Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn isn’t only honoured in countless Halloween outfits every year. She’s also the inspiration behind some seriously impressive – and sometimes pretty out there – fan ink.
As she returns to the big screen in The Suicide Squad, in cinemas on Friday (July 30), here’s a guide to the main groups of fan tatts inspired by this iconic DC supervillain.
1. The relatively understated
Let’s be real: Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is about as subtle as a brick lobbed through a window. Still, some of her disciples have opted for fan ink that’s not totally OTT. As you’ll see, some are tributes to the many, many tattoos that Robbie’s Quinn herself rocks in 2016’s Suicide Squad and 2020’s Birds of Prey.
2. The completely badass
Say what you want about Harley Quinn, but she’s definitely unapologetic. Her no-holds-barred commitment to being herself – even if it gets her into a shedload of trouble – has inspired some of the most memorable fan ink around. If you want to show you’re a good girl (or guy) gone bad, nothing does it quite like a Harley Quinn tattoo.
3. The absolutely massive
When it comes to Harley Quinn tattoos, there’s no such thing as too big. Margot Robbie’s supervillain has such a huge and unique personality that her costume in The Suicide Squad offers this bold motto: “Live fast, die clown.” So even if we wouldn’t choose some of these tattoos for ourselves, we can’t help admiring the sheer audacity of them all.
4. The impossibly romantic
Harley Quinn is associated with one character above all others: the Joker. He was her patient when she worked as an intern psychiatrist at Gotham City’s Arkham Asylum, then became her lover and frequent partner in crime. The pair are such an infamous couple in comic book history, so it’s no surprise to see this iconic duo celebrated in ink.
5. And finally: the somewhat eccentric
We’d love to know how this Suicide Squad fan came up with the idea of getting a tattoo showing Harley Quinn, um, doing the actual tattooing. It’s an off-the-wall idea, but somehow it works. After all, what could be more Harley Quinn than thinking a long, long way outside the box?
The Suicide Squad is out in cinemas on Friday, July 30.