DC's latest version of Harley Quinn isn't attached to any man, including the Joker, in Batman: Caped Crusader.
All 10 episodes of the new Amazon Prime Video animated series dropped on August 1. It tells a retro story of Bruce Wayne and Batman taking on a new villain each episode with several overarching narratives.
One of the most noteworthy characters is Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who is later seen as the one and only Harley Quinn. In an exciting twist from past lore, Dr. Quinzel works as Bruce's psychiatrist and is presented initially as a thoughtful character who cares about his mental health while also understanding that he's hiding something.
While Caped Crusader has been described as a re-telling of famous Batman stories, the changes to Harley Quinn go beyond her representation as an Asian American.
New Harley Quinn Explains Life Without the Joker
During a roundtable event for Batman: Caped Crusader at San Diego Comic-Con, Harley Quinn voice actress Jamie Chung described her iteration as "a feminist role:"
"Well, I mean, I kind of love the fact that it's, it's kind of a feminist role, I guess you could say."
She further explained that the creators, including Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series), "really flipped the switch" not having Harley attached to the Joker, also adding that she loves the fact that "her pure existence...doesn't revolve around a man:"
"But I love that her pure existence, like you said, doesn't revolve around a man. You know, I think they really flipped the switch with that, but I kind of loved hearing the origin story of her becoming, you know, a psychiatrist, and learning the ins and outs. I mean, that's pretty common, right?"
In Caped Crusader, audiences get to see Dr. Harleen Quinzel before meeting her alter ego. Chung explained that fans "get to understand why she does the work" and how she's about to "take all that information to manipulate her clients:"
"I mean, in terms of the history of Harley Quinn, but, you know, you get to understand why she does the work and she does the work because she wants to use and take all that information to manipulate her clients."
Chung drew a parallel to this new version of Harley, calling her "a Robin Hood of Gotham" and adding that "she doesn't need a sugar daddy:"
"She really is like a Robin Hood of Gotham and you know, she takes from the rich and gives to herself, so she doesn't need a sugar daddy. She's just mind f------- all these people. She's my hero."
Big Changes in Caped Crusader
Along with some fundamental changes to the Harley Quinn character, the Penguin in the series is a woman, Oswalda Cobblepot.
Minnie Driver voices the new gender-flipped version of the famous villain, and she shared some of her thoughts at the same roundtable at SDCC. Driver defended the choice, calling this gender-swap "organic" while adding that it's "completely believable" for the Penguin to be "genderless:"
"This is organic like it is completely believable that this, this bizarre, strange, larger-than-life character is genderless."
As fans can expect, Driver added that "the essence of Penguin" is most important as it relates to the comics and the 1990s animated series:
"Because it's the essence of Penguin is really what we're looking at, which is the essence of the original comics and the original animated show, you know what I mean, the way that this person was drawn. I feel like that's kind of what we went into."
Kicking off the new series in Episode 1, old and new animated Batman fans alike can see the villainous plot of Oswalda Cobblepot unfold.
Another massive change comes from Hamish Linklater being the voice of Bruce Wayne and Batman, following the death of Kevin Conroy.
Linklater explained during the roundtable event that he found himself "chasing Kevin's voice" for his new Batman before finding his own version.
Another inciteful look into this version of the iconic comic character came from a piece of advice Bruce Timm gave to Linklater. The actor explained that Timm told him "Batman is the person. That's the human being and Bruce Wayne is the invention."
This led Linklater to ask himself the question, "What would a millionaire Lothario in the 40s sound like?" This ultimately led to his distinct performance as both Bruce and Bat in Caped Crusader.
Every episode of Batman: Caped Crusader is streaming now on Amazon Prime Video.
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