Margot Robbie needs to return to a $1.1 billion movie role in the future thanks to the way one of her film appearances predicted the franchise’s evolving tone. Long before Forbes named her the world’s highest paid actress in 2023, Margot Robbie was a staple of the world of cinema and television.
With a now almost two-decade-long acting history, though, Robbie’s star has only grown brighter with time, and with a range of roles that have perfectly demonstrated her acting talents and her capacity for varied performances. Indeed, Margot Robbie’s acting talents cement the idea that she’s the perfect person to bring one movie character back on-screen some 4 years later.
Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn Isn’t Yet Confirmed To Be Part Of The New DC Universe
Robbie’s Harley Quinn Is Currently In A State Of Limbo
Over the course of 5 years, Margot Robbie appeared as Harley Quinn in $1.1 billion’s worth of DC movies. During this period, the plucky DC villain-slash-antihero appeared in Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey, and then finally in 2021’s The Suicide Squad, making the character one of the more prolific DC film figures at the time.
Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad arguably suffered from being released during the height of the COVID pandemic, with The Suicide Squad making $168 million (via The Numbers), and Birds of Prey making $205 million (The Numbers). Suicide Squad dealt with no such scenario, leading to a worldwide box office of $749 million (The Numbers) despite its more controversial critical reception.
As it stands, whether Margot Robbie will be reprising her role in the DC Universe isn’t yet clear. Robbie’s Quinn appearing in The Suicide Squad bodes well in this regard – since other prominent characters from the Gunn-led movie have now appeared in the DCU timeline – but plenty of DC characters have also been given new actors along the way as well.
The fact Margot Robbie’s performance as Harley Quinn has usually been cited as one of the standout parts of all of these respective installments certainly adds more weight to the idea of her reprising the role for the DCU as well. In fact, based on how her solo movie manages to essentially predict the future, it’s hard to not imagine Robbie’s antihero returning some day soon.
DC Already Gave Harley Quinn Her Own Movie That Perfectly Nails The DCU’s Atmosphere
Birds Of Prey Proved Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn Is Perfect For The DCU
Birds of Prey is a DC movie with a complicated place in the franchise’s roster. While it’s one of DC’s lowest-grossing movies, this does appear to have at least in part been the result of external factors – and its 79% Tomatometer and 78% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes still speaks to a film that captured many hearts.
What’s especially interesting to note about Birds of Prey is that, despite coming well before the DCU – and not having been directed by DCU overseer James Gunn like The Suicide Squad – it still matches up more closely in tone and story with what we’ve gotten of the DC Universe thus far than the DCEU itself. As such, it’s even easier to see how a DCU Harley Quinn played by Robbie could work.
The story of an unlikely team banding together to save a child from one of Gotham’s criminal elite manages to feel somewhere between the tone of Superman and Creature Commandos. Birds of Prey ensures it’s as filled with frenetic action as it is jokes, all while not being afraid to show someone exploding for the fun of it.
Though it wasn’t a box office darling, the movie offers a solid look into how Robbie’s Quinn can suit a lighter-toned universe. With the DC Universe delving into less frequently adapted sides of the comics, seeing a live-action movie take on the Birds of Prey team right beforehand certainly feels also all the more notable.
Making Margot Robbie The DCU’s Harley Quinn Just Makes Sense
The DC Universe Would Benefit From Having Margot Robbie Return As Harley Quinn Seemingly Without Any Downsides
Margot Robbie is one of the current biggest modern actors, with Barbie alone having $1.3 billion. With a history that demonstrates a capacity to play things seriously or comedically – or both at the same time – there seem to be few reasons to not have the actor reprise her role as Harley Quinn, so long as she is still keen to.
With several other members of The Suicide Squad having already been established in the DCU, this also doesn’t present issues in terms of moving the character across universes. Indeed, it would make more sense for Robbie’s Harley Quinn to be a part of the DCU world, since core events this version of the character was at are now DCU canon.
While Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn got to appear in several DC releases, they still very much only skimmed the surface when it comes to the character, especially when looking at Quinn’s decades of comic history. With Gotham no doubt set to be a focal location for the DCU, delving more into Quinn’s history seems easy to pull off.
As the DCU’s Gotham looks set to be increasingly fleshed out – with Creature Commandos providing some glimpses, and 2026’s Clayface set to show off more before Batman’s live-action film hits screens – Margot Robbie‘s Harley Quinn could be a more useful figure for DC’s movie world now than ever. However, what the future holds is, for the time being, a mystery.
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Margot Robbie
- Birthdate
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July 2, 1990
- Birthplace
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Dalby, Queensland, Australia
- Notable Projects
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Birds of Prey, Barbie, The Suicide Squad
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DC Universe
- Created by
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Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson
- First Film
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Man of Steel
- First TV Show
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Peacemaker
- Cast
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Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, Ray Fisher, Jason Momoa, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, Laurence Fishburne, Jeremy Irons, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Cara Delevingne, Chris Pine, Robin Wright, Zachary Levi, Dwayne Johnson, Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Mark Strong, Asher Angel, Jack Dylan Grazer, Djimon Hounsou, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, Ewan McGregor, Idris Elba, John Cena, Michael Keaton, George Clooney, Xolo Mariduena
- Movie(s)
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Man of Steel, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, Shazam!, Birds of Prey, Wonder Woman 1984, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, The Suicide Squad, Black Adam, Shazam! The Fury of the Gods, The Flash, Blue Beetle, Superman, The Brave and the Bold
- Character(s)
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Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash, Cyborg, Harley Quinn, The Joker, Shazam, Darkseid, Amanda Waller, Lex Luthor, Doomsday, ᴅᴇᴀᴅsH๏τ, Deathstroke, Black Canary, Black Adam
The DC Universe is one of the biggest comic book franchises and often competes with Marvel. DC Comics started as National Allied Publications, founded by Malcolm Wheeler-Nicholson in 1935. Since then, the franchise has exploded with thousands of comic books, movies, TV shows, and video games. 2013 marked the beginning of the most recent iteration of the superheroes, with Zack Snyder introducing Henry Cavill as Superman. After several movies with mixed reviews, DC underwent a soft reboot under the helm of James Gunn and Peter Safran.
