Joker 2: Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn Explained: Origin, Motivation & That Final Big Twist

Joker: Folie á Deux introduces a whole new version of Harley Quinn played by Lady Gaga – who has been one of the biggest draws of this Joker movie sequel. Fans of DC’s Batman and even pop-culture lovers who never opened a comic book have been similarly curious (if not trepidacious) about what Joker 2 is doing with the Harley Quinn character, and why Gaga was the one tapped to play her. With Joker: Folie á Deux now in theaters, we have all the answers that you need to know. 

Joker 2: Lady Gaga’s Harley Quinn Explained 

In Joker: Folie á Deux, “Harley Quinn” is re-imagined as Harleen “Lee” Quinzel (Lady Gaga), who is a patient at Arkham State Hospital. Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) meets Lee when he gets special privileges to move over from the prison ward to the hospital ward once a day for musical performance classes. Lee claims to be from an abusive, broken home in the same neighborhood that Arthur grew up in, even walking the same infamous flight of stairs that he used to. She tells him that she tried to burn down her parents’ apartment building with them in it, and so her mother had her committed to Arkham.

Lee is infatuated with “Joker,” stating that she watched the Murray Franklin Show secretly hoping that Joker would kill Murray – and when it happened she felt both spiritually freed and connected to the dark icon. Arthur has been acting like a model prisoner for the years he’s been awaiting trial, as his lawyer (Catherine Keener) has been building the defense that “Arthur” and “Joker” are two separate personas, with Joker being a dissociative psychosis manifested by Arthur in crisis moments. However, Lee refuses to see Joker as an errant personality and pushes Arthur to embrace his ‘true self’ and let the world see it. She and Arthur form a romantic relationship, culminating in the pair having awkward sex in a cell. 

Many of Joker: Folie á Deux’s intricate musical numbers featuring “Joker and Harley Quinn” turn out to be Arthur’s fantasy imaginings, inspired by Lee coming into his life. With his “Harley Quinn” validating his identity as “Joker,” and allowing Arthur to finally indulge in the twisted, romanticized grandeur of the persona, Arthur feels he is finally happy – especially when Lee announces that she’s pregnant with his baby.

Lee Quinzel’s True Origin Explained – What Was Real?

A big twist in Joker: Folie á Deux’s Third Act comes when Arthur’s lawyer, Maryanne Stewart, drops a massive truth bomb on Arthur: “Harley Quinn” is a total invention: Lee Quinzel was actually a wealthy psychiatry student from the Upper East Side; she was never abused, her father is a doctor and both her parents are very much alive, as Lee never burned down their building. Lee admitted herself to Arkham, just to get close to Arthur – but when Arthur finally has a breakthrough in court, admitting that he is responsible for the murders, not “Joker,” Lee’s psychotic delusion is ruined, and she turns her back on him.

The final scene of “Harley Quinn” sees Lee in clown makeup standing at the long stairwell. When Arthur arrives claiming they can be together. Lee is cold towards him, finally admitting that the pregnancy was just another lie, and her Harley Quinn persona was “just for entertainment.” Lee disappears back into the streets of Gotham, leaving Arthur alone to his fate in prison. 

Joker: Folie á Deux is generating a lot of discussion over its seeming mission to annihilate romanticism about Joker and Harley Quinn, by grounding the characters and morally twisted, menatily-ill ‘real-world’ people. That includes the image of Harley as some kind of femme icon, as Gaga’s performance offers no redeeming qualities to be found in the character. 

Joker: Folie á Deux is now in theaters.