- [Voiceover] With Suicide Squad hitting theaters today,
and all buzz around Margo Robbie's portrayal,
Miss Harley Quinn has once again risen to the forefront
of the superhero and villain conversations.
- We're bad guys.
It's what we do.
- It almost seems fitting then, to take a little time
and discuss the inspiration behind the name
of this former Arkham Asylum psychiatrist.
- So you do remember me.
- Harleen Quinzel was a unique character in many ways,
not the least of which is the way she was created.
Even the name itself came together from a number of places.
As we learned in this video, that we published
just a couple of weeks ago,
one of the writers of Batman: The Animated Series,
Paul Dini, took the whimsical jester portrayal
by his friend Arleen Sorkin in Days of our Lives,
yes, that Days of our Lives,
as the foundation of the Joker's newest henchman,
and future sidekick's, personality.
Then over the course of 10 days,
Dini mulled through a number of different name options.
Obviously, the Joker wouldn't work,
and neither would Jester, that's too close to Joker.
But, he wanted something along that same vein.
So he turned to history,
specifically, the history of the performing arts,
for some ideas.
And that's how find ourselves in 16th century Italy,
at the introduction of the Commedia dell'arte,
which translates to Comedy of the Profession,
or Comedy of the Craft.
It involved a number of stock characters,
filling a number of roles,
such as Pantalone, the old miser,
Pierrot, the sad clown,
and Il Capitano, the professional soldier, and braggart.
Reportedly, he considered another character from Commedia,
Colombina, modified to Columbine, for some time.
She was the mistress of Harley's eventual namesake,
Harlequin, and played the role of a hired servant,
often wielding a tambourine, which she could use
to fend off the amorous advances of old Pantalone,
which sounds like pants, but doesn't mean pants.
Dini did eventually decide against Columbine however,
as Collie would've sounded too weird,
which makes sense, cause collie's a dog, it's a dog.
Well if the name of the mistress doesn't work,
why not try that, of the master?
Dini turned his attention to Harlequin,
and from there, it all fell into place.
- The clown character Harlequin, I know.
- So many parallels can be drawn between the comedic figure,
and our super villain, or super hero, anti-hero?
What is she right now?
Is she a super hero right now?
Anyway.
To start, Harlequin wore a similarly styled costume,
featuring vibrantly colored patches,
adorned with diamond shapes.
And a little bit of a sidekick himself.
He was described as clever, but also kinda gullible.
- I am not a doormat, am I?
- Faithful, and tirelessly forgiving of any
who had tricked or cheated him.
- Don't get me wrong.
My prince is a little rough sometimes,
but he loves me really.
- Harlequin was also known to be quite
affectionate towards his colleagues,
and often unusually high-spirited.
- Mwaa.
- And while some characters were downright scumbags,
Harlequin was amoral, but not vicious.
Sounds familiar, right?
- Oh don't worry, I'm over the crime thing, see?
- Oh, and can't forget, as Columbina was often
found with her tambourine,
Harlequin, frequently had a bat in his hand.
- Batter up.
- Serendipitously, what became Harlequin's
future in theater parallels Harley Quinn's.
Just as she found her eventual place as a
mainstay in DC Comics,
Harlequin became popular enough to be portrayed
in a number of performances many centuries
beyond his debut,
including an entirely new format
featuring the guy center stage.
It was called Harlequinades,
which sounds like an energy drink,
and also a little bit, like a grenade
that Harley Quinn like throws at people.
It's a Harlequinade.
I don't know.
So how do you feel about a TV character working their way
into the comics, instead of the other way around?
And then, into movies, for that matter.
Let's talk about it all, in the comments.
God, I really want it to be good.
I'm recording this before I've seen it.
I'm gonna see it before this goes live, I'm worried.
So if you liked exploring this comic book name with us,
and want to go into some more,
click on this link, to the left.
The last one we did was on
Bruce slash Bob slash David Banner.
I know right?
Check that one out, it's good.
Maybe you're already caught up all three,
and hey, thanks for that by the way.
And you want to see some more of my stuff,
click on this video on the right,
to check out what I did on the most important
Game of Thrones character,
that show watchers know almost nothing about.
It's cool, I recommend it.
And if this is your first time with us
here at Nerdsync, we publish new videos every week
so slap that subscribe button,
so you don't miss a thing while we explore
the art, history, science and names
behind our favorite comics.
Once again guys, this is DK, thanks for watching.
You guys are awesome.