| Duela Dent | |
|---|---|
 Promotional artwork of Duela Dent as Joker's Daughter. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | DC Comics |
| First appearance | Batman Family #6 (August 1976) |
| Created by | Bob Rozakis |
| In-story information | |
| Alter ego | Duela Dent Napier Nigma |
| Species | Human |
| Team affiliations | Titans East The Riddler Family Suicide Squad |
| Notable aliases | The Joker's Daughter Catgirl the Catwoman's Daughter Scarecrone the Scarecrow's Daughter Riddler's Daughter Penguin's Daughter Harlequin Card Queen Joker Riddler |
| Abilities |
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Duela Dent is a fictional character in theDC Universe. She is a former member of theSuicide Squad, theTeen Titans and its counterpart,Titans East. Introduced under the alias of theJoker's Daughter, she has also used aliases:Catgirl theCatwoman's Daughter,Scarecrone theScarecrow's Daughter, theRiddler's Daughter, thePenguin's Daughter, theCard Queen, and theHarlequin. She first appeared inBatman Family #6 (Jul/Aug 1976).[1]
Alessandra Torresani portrayed Duela Dent in theArrowverse seriesBatwoman.Olivia Rose Keegan portrays Duela inGotham Knights.
Duela Dent first appeared as the Joker's Daughter in theBatman Family series of comic books. She gained the attention ofRobin (Dick Grayson), as she later claimed to be the daughter of theCatwoman, theScarecrow, theRiddler and thePenguin. She deduced Robin's identity and he revealed that she was Duela Dent,Two-Face's daughter.[2]
Duela claimed that she wanted to join theTeen Titans to atone for her father's crimes; however, not all of the members of the Titans were in favor of this idea. InTeen Titans #48, she changed her name to theHarlequin. As the Harlequin, Duela utilized gimmicks such as smoke-inducing powder puffs and bullet-firing lipstick.
After theTeen Titans comic books were canceled, she popped up in theBatman titles, calling herself theCard Queen while infiltrating a criminal organization called MAZE.[3]
Duela's last Pre-Crisis appearance is inTales of The Teen Titans #50, as a guest atDonna Troy's wedding where she appears to be a middle-aged matron. Dick Grayson notes that he had finally realized that she was too old to be Two-Face's daughter; she agrees, then disappears before he can take the matter further.
Delusional and schizophrenic, the mysterious Harlequin has been in and out of mental institutions for several years. An acrobat who possesses numerous "clown-motif" gadgets, she calls herself Duela Dent (while her true identity remains unknown) and acts as an ally to the Titans.
Her first significant Post-Crisis appearance was in theTeam Titans comic book, as an aged patient in a mental hospital. The writers of the title originally planned to reveal that Harlequin was a time-traveling member of the Team Titans driven insane by her time-warping experience.[4] However, due to the cancellation of the series, plans for her to return were aborted. The final issue ofTeam Titans solicited a non-existent story forTeam Titans #25 and provided a commentary on the title's cancellation. In the solicitation, Duela steals a reality-altering device and shifts New York City into the late 1970s.[4] Duela's appearance inTeam Titans is now regarded as a time glitch caused byZero Hour: Crisis in Time.
Reappearing at her proper age, the Harlequin aided the Titans during theJLA/Titans: Technis Imperative series, in whichCyborg's automated system seeks out all Titans allies, past and present. Although she is in a mental institution, Duela is rescued by Cyborg and helps battle theJustice League for Cyborg's soul. In the series, she is described as a former Titans ally. Duela then makes a brief appearance inTitansSecret Files and Origins #1, insisting to anyone who would listen that the Titans would soon contact her about membership. In the story, she also claims that she is the daughter ofDoomsday.
