antics, and as the cherry on top, is actually considered much more dangerous than even the Joker. Yeah. Harley Quinn definitely fits the bill as the DCEU's own version of the Clown Prince of Crime, ironically even more so than the real deal.
Primary-Color Champion: Subverted.
- In Suicide Squad Harley wears red and blue with gold accessories, despite being a crazed criminal.
- Harley wears a lot more colours in Birds of Prey, but the dominant ones are pink and gold.
- In The Suicide Squad Harley gets a dress that's bright red.
Princess for a Day: Actually lampshades this as she is led up to be proposed to by Luna.
Psycho Party Member: One of the most dangerous and mentally unstable members of both teams she joins.
Psychopathic Womanchild: Shades of this were already present in Suicide Squad, but this is especially pronounced in Birds of Prey. While she is capable of being mature and is rather intelligent, her general demeanor is of someone about as young as Cassandra (which might be why they hit it off so well). She loves glitter, eats sugary cereals regularly, and once got emotional about losing a bacon-and-egg sandwich.^note She just so happens to be a criminal who is willing to lash out violently at anyone who makes her angry.
Psycho Psychologist: She lampshades this when she pretends to psychoanalyze Killer Croc and Katana, saying she feels "bored" and wants "a victim, a mind to pry apart and spit in".
Punny Name: Play on "harlequin".
The Queenpin: She used to rule the Gotham underworld alongside Joker until their breakup.
Red Is Violent: Harley's signature colour, matched up with either black or blue. She had at least two outfits that were half-red when she was recruited for the first Suicide Squad and has another two on her latest mission. Harley also wears a red and black roller derby outfit in Birds of Prey. As the number of enemies she's made can attest, Harley is a card-carrying sadist.
Refuge in Audacity: Harley isn't stupid (as she herself bitterly mutters — "I have a PhD, motherfucker"), she's just a lunatic. As a result, most of her wicked shenanigans hinge on sheer nerve and luck.
Revolvers Are Just Better: Harley carries a .357 Magnum Chiappa Rhino with white grips and gold decorations.
Rollerblade Good: During the final battle with Roman's men in Birds of Prey. She ditches them before facing off against Roman himself on the pier.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: The Joker comes to get her back with technology to neutralize her Explosive Leash and she happily jumps on the occasion. Too bad it's a Short-Lived Aerial Escape.
Slasher Smile:
- Dons one◊ after happily saying to Deadshot the mission will probably have them kill people.
- Adopts a positively Puddin'-esue one upon "awakening" from her fake bout of unconsciousness, her would-be torturer none the wiser.
Smarter Than You Look:
- She earned degrees in psychology and used to be a doctor, even though she doesn't act like it most of the time. She'll even break your legs for calling her dumb.
- Demonstrated in Suicide Squad after a Flashback to the chemical immersion she was put through by the Joker, she has a brief conversation with Deadshot about love and labels him a "textbook sociopath" at his response.
- When's she's prisoner of Roman Sionis, she makes a very accurate diagnosis of his psyche.
The Smurfette Principle: Only woman among the recruited criminals of Task Force X. Though not in the Squad (Katana) and Task Force X as a whole (Waller is the leader) and Enchantress was supposed to be on the Squad as well. In The Suicide Squad she's part of Two Girls to a Team with Ratcatcher II, after Mongal dies in the opening assault.
The Sociopath: Narrowly averted. While she is very violent and psycho, she is not incapable of feeling love or showing compassion, and does care about her teammates as well as Bruce.
Sole Survivor: In The Suicide Squad, she and and Flagg are the only members of Team A who aren't killed on the beach in Corto Maltese. Then Flagg is killed by Peacemaker near the climax of the film leaving her the only one left. Subverted when Weasel is revealed to be alive after he supposedly drowned in The Stinger.
Stepford Smiler:
- She's obviously heartbroken when she thinks that the Joker perished but in the moment the rest of the Squad finds her, she starts acting like her usual self despite being heartbroken. She drops the act after hearing Diablo's backstory.
- In the next Suicide Squad movie Harley gives an anecdote on why she kills her ex-boyfriends before leaving them. Her last partner (strongly impled to be the Joker) stalked her and made her life hell. Nevertheless Harley keeps her spirits high.
Street Smart: She says that she knows the East End better than anyone, and once found a missing portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt in a bird's nest.
Superior Successor: Presumably becomes one to Javelin in The Suicide Squad since she used his Javelin effectively as a melee weapon when escaping a Corto Maltesian prison and later stabbed a Kaiju to death with it. While we never really saw Javelin in action the fact that he was considered C-List Fodder in universe and out implies he never achieved such impressive feats.
