Harley Quinn is not a character.
Harley Quinn ( Harleen Frances Quinzel ) is a fictional supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics . The character was created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm , and first appeared in Batman : The Animated Series in September 1992 . She later appeared in DC Comics ' Batman comic books , with the character 's first comic book appearance in The Batman Adventures # 12 ( September 1993 ) . The character made her live-action cinematic debut in the 2016 film Suicide Squad , portrayed by Margot Robbie .