There Are Actually 11 Heroes That Harley Quinn Never Met In The DCEU

If you asked Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) if she was at all worried about what could happen if she crossed paths with the Justice League, she could quite possibly respond — with unironic sincerity — "What's a Justice League?"

Dozens of popular superheroes appear in DC Comics, and just about every major character has met all the other major characters many, many times over. But with all due respect to comics pros — writing, drawing, and printing a comic book takes a lot less time and resources than making a movie. The film versions of these characters simply don't have the same amount of time to wander around and potentially bump into each other. 

So naturally, the version of Harley Quinn appearing in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) isn't exactly a social butterfly on the level of her ink and wood pulp iteration, or that of any of her animated counterparts. Harley appears in "Suicide Squad" (2016)  "Birds of Prey" (2020) and "The Suicide Squad" (2021) — but doesn't show up in any other DCEU-affiliated franchises. As a result, she's pretty familiar with the DCEU's Gotham City, as well as the corner overseen by Amanda Waller's shadowy ARGUS organization. But that's about it. 

For your convenience and amusement, we've arranged the DCEU superheroes Harley Quinn has yet to meet. 

It's pretty wild how two of the DCEU's most popular IPs never trade quips, but Harley Quinn might not even know Superman (Henry Cavill) exists.

The Big Blue Boy Scout is more-or-less accepted as dead at the conclusion of "Batman v Superman" (2016). Since the first "Suicide Squad" takes place after "BvS" on the DCEU timeline, that means Harley might've been oblivious in Belle Reve throughout General Zod's (Michael Shannon) invasion in "Man of Steel" (2013), as well the explosive events of "BvS." 

Maybe Harley eventually learns about Superman via social media or word of mouth — but without any direct interactions with The Last Son of Krypton, she might just assume Batman is the most famous guy who wears a cape and fights crime on Earth and has no competition.   

Oddly enough, Harley and Superman don't interact a ton in other mediums, either. They were only arch-nemeses for a very brief period in HBO Max's "Harley Quinn" animated series. Meanwhile, "Action Comics" scribe Phillip Kennedy Johnson recently responded to the idea of a Superman/Harley Quinn team-up story at  the 2021 New York Comic Con, stating that "It may be too dangerous to look into that." 

Harley doesn't appear in "Shazam!" — the first DCEU project featuring Billy Batson (Asher Angel) and his superhero alter-ego Shazam (Zachary Levi). Since Shazam isn't in any of Harley's movies either, and there's no indication that she'll appear in "Shazam! Fury of the Gods" (2023) that means they don't know each other. 

While the two characters are not usually associated in comics or animation, they are sort of romantically linked during the 2016 series "Injustice: Ground Zero" by Chris Sebela and Brian Buccellato. Set in the apocalyptic timeline depicted in the "Injustice" videogames, "Ground Zero" includes Harley's attempt at convincing Shazam to switch from Superman's authoritarian faction over to Batman's squad of freedom fighters. This version of Harley keeps her flirtations relatively tame; however, the DCEU's Harley doesn't do anything in a manner that could be described as "tame." So let's hope Harley and Shazam never hook up in the movies, lest things get real uncomfortable real fast for everyone involved.

Harley Quinn might be a talented, capable, completely insane person with a baseball bat, but those skills nor that bat let her breathe underwater. Unless she obtains high-quality scuba gear in preparation for the journey, she would not survive an attempt to visit Atlantis. 

As far as Aquaman goes, Arthur Curry (Jason Momoa) can swim to the surface, hop on a bus, and drop by Gotham City whenever he feels like; but sadly, he's too busy to do so in his three proper DCEU film appearances — "Justice League" (2017), "Aquaman" (2018) and "Zack Snyder's Justice League" (2021). As it stands, the DCEU's Aquaman has not met Harley Quinn.

That doesn't seem likely to change anytime soon. Margot Robbie is not at all expected to put her clown makeup back on for "Aquaman And The Lost Kingdom." Likewise, Aquaman is not presently scheduled to appear in any other announced film. 

Wonder Woman (Gal Gadot) isn't in any of the "Suicide Squad" movies, nor does she stop by for "Birds of Prey" — so Harley and Wonder Woman haven't met. This feels like a missed opportunity. 