Super Not-Drowning Skills: Shows up twice—when she falls into a vat of chemicals to show her devotion to the Joker and when he drives his car into the harbor with Harley as a passenger. Funnily enough, she claims she can't swim.
Take Up My Sword: Harley is on the receiving end of this when a dying Javelin hands her his namesake, though at first she has no idea what it means.
Tattooed Crook: She has lots of tattoos, though they're not as conspicuous as the Joker's.
Team Mom:
- She has shades of this when encouraging El Diablo or when she serves drinks to comfort the Task Force X at the bar in Suicide Squad.
- In the climax of Birds of Prey, she's not quite the leader but encourages the women assembled there to team up to stand a chance against Black Mask's army and protect Cassandra Cain. She's also genuinely friendly to them and even gives some psychological advice to Huntress.
Through the Eyes of Madness: Every film she's appeared in has had moments like this.
- In Suicide Squad Harley looks down a stairwell and has a sudden flashback to when she jumped into a vat of chemicals.
- In Birds of Prey Harley takes a blow to the head and has a Marilyn Monroe-style fantasy.
- In The Suicide Squad Harley envisions flowers blossoming out of thin air.
Token Evil Teammate: For the Birds of Prey. While the other three members are flawed, they're still fighting for justice while Harley is just trying to cover her ass. Then at the end of their first adventure Harley pilfers the diamond they were trying to obtain.
Too Kinky to Torture: Thanks to being tortured into insanity by the Joker, conventional methods of torture no longer work on her and even apparently amuse her, as shown by General Suarez's torture of her by high-powered taser.
Toxic Friend Influence: She's this to Cassandra. Even giving her a list of things she could do to be like her that are definitely not legal.
Trademark Favorite Food: She really loves her bacon-and-egg sandwiches, to the point where she goes out of her way to protect one during a chase scene and is completely devastated when she loses it.
Troll: The quote above shows she's not above using her insanity just to mess with the people around her.
Undying Loyalty: For the Joker in Suicide Squad. She'll partake in any crimes with him, submit to any treatment by him, and by her confession live and die for him. However, after getting dumped by him in Birds of Prey, Harley moves on with her life without even trying to return to him.
Ungrateful Bitch: A flashback shows that her reaction to Batman diving underwater to try and save her from drowning is to try and kill him with a knife.
Unlimited Wardrobe: In Birds of Prey she has a large assortment of outfits that she wears throughout the movie, about nine in total.
Unreliable Narrator: When Harley narrates in Birds of Prey, she often forgets about important events, so she has to backtrack, telling the story out of order.
Villainous Crush: An ironic example - she named her pet hyena after Bruce Wayne because she finds him to be a Hunk, all the while not knowing that he's Batman.
Villainous Friendship: With Captain Boomerang, made apparent by the opening of The Suicide Squad where they seem genuinely happy to see each other on their new mission. Harley is clearly distraught when she witnesses his death.
Villainous Harlequin: In the flesh; her main getup makes her this.
Villains Out Shopping: Birds of Prey shows her enjoying many mundane activities in between her criminal hijinks, which she's presumably allowed to get away with because her reputation as a supervillain (or at least a supervillain's former accomplice) makes for an impressive Sword of Damocles. She gets drunk with friends at night clubs, gets food at local restaurants (whom she's consistently nice to), and participates in Roller Derby. When getting laxatives for Cassandra, she also shops for her actual groceries, at least until she decides to shoplift them for ripping her off.
Virtuous Character Copy: With the Joker being largely Demoted to Extra within the DCEU, Harley is more or less the DCEU's answer to The Joker but she's usually a Heroic Comedic Sociopath, Villain Protagonist who's been shown to be capable of empathy and forming genuine friendships.
Vot Ocksent?: Despite her six-foot-thick Brooklyn Rage dialect, Harley seems to believe that Americans don't have accents at all, as she explains to Javelin while commenting on his sexy German accent.
Whole Costume Reference: Harley's costume from Suicide Squad is taken from an old publicity photo◊ of punk rocker Debbie Harry.
Widowed at the Wedding: Well, engagement. Harley shoots her fiancee dead about 5 minutes after accepting his proposal when he mentions killing kids, describing that as one of her red flags.
Worthy Opponent: In Birds of Prey (2020), she seems to regard Renee Montoya as this, as there are multiple times when she has her at her mercy and could just finish her off, but allows her to recover or retreat.

