James Gunn Confirms What We Dared To Hope About The DCEU's Harley Quinn

The DC Comics character Harley Quinn is having a little bit of a moment right now. Margot Robbie brought the character to life in three of the DCEU films: 2016's "Suicide Squad," 2020's "Birds of Prey," and 2021's "The Suicide Squad." In addition, Kaley Cuoco has been playing the character in the animated "Harley Quinn" series on HBOMax since 2019, and EW reported that it was renewed for a fourth season. Moreover, Lady Gaga made a cryptic post that confirms she will star opposite Joaquin Phoenix in the upcoming "Joker" sequel, "Joker: Folie à Deux." Many have speculated that this means Gaga will be playing the Joker's famous girlfriend in the new movie, though it hasn't been confirmed that she'll be playing Harley Quinn.

Director James Gunn said in an Instagram Live Q&A in 2020 that Harley Quinn is his favorite character he's written. "In fact, she's probably my favorite comic character whose personality was well-defined before I wrote her for the screen," Gunn explained. "She's an incredible companion to have while writing her insane actions and dialogue. Did I say I LOVED her?" (via ComingSoon). Indeed, Gunn not only directed Robbie in her third film as the beloved character, but he also appeared in Season 3 of the "Harley Quinn" animated series as himself.

So it would seem that Gunn is a pretty good authority to answer questions about the character, and he recently revealed something that has fans very excited.

In a recent tweet, James Gunn celebrated the 30th anniversary of Harley Quinn's first appearance on "Batman: The Animated Series," which was the character's debut. In response to Gunn's post, he was asked if Harley Quinn would ever return to the DCEU, to which Gunn gave a curt but definitive answer: "Yes."

Fans instantly reacted positively to the news, with some making specific requests of the director. Twitter user @fayettevamp responded to the director on Twitter saying "we are READY for Harley and Ivy on screen. Please," referring to the character's close friendship (and, in the animated series, her romantic relationship) with the villain Poison Ivy. Meanwhile, user @MPotkànek responded positively to the news, writing, "That's great news! You really did a lot for her, I really hope that you and Margot Robbie will work together on many more Harley Quinn projects."

Similar opinions were expressed elsewhere on social media. In a Reddit thread on the subreddit r/DCEUleaks, u/theweepingwarrior wrote "Ecstatic to hear this. Robbie's great at the role and she's been a bright spot since the beginning of the DCEU and helped make the character into a household name." In fact, very few people had anything negative to say about the news, with fans mostly ecstatic at the opportunity to see Robbie's Harley Quinn at least once more.