Harley Quinnis a great show largely due to its stellar cast of characters. From Harley Quinn herself to Kite Man, the show specializes in bringing out what makes each villain funny and absurd. Its comedy is based on DC characters, and the versions of those characters the show creates are both amusing and heartfelt. Like almostany good parody, it displays a love of the original material as it mocks it relentlessly, and that extends to how well they captured most of the characters in Batman’s Rogue’s Gallery.
Update June 07, 2025: In honor of season 4 ofHarley Quinnairing on Max, this list has been updated with even more great characters from the animated DC comedy.
If you are looking for standout characters, you would be really spoiled for choice when it comes toHarley Quinn. A lot of the B-listers of the comics stand out, even more so than the A-lister villains. Many characters are full-on parodies of their comic selves, while others are more grounded to their original forms but with aspects of their personality heightened for comic effect. The show is currently airing season 4 and still manages to bring new depth and humor to these characters. Of course, even among standouts, there are the best of the best. So, here are the best characters of Max’sHarley Quinn, ranked.
12Jim Gordon (Christopher Meloni)
Harley Quinn’s spin on Commissioner Jim Gordon is certainly interesting. Voiced by Christopher Meloni, Gordon is visibly stressed by his role in the Gotham City Police Department, no doubt compounded by his strained relationship with his wife. This results in some particularly hilarious exchanges with his villainous rivals, including a brazen attempt at convincing Harley she’s a “cancer” in order to give up the Joker.
Related:Harley Quinn: The Best Episodes of the Series, Ranked
It’s reflective of his newfound resourcefulness, and when compounded with a comically distant relationship with Batman, it makes him into a much more intriguing character. As funny as it is, it’s also a reminder of just how stressful his responsibilities truly are.
11Catwoman (Sanaa Lathan)
The femme fatale Catwomanalso becomes a reoccurring character inHarley Quinnwith a creative do-over of her own. While she shares a neutral relationship with Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy, the small adjustments made to her character make this iteration of the feline thief especially intriguing. Aside from housing an army’s worth of cats in her apartment, her self-assurance and controlling nature offer an interesting counterpart to Harley’s hidden insecurities. Her relationship with Batman also keeps the caped crusader integrated into the story in a meaningful way.
10Batman (Diedrich Bader)
Speaking of which, it wouldn’t be a series set near Gotham without Batman himself.Voiced by Diedrich Baderthis time around, even Batman isn’t immune to a slight shake-up in his personality. He still maintains his monosyllabic disposition, but there’s more of a vulnerable side to his crime-fighting antics here. His stubbornness has been amplified ten-fold, and the emotional trauma from his past plays a far greater role in how he interacts with both heroes and villains alike. His relationship with Catwoman plays a significant role in how he functions in the overall story, and without spoiling anything, it presents a side of Bruce Wayne that we rarely get a chance to see.
9Batgirl (Briana Cuoco)
Another member of theBat Family, Batgirl, is another interesting addition to Harley Quinn’s cast. The daughter of Jim Gordon, Batgirl only takes up her crime-fighting persona after aiding Harley Quinn’s victory over the Riddler. From there, the two maintain a positive relationship as Batgirl attempts to sway Harley away from her life of crime. In the middle of this, she also finds herself confronting her father on multiple occasions, as well as being an upbeat member of the Bat Family in the presence of Robin and Nightwing. She’s a refreshing shake-up whenever she’s on-screen, trading crass humor for a surprisingly heroic attitude.
8Doctor Psycho (Tony Hale)
In his only animated appearance to date, Doctor Psycho was certainly an interesting pull fromDC’s collection of villains. Voiced by Tony Hale, Doctor Psycho was originally a villain for Wonder Woman before getting incorporated into Harley Quinn’s crew. He’s one of the most distinct characters in the series, matching his strange appearance with a hilariously bitter personality. While his prominence in the cast would be lessened in the more recent seasons ofHarley Quinn, he remains as yet another hilarious revitalization of DC’s vintage villains.
7Joker (Alan Tudyk)
The Joker is always a masterful villain, and that’s no exception inHarley Quinn. Even when everyone is a villain, the Joker goes that extra mile to be the ultimate bad guy. Joker’s indifference and mistreatment of Harley were what led to her leaving him and becoming her own villain. There’s much talk about the mythical, grandiose, larger-than-life, almost demonic Joker that Heath Ledger played and the malevolent trickster thatMark Hamill portrayedin the animated universe.
This is for good reason, as both Jokers are good in their own way, but the Joker inHarley Quinngets points for portraying the character as an unpleasant narcissist without demeaning the character. For all the mythologizing, the Joker is a human, and Harley Quinn is faced with the very human reality that he never cared about anyone but himself.
6Clayface (Alan Tudyk)
Clayface is a surprisingly charming and funny character. He’s been reinvented as an overly dramatic aspiring actor who often has dramatic backstories when he shape-shifts to disguise himself as people for a mission. He can be a bit one-note, as most of his jokes revolve around him being an actor, but in general, he has enough personality and sells the idea of being an actor who is also a villain very well. Clayface also pulls off the physical comedy well, as he is able to survive lots of goofy damage that would kill other characters, like being decapitated, but also he can be the most expressive of the characters, having a literal face of clay.
5King Shark (Ron Funches)
King Shark is a fun character because of his swings between pleasant likability and murderous bloodlust. The show gives the character a lot of humanity, too, and he’s a bit more well-rounded than some of his colleagues in theHarley Quinngang like Clayface. Shark has a few moments that define his character, especially in season two when he mentions his loyalty to the crew as one reason he will be staying above the surface. Shark also has a lot of shark-related jokes that stem from his ocean heritage. The voice actor, Ron Funches, really helps sell a lot of his lines with his performance.
4Kite Man (Matt Oberg)
While most other characters on this list are characters who are made funny by the show, Kite Man is a joke character who is sometimes given pathos byHarley Quinn. They don’t have to work particularly hard to make his whole gimmick seem ridiculous, but they do go the extra mile by exaggerating the comic Kite Man’s more mistakenly overconfident nature. What makes him work is that the show is merciless in its mockery of Kite Man, to the point where you really feel sorry for him.
Kite Man’s culminating moment is in season two, where he realizes that Ivy will not admit that she doesn’t really love him and breaks off the engagement. He eventually finds love again with Golden Glider andhas a spin-off series in the works. This is a case of a minor character who has become such a big hit audiences can’t wait to see more of.
3Bane (James Adomian)
Bane is, perhaps, the most out-of-character from his comic incarnation, yet he still manages to be hilarious. Bane inHarley Quinnis more a parody ofThe Dark Knight RisesBane, or at least his distinctive and somewhat silly way of speaking is. Despite having not too much connection to the comic character, he manages to be a fun side character audiences get to see quite often.
Related:How DC’s Bane Has Been Misrepresented in Film So Far
Bane ends up as somewhat adorably lame, at one point attempting to do magic and screwing it up. It’s also sometimes funny to just see him saying somewhat mundane things in the Bane voice he does. Bane is a great example of having fun with a very serious character and somehow making him more enduring in this incarnation.
