James Gunn once affirmed that Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn would return after The Suicide Squad, but ever since he became the co-CEO of DC Studios, the Superman director has become far quieter, prompting Robbie to explain that she's "heard nothing" from him or DC Studios. It's unclear at this point whether the actress will ever return, but at least a new promotional video hasn't forgotten her.
Despite the silence surrounding Margot Robbie's possible return to the DCU, a new HBO Max promotional video featuring DC movies and shows has been released, highlighting the actress and her character. Not only that, but she was shown alongside David Corenswet's Superman.
In this 16-second promo, HBO Max rapidly intercuts among various characters from movies and shows across its DC catalog over the years, using a series of match cuts as Gesaffelstein's "Opr" plays over it. One such cut showed Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn yelling in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad and a sullen David Corenswet in Superman.
Another cut includes DC Studios' first animated series, Creature Commandos, as well as Peacemaker, with a screaming Bride screaming and stoic Christopher Smith from the opening of his series.
Even shows that have long since ended, such as Lanterns co-creator Damon Lindelof's Watchmen, made an appearance in this promo. As the eyes of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Doctor Manhattan (who later jumped ship to Marvel) are cut to replace the eyes and face of Milly Alcock's Kara Zor-El in Supergirl.
And other series that are still ongoing, such as Lauren LeFranc's The Penguin, get a spotlight over the same Supergirl footage, showing off Cristin Milioti's Sofia Falcone.
The full promo can be viewed below:
Could Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn Possibly Return?
It's abundantly clear that DC still views Harley Quinn as one of their most prominent characters, going so far as to do something as minor as updating her logo all across social media, but it stands to reason that the character no longer has any further prominence in the DCU itself. In an earnings call with Warner Bros. CEO David Zaslav, he named four superheroes who would serve as the core for DC Studios moving forward, and Harley Quinn wasn't one of them.
On top of that, the chances of her return become slimmer and slimmer by the year, especially after recent reports of Zaslav refusing to give salary increases and back-end profit deals to Margot Robbie and the rest of the Barbie production for a sequel (via Variety). Something that could sour her relationship with the studio after she's finished with the Ocean's Eleven prequel. After all, she was already in David Ayer's Suicide Squad before she returned in Gunn's sequel.
A salary increase would be almost inevitable for her coming back, and Zaslav might just be stingy enough to let her interpretation of the character be replaced in the DCU. That is, if Andy Muschietti's Batman: The Brave and the Bold bothers to adapt the character or her former boss into this new universe, delaying the inevitability of her being replaced.