Wonder Woman is a noble Amazon warrior and champion of truth. Harley Quinn is a raving psychopath with a circus motif. They're the two most prominent women in the DCEU, but they have literally nothing else in common. The possibilities for a hypothetical "Harley Quinn v. Wonder Woman: Early Afternoon of Justice" go beyond the cosmos. 

Granted, Princess Diana has superpowers and magic weapons, whereas Harley has neither of those things; the Themysciran ambassador would overwhelm Dr. Quinzel instantly in pretty much any combat scenario. But that's got nothing to do with why putting them together in a movie seems like such an obvious call. If Diana didn't need someone to function as her de facto sidekick, would Patty Jenkins and the rest of the minds behind Wonder Woman movies keep bringing Steve Trevor back from the dead? Of course not.  Clearly, Wonder Woman needs someone with whom she can banter, and according to the DCEU's continuity, Harley Quinn is the original mack daddy of banter.

Seriously, with 10 DCEU movies completed as of this writing, these two should already be BFFs — Best Frenemies Forever.

Margot Robbie has gone on record saying she needs an extended breather from Harley Quinn, so we wouldn't bet on seeing her in any DCEU projects for the foreseeable horizon.  

In fact, as of the conclusion of "The Suicide Squad," Harley is perhaps the only DCEU mainstay with a satisfying and complete character arc. We'd miss her if she left for good, sure; but in theory, Harley could drop out of this timeline without leaving much in the way of loose ends. We'd wonder what ever became of Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), but HBO Max's "Black Canary" might explain that. 

But if we absolutely had to pick an upcoming DCEU film where Harley Quinn might run into a hero she hasn't already met, it would be "The Flash" (2022). That movie's already got two confirmed Batmen — namely Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton, both returning as their respective timelines' versions of Bruce Wayne. If that's the precedent they're setting for the promotional phase of the first movie, we imagine Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) is going to run — pun intended, of course — into as many other familiar faces as DC can possibly squish into a movie.

Ray Fisher plays Cyborg in "Justice League" — both the 2017 version directed by Joss Whedon, and the 2021 version overseen by Zack Snyder streaming on HBO Max. From how it looks now, "Justice League" may very well pan out as Fisher's first and final DCEU engagement. 

According to numerous reports, Warner Bros. executives' alleged behind-the-scenes treatment of Ray Fisher set the bridge between the actor and DC's parent company on fire. That bridge has subsequently burst into an inferno that rages on to this day. Ergo, Cyborg has never met Harley Quinn, and we'd be darn surprised if the half-man, half-machine ever encounters the erstwhile Joker protégé, which is too bad. It might be kind of fun if they stumbled into each other's orbit.

We suspect Harley would dispense many references to Robocop movies, the Terminator series, and possibly other sci-fi franchises with robot-like characters. Would Cyborg find these comparisons to figures from popular culture amusing? Or does he definitely not want to hear about closely he resembles The Doctor's sworn enemies — The Cybermen? We may never know.

Just as Harley Quinn does not know Aquaman, she has yet to be introduced to the Atlantean Princess Mera (Amber Heard). Harley and Mera haven't been in any of the same movies; they haven't had a reason to meet; and even if they did, Harley does not have the gills necessary to breathe the same as Mera.  

However, the ocean is not an obstacle for Margot Robbie and Amber Heard, who have reportedly met on multiple occasions. In fact, it would appear they are pals — kind of like Booster Gold and Blue Beetle, except Robbie and Heard are real people. E! Online and other sources published photos of the pair — along with Robbie's "Suicide Squad" costar Cara Delevingne — painting the town red shortly following Heard's intensely-public divorce from "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor Johnny Depp. 

While Depp's loudest supporters campaigned for Warner Bros. to drop her from "Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom," DC fans will be happy to know Amber Heard remains in the role of Mera.

Harley Quinn and Wonder Woman haven't met, so it follows that Hippolyta (Connie Nielsen), Wonder Woman's mom, has also never met Harley Quinn. 

Which reminds us — where are Harley's parents in all of this? 

The DCEU makes sure we learn all about Thomas and Martha Wayne; Superman's biological and adoptive parents all soak up a significant chunk of screen time; the unfortunate fates of Cyborg's mom and dad unfold in The Snyder Cut; the concept of parents is basically the plot of "Shazam!"; here we are talking about Hippolyta; meanwhile, Harley Quinn's DCEU parents are nowhere to be found. 