Robin II

Jason Todd

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Appearances: Suicide Squad^notementioned in file

After Killer Croc murdered his parents, Jason decided to become the new Robin to avenge them.

Alternate Self: Has one on Earth-9 and Earth-203.
Ambiguous Situation: Due to Flip-Flop of God not firmly establishing whether the Robin Joker killed was Dick or Jason and him not being mentioned by Bruce, at the moment it can be assumed that Jason became Robin on his own without any help from Bruce.
Composite Character: While there's no evidence of him reaching out to Bruce, him choosing to become Robin instead of being recruited by Bruce makes him similar to Tim Drake.
Decomposite Character: His role of being killed by the Joker was seemingly given to Dick Grayson.
The Ghost: His name and ties to Killer Croc are only revealed in a Freeze-Frame Bonus where his name is shown in Waller's file about Croc.

Cassandra Cain

"You're not the only one who makes money off of dumb, rich, white people."

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Ella Jay Basco

Voiced By: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese dub)

Appearances: Birds of Prey

"I don't know what the fuck is going on, but this shitstick just tried to gut me!"

A pre-teen whose habit of pickpocketing things ends up putting a bounty on her head.

Abled in the Adaptation: Her comics counterpart has social and speech disabilities as a result of her abusive upbringing. This Cass is a charismatic motormouth.
Adaptational Early Appearance: Cass wasn't introduced until 1999, and compared to other members of the Bat-family with many decades of history under their belt, she's a relative newcomer. Yet here, she's the first member of the Batfamily we'll see onscreen besides Batman or Alfred (provided she even joins it later on). This means she appears before any of the Robins, the other Batgirls, Catwoman, Azrael, and not to mention the many other characters associated with the Batman mythos or the DCU in general.
Adaptational Villainy: Instead of a vigilante ally to Batman, she is now a pickpocket and associate of Harley Quinn, even breaking the strong moral code the character had in the comics. Though Cass did steal in the comics, it was when she was homeless and needed to survive (and at one point to mess with Two-Face) while here it seems to be either a compulsion or because she wants attention.
Adaptational Wimp: The comic book version of Cass is an even greater fighter than Batman, and has so much Charles Atlas Superpower she's a serious contender for the title of World's Best Warrior (her closest competition being her own mother, Lady Shiva). In the movie she constantly needs protection and barely throws a punch.
Adaptation Personality Change: There's so much differences with how she is portrayed in the comics that she veers into In Name Only territory.
Age Lift: Cassandra was 16 when she became a superhero in the comics, and turned 18 at the beginning of her first solo run, but is played by a 12-year old actress in the film.
Alliterative Name: Cassandra Cain.
The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest of the group, and one of the reasons the others end up working together is in order to protect her.
Chekhov's Gun: She takes a couple of grenades from Harley's goodie box, and plants one on Black Mask after showing Harley she took "her ring". This ends in his body being exploded into pieces after Harley kicks him off the pier.
Composite Character: While she has the name and ethnicity of Cassandra Cain, she has more in common with Catwoman's own sidekick Holly Robinson.
- Her background of streetwise urchin being picked up by an older vigilante(s) also has shades of Jason Todd.
- Her connection with Black Canary, and her role as child in need of protection, brings to mind Sin.
Damsel in Distress: Since she doesn't have the fighting ability of her comics counterpart she gets nabbed a lot in the movie, leading the other women to save her.
Eat the Evidence: After being arrested, Cassandra swallows the diamond she stole off Victor Zsasz while she is in the back of the patrol car.
Escape Artist: She shows Harley that she had been uncuffed for quite some time without her noticing.
Foster Kid: When Dinah tells her not to listen to whatever crap her parents are yelling, Cassandra quickly corrects her by calling them her foster parents.
Grenade Tag: Cassandra uses her pickpocketing skills in reverse to kill Roman by planting a grenade on him.
In Name Only: Cassandra Cain as portrayed in Birds of Prey only shares her name with her comic book counterpart and nothing else. She speaks normally and doesn't know how to fight, whereas the comic book version of her was forced to forgo all her language skills to become a living weapon (to the extent she has difficulty reading the alphabet). She also has nothing in common with her in terms of backstory, personality, ethnic background, appearance, abilities, narrative function, or even age.
Non-Action Guy: Simply put, she doesn't know how to fight.
Noodle Incident: Cassandra is seen wearing an orthopedic cast on her left arm (which she uses to hide cash that she stole from other people's wallets) but how she broke her arm is never explained. As she's a frequent pickpocket, it's possible it came from someone who hurt her arm when they found hers in their pocket, or it came at the hands of her Abusive Parents.
Parental Neglect: When Dinah/Black Canary comes home (they're neighbors), Cassie is sitting in the building's stairs, waiting for her foster parents to stop yelling at each other.
Percussive Pickpocket: How she got on Black Mask's bad side was by stealing a very important diamond out of Victor's pocket.
Pineapple Surprise: Cassandra is being held hostage by Black Mask with a knife to her head. She apologizes to Harley and tells her that she stole something off her: her ring. The two are briefly confused until she reveals the pin ring of a grenade she took from Harley's stash, and everyone immediately realizes that she just slipped a live one onto Black Mask. As he panics searching for it, Harley grabs Cassandra and knocks him off the pier. He explodes before he hits the water.
Recognition Failure: One has to wonder if it's chalked up to her age or lack of direct contact with supervillainous crime, but despite living in Gotham, Cassandra only recognizes Harley as "that psycho from the roller derby" and not as a supervillain. Even more glaringly, she has no idea who the Joker is.
Sir Swears-a-Lot: She swears a lot for a kid her age, but Harley doesn't seem to care much.
Shoplifting: Cassandra Cain is a kleptomaniac teenager who is proficient in stealing wallets, watches and jewelry without getting caught. Harley also commits this at a grocery store, but only because she felt the store was ripping her off in the first place ($6 for a jar of cucumber water).
Swallow the Key: What she ended up doing with the diamond she stole. Unfortunately, now she's targeted by everyone because they have to cut her up to get said diamond.
Tagalong Kid: She ends up becoming this once all of the other women team up.
Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Cass is a potty-mouthed pickpocket, she's been arrested enough times for Renee to know her, she and Harley rob a grocery store, and she outright kills at least two people. Later when all the girls are having breakfast she tries to have a Margarita but Renee stops her. Harley expects that she drinks alcohol.
Two First Names: Per a DC Comics habit. Cain is traditionally a male given name.
What Happened to the Mouse?: What became of her when Harley was recaptured prior to The Suicide Squad is unknown.

