Summary
Following the tragic passing of Arleen Sorkin, who voiced Harley Quinn inBatman: The Animated Series, her co-star Mark Hamill, who played The Joker in the same series, paid tribute to the deceased actor.
Hamill voiced Quinn’s lover and her abusive partner as Gotham’s prince of crime onBatman: The Animated Series.However, Hamill showed he is the exact opposite of the sadist he played on the show when he revealed how much he looked up to Sorkin as a person when they worked together while expressing his condolences to her family.
RELATED:Another Highly-Anticipated DC Project Officially Dead At Warner Bros
Hamill paid tribute to his former co-star on his X account. “Devastated to learn we’ve lost the brilliant Arleen Sorkin. Not just a wonderful talent, but a truly wonderful person. I’m grateful not only to have worked with her but to have been her friend…Sending my heartfelt condolences to her family & loved ones.” Hamill and Sorkin worked together on multiple DC animated projects besidesBatman: The Animated Series, includingSuperman: The Animated Series,Gotham Girls,Static Shock,andJustice League, where they voicedtheir respective Batman characters.
One ofBatman: The Animated Series' crowning achievements was its creation of Harley Quinn.Giving The Joker a romantic foilwasn’t thought of before, and it made for some interesting dynamics, as it was clear that The Joker had not only manipulated Harley but only used her as a means to an end to help himself with his criminal enterprise. Sadly, because Harley not only fell in love with The Joker but also had an undying obsession with him, she could never remove the rose-colored glasses, which made it impossible for her to wake up and smell the coffee.
Sorkin’s performance perfectly captured both Harley being a woman innocently in love and a raving lunatic, which is how the show pulled off her dynamic with The Joker so effortlessly. It also led to one of the show’s greatest episodes, “Mad Love,” which detailed Quinn’s backstory of going from a promising psychologist to The Joker’s puppet. The story managed to capture the essence of a toxic and abusive relationship while making it child-friendly all at the same time. Above all, that episode, the show’s last episode to air on television, is amongthe darkest Batman storiesbecause it depicts Harley’s heartbreaking life. It wouldn’t have been possible without Sorkin voicing her.
That episode was also used in later DC material, likeSuicide Squadand theBatman spinoff series titledHarley Quinn. While this shows how influential Harley Quinn was in DC stories, a character can only be as impactful as the person who portrays them. Sorkin deserved all the credit in the world for bringing Harley Quinn to life, which is why Hamill gave his former co-star the due she was owed.
