The Real Inspiration Behind Harley Quinn's Look In The Suicide Squad

The upcoming superhero film "The Suicide Squad" will be Margot Robbie's third outing as crazy clown Harley Quinn in the DC Extended Universe after "Suicide Squad" and "Birds of Prey." In those three movies, she's had as many directors. "The Suicide Squad" is written and directed by James Gunn, who's taking over the "Suicide Squad" franchise-within-a-franchise from David Ayer. Another new director means another new look for Harley Quinn, and in a breakdown of the movie's latest trailer for IGN, Gunn explained the inspiration behind what Harley is wearing when we meet back up with her in "The Suicide Squad."

For most of the trailer, Harley Quinn is wearing a red gown. But for one moment, when she announces that she's late for a meeting because she had to go Number 2, she's wearing a little red leather jacket and a black and red leather corset with a star on one breast and a diamond on the other. Gunn explained that that costume was based on a Harley Quinn design from a video game.

"The truth is I had a huge map of different looks of Harley Quinn throughout the years in various media, and one of them I liked the best was the 'Arkham' games look of Harley Quinn," Gunn said. "Her first look in the movie is based on that."

Harley Quinn appears throughout the "Batman: Arkham" video game series, helping the Joker fight Batman in his quest to control Gotham City's underworld. She debuted the biker look in the second game of the series, "Batman: Arkham City," and reprised it in "Arkham Knight." It's not often that superhero movies are directly influenced by superhero games, so this Easter egg is a real treat for "Arkham" fans.

Gunn also said that she has writing on the back of her jacket, "motorcycle gang-style." It's not visible in the trailer, but according to him it says "Live Fast, Die Clown." He also considered "Clown AF" and "World's Best Grandpa" and had jackets made with those phrases on them, but in the end he went with "Live Fast, Die Clown," which is definitely the best of the three.

"The Suicide Squad" is slated to be released in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6. In addition to Robbie, the ensemble cast includes Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, and Joel Kinnaman reprising his "Suicide Squad" role as Rick Flag.