The Joker is an extraordinary villain. He has so much monstrosity and hatred raging inside him that he always commits acts of extreme brutality and it normally gives him the joy to see others writing in pain, begging for mercy and being afraid. Despite that, it is his on-screen persona and great dialogues which have endeared him to a vast number of fans. His popularity only soared further due to his relationship with Harley Quinn. Now, those two appear to be real love birds, and you start wondering how would it be for someone like Harley Quinn to be a companion to the clown prince of crime.
For the starters, let’s make it clear that the relationship is anything but romantic. It is more of a master-slave bond wherein the Joker has constantly abused and tortured Harley in numerous ways which inflict a great deal of pain and suffering on her. You can almost feel how Harley is nothing more than a toy to him which he loves to twist, punch and torment to his heart’s contentment. Yet she is a toy that he can’t live without. Let’s have a look at some of the cruelest things he has done to Harley:
1. Strangled Her With Chains
Just like any other master, Joker hates to see Harley being confident, not even a bit. He only sees her as a pet devoted entirely to him. When he saw Harley show some spine in Suicide Squad issue 14, he went to her and asked, “Is there something on your face, Harley? There it is. Here, let me get it off.” This was followed by a smack in the face, “Got it! I think it was a small touch of hubris.” What a sick guy he is. Later he again prods her if she has been hiding any secrets and she replies that she was. This made him hoist her up on metal chains with a chain wrapped around her neck and ask, “Then why don’t you hang out and tell me a few, Harley?!”
2. Almost Chopped Her Face Off
“There’s just one thing missing,” he said. “That pretty face of yours…it spoils the reflection. I’m afraid it’s going to have to go.” He proceeds to quote a biblical verse and make the scene dramatic by saying, “I pulled the pieces of you from my ribcage…you are my creation, and if you want to serve me, I need you to be perfect.”
3. Threw Her With Many More Dead Harleys
Joker considers Harley to be an exclusive personal property and he can’t even consider sharing her. Not many things please him as much as doing things cruel enough to get him his evil laugh. One of the things he does is to murder several people and then dress them up in the iconic Red and Black costume of Harley. Then he throws a chained Harley into the dark dungeon where all the dead bodies were and asks her if she ever thought she was the last one? This he did just to make her feel how unimportant she was to him whereas the truth was that he needed her.
4. Didn’t Know She Was Pregnant
In the comic book Injustice: Gods Among Us, Harley was fighting with Black Canary when the Canary vomited, and Harley came to know about her pregnancy. They chat, and Harley reveals how she was pregnant once and had gone out to live with her sister for a year. The thing was that the Joker didn’t even notice her absence and was his usual ignorant, abusive self when she returned.
5. Sent Her Into A Rocket
On one occasion, Joker started having some sort of romantic feelings towards her, and that made Harley wonder if he would remain to be the cruel guy if he truly fell in love with her. The Joker feels that to love her would be a mistake and he should not be close to her. Taking things too far in his characteristic way, he pushes her on board a rocket that was about to take off. Fortunately for her, she was able to handle the controls and jumped off the rocket before she was dead.
6. Threw Harley Quinn Into Chemicals
The New 52 comic has a modified version of Harley’s origin story. In this comic as well, she is shown to be in love with the Joker and willing to join him. Joker wishes to test her loyalty and dumps her into the very chemical plant in which he also fell, and this gave her a pale complexion and bleached hair.
7. Pushed Her Out Of A Window
During one of the episodes of Batman animated series, Harley Quinn somehow managed to successfully execute a plan to murder Batman. Joker is enraged with that and he attacked her. Harley tried defending herself with a swordfish, but, Joker used the same as a claw and pushed her out of a window.
8. Tortures Her For Being Too Independent
After Joker’s death in the New 52, Harley becomes a member of the suicide squad and started living a new life with a new love interest and started enjoying her new independence. Later the Joker who was presumed dead comes back and is beyond himself with fury on seeing this new independent Harley. He tells her that she must go through a “Refresher Course” and proceeds to torture her. He beats her savagely, bleeds her and hangs her, almost choking her to death.
9. He Threw Her To Hyenas
The series ‘Mad Love’ saw all of Harley’s efforts to seduce the Joker receiving physical and verbal abuse in response. Any normal guy would get excited seeing his lady in sexy lingerie, but, this guy is a different creature. He refuses any intimacy as his focus was on his next evil crime and he proceeds to throw her to a bunch of vicious Hyenas.
10. He Made Her Fall In Love With Him
He might be a psychopath, but, he is a hell of a smart brain, and he made the psychiatrist helplessly fall in love with him during his asylum days. He cooked up a fake story about how his father abused him in his childhood and also made her feel that her life was mundane. He promised her laughter and sunshine in his company and assured that he is the prince who will protect her and is the guy whom she always wanted. This makes her go weak and ultimately be at his mercy forever.