Black Canary I

Species: Metahuman

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Gotham City Police Department

Appearances: Birds of Prey (mentioned)

"Back in the day she used to help the GCPD. She was a good woman."

—Renee Montoya

Dinah Lance's deceased mother and a vigilante that worked with the GCPD.

Alternate Self: Has one on Earth-Prime, Earth-66, Earth-167 and Earth-203.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: She worked on the side of law and order, but the Gotham police didn't protect her from getting killed. This causes Dinah to have a strong distrust of cops.
Posthumous Character: She's long dead by the present day.
Precursor Heroes: She was active years before the Justice League officially formed, possibly even before Bruce Wayne became Batman.
Super-Scream: Dinah inherited her Canary Cry from her mother.
Token Super: A metahuman who operated in a city where the hero and villain populations are predominantly Badass Normal.

Characters / DCEU: Gotham Vigilantes

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Bat-Family

Richard "Dick" Grayson

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Wayne Family

Appearances: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice note Suit only | Zack Snyder's Justice League note Suit in the Knightmare only

Birds of Prey

Appearances: Birds of Prey

Dinah Laurel Lance / Black Canary II

Species: Metahuman

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Black Mask's Gang, Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Jurnee Smollett

Appearances: Birds of Prey | Black Canary

Helena Bertinelli / Huntress

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Appearances: Birds of Prey

Renee Montoya

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Gotham City Police Department, Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Rosie Perez

Appearances: Birds of Prey

Others

Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Joker's Gang, Task Force X ("Suicide Squad"), Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Margot Robbie

Appearances: Suicide Squad | Birds of Prey | The Suicide Squad

Other appearances: Suicide Blonde | Secret Files of the Suicide Squad

Jason Todd

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Appearances: Suicide Squadnote mentioned in file

Cassandra Cain

Species: Human

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Birds of Prey

Portrayed By: Ella Jay Basco

Voiced By: Kana Hanazawa (Japanese dub)

Appearances: Birds of Prey

Black Canary I

Species: Metahuman

Citizenship: American

Affiliation(s): Gotham City Police Department

Appearances: Birds of Prey (mentioned)

Alternative Title(s): DCEU Harley Quinn

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Appearances: Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ^note Suit only | Zack Snyder's Justice League ^note Suit in the Knightmare only

Appearances: Suicide Squad^notementioned in file