It seems parents add relatability to characters with otherwise supernatural and/or morally ambiguous attributes, which is why we frequently see good guys with their moms and dads, and this is less-often the case for bad guys. In a way, we're all preparing to plunge a kryptonite spear through Superman's heart, until someone reminds us that he has a mom (and that her name is "Martha").

So while we don't know anything about the DCEU Harley's mom, we can presume she's got little to nothing in common with Hippolyta. The Amazon Queen — who takes up the mantle of Wonder Woman herself in the comics from time to time — raised Diana to be physically, intellectually, and emotionally well-prepared for virtually any conceivable hardship. Meanwhile, Harley's mom even didn't bother to warn her about mass murdering clowns, and why choosing them as romantic partners typically doesn't work out.  

Why isn't Harley Quinn in The Snyder Cut? Seriously. 

Zack Snyder stuffed J'onn J'onzz (Harry Lennix), Joker (Jared Leto), Iris Allen (Kiersey Clemons), Cyborg's entire backstory, Darkseid (Ray Porter), and a truckload more into his extended cut of "Justice League." However, the only time Harley gets mentioned at all is during a flash forward to the Knightmare timeline, when Batman (Ben Affleck) reports she died offscreen at some unspecified point 

(Batman's probably just lying about that to confuse Joker, of course. Harley Quinn wouldn't die during a goofy little thing like Darkseid's conquest of Earth.) 

The funny thing about J'onn J'onzz is not only does he never meet Harley Quinn, he never runs into most of the other characters in the DCEU. He disguises himself as Martha Kent to deliver a pep talk to Lois Lane, and he introduces himself to Batman at the close of the movie. We never see J'onn talk to anybody else. Martian Manhunter is very shy fellow, it seems. 

There's no Harley in either version of "Justice League." Ryan Choi (Ryan Zheng) — who comics lead us to suspect assumes the identity of the shrinking, occasionally Darkseid-killing superhero namesake The Atom — makes his introduction in "The Snyder Cut." As he has yet to show up anywhere else, Harley Quinn doesn't know The Atom from Adam. 

Technically, when it comes to size-shifting scientists who fight crime as "The Atom," Ray Palmer — who first appeared in comics from the early 1960s — is probably more widely-recognized than Ryan Choi, who made his DCU entrance during the mid-'00s. That could explain why, from what we can tell, Harley's encountered Ryan Choi on fewer occasions than any other character on this list. 

Seriously –search for "Harley Quinn, Ryan Choi" and not a ton pops up; especially relative to the pile of results that return on a search for "Superman, Harley Quinn" or "Martian Manhunter, Harley Quinn" or anything along those lines. But it's possible, though unlikely, that Harley Quinn and Ryan Choi in any timeline or medium.

As of this writing, the DCEU has yet to fully utilize the Green Lantern Corps. There's a slated Green Lantern HBO Max series that may shift that narrative, but let's focus on the here and now.

DC's 2011 attempt to base a franchise around Hal Jordan panned out so poorly even its star Ryan Reynolds bashes "Green Lantern" in the press. John Stewart – who's barely less famous than Hal due to his prominence in "Justice League Unlimited" — almost dropped into The Snyder Cut, but t'was not to be. The only Green Lantern we've seen so far in this cinematic version of the DC timeline is Yalan Gur.

Though his screen time in both cuts of "Justice League" can be measured in seconds, Yalan goes down in superhero movie history as the only titan of sequential art to get murdered by two totally distinct supervillains in different versions of the same movie. 

In both iterations of "Justice League," Wonder Woman narrates a flashback to Darkseid's initial attempt to invade Earth, way back during the ancient times. Yalan joins the battle against the forces of Apokolips, and doesn't survive. But in the Whedon-directed theatrical cut, Steppenwolf impales the obscure guardian of the galaxy with his pointed axe handle; in The Snyder Cut, Darkseid himself does the brutal deed.   

Whichever the case, Yalan Gur was slaughtered by a megalomaniacal interstellar fascist eons before Harley Quinn was born — ergo, they have never met.