Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) — or as it’s now being known in theater chains, Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey – has been delighting audiences around the world over the past few days. The DC Extended Universe film provides a whole new tale tied to Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, while introducing some new and iconic characters in the process. Even with a stacked ensemble of characters including Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee Montoya, the film found a way to weave in some pretty delightful Easter eggs for Harley Quinn’s comic run. This is especially the case for one of the more blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that comes midway through the film, and pays tribute to the weird way that Harley was initially conceived as a character. Spoilers for Birds of Prey below! Only look if you want to know!
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Just before the film’s third act fight commences – and the Birds all unite in one room for the first time – Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) is reevaluating the case she’s been building against Roman Sionis/Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). Renee begins to remove all of the evidence from her “murder board” off of the wall, and considers throwing it into a trash can and lighting it on fire. Just before she does so, Dinah Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) texts Renee to let her know about the coming fight against Sionis at Amusement Mile, and tells her to hurry.
Renee walks across her room to do just that, and in the background, we see a small TV playing vintage footage of a woman dressed as a court jester. For eagle-eyed Harley fans, the footage is definitely memorable, as it’s of Arleen Sorkin on an episode of the long-running soap opera Days of Our Lives. The footage, which sees Sorkin playing a court jester, is often regarded to be a major source of inspiration for Harley Quinn’s debut on Batman: The Animated Series.
“Paul and I have been friends since college-back at Emerson,” Sorkin said in an interview with Starlog Magazine (via harley-quinn.com). “He was home one day watching Days of Our Lives. We did a dream sequence where I was a court jester and he said that was the inspiration for Harley. Paul called me up and said, ‘Would you like to do this character?’ I said yes and came over! I was born to play her.”
Sorkin has gone on to voice Harley in a litany of animated properties, most recently in the DC Universe Online MMORPG video game. While she might not be the only actress to take on Harleen Quinzel’s world, there’s no denying that she had an integral part in it — something that this Birds of Prey Easter egg pays tribute to in a heartwarming way.
Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is in theaters now. Other upcoming DC movies include Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5th, The Batman on June 25, 2021, The Suicide Squad on August 6, 2021, Black Adam on December 22, 2021, Shazam! 2 on April 1, 2022, The Flash on July 1, 2022, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.