Duela's next appearance is inTitans Secret Files and Origins #2, in a backup story in whichBeast Boy's cousin Matt holds a membership drive for the revived West Coast branch of the Titans,Titans L.A. Harlequin crashes the meeting-turned-party with a small group of villains, including Beast Boy's enemies Fear and Loathing, simply because she has not been invited.Flamebird andTerra defeat her and return her to the Helping House Mental Institution in Industry, California. How she met up with the dangerous villains with whom she crashed the party is unexplained. In the same comic, a feature states that her claims regarding her paternity have been disproved, save one; no further information is provided.
In a short story contained inTeen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files and Origins #2, Duela socializes with several villains at their secret satellite headquarters and makes a series of wild claims regarding her parentage, all of which are dismissed by the nonplussed villains (she claims that she has been resuscitated by a Lazarus Pit and that her mother may actually be the villainous parent).
Duela returned to action alongside the assembled Titans who facedDoctor Light inTeen Titans (vol. 3), andSuperboy-Prime inInfinite Crisis #4 andTeen Titans #32. She later appeared in a double-page spread that was added in theInfinite Crisis hardcover collected edition.
The Joker's Daughter andEnigma both served on the Teen Titans during the lost year. Duela is a member of the splinter groupTitans East, with writerGeoff Johns stating: "Yeah. We're going to really get into her.Tony Daniel did an amazing redesign on the Joker's daughter for Titans East".[5]
InTeen Titans #43,Miss Martian and Cyborg arrive at Belle Reve prison to question their former teammateBombshell, who has betrayed the team.Risk andBatgirl arrive and Batgirl kills Bombshell by slitting her throat with abatarang. Duela andEnigma cut the prison's power supply, allowing the inmates to escape and attack Miss Martian and Cyborg. During the attack, Enigma comments to Duela: "Wait'll dear old daddy gets a load of us!" The two are the captors and tormentors ofRaven, whom they torture psychologically. Duela reveals that she joined Titans East simply because they asked. Raven points out that Duela has always been an ally of the Titans and offers her membership on the team. Duela accepts the invitation by punching Enigma and fights alongside the Titans against Titans East. When the battle ends, Duela and Batgirl disappear.
Duela appears in the first issue ofCountdown. She abducts a teen celebrity from a nightclub, only to be stopped byJason Todd. She claims that she comes from analternate Earth. After escaping, Duela is killed by aMonitor, who states, "This world is not yours. Your presence in it is not tolerated. The penalty is death."[6] When informed of Duela's death, the Joker says that he never had a daughter.[7] The Monitor of New Earth suggests that Duela's father is actually an alternate version of the Joker, indicating "She didn't belong [...] making others think she was the Joker's daughter. Which on that world, she most certainly wasnot".[8]Dan DiDio, editor-in-chief of DC, has stated that Duela's murder would have a ripple effect throughout the series.[9]Nightwing, Robin, Donna Troy, Wonder Girl and Ravager set out to investigate Duela's death, but their inquiries are cut short by one of the Monitors, who diverts their attention elsewhere.[10]
InCountdown Presents The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society it is revealed thatEarth-3's heroic version of the Joker, the Jokester, is the father of Duela Dent and that her mother was Evelyn Dent, Three-Face (the Earth-3 version of Two-Face). She was raised by Three-Face and her stepfather, the Earth-3Riddler, and together the three formed the Riddler Family. When she was finally introduced to her birth father, she dropped cryptic hints implying that she or her consciousness shifts unknowingly from Earth to Earth, which is the source of her parental confusion. When the Jokester joined the Riddler Family, Duela revealed that she had been in a relationship withTalon,Owlman's teenaged sidekick. The Jokester renounced her as his daughter and Duela left with Talon moments before the Crime Society stormed their apartment. The Riddler was killed byUltraman and Three-Face's arm was torn off bySuperwoman; the Jokester managed to flee until he is later tracked down and killed by Solomon, the Monitor who killed Duela.
In September 2011,The New 52rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Duela Dent is re-established inCatwoman #23.[11] The character was featured in the "Villains Month" one-shot comic book,Batman: The Dark Knight #23.4[12] and, in early 2014, the character was further explored in yet another one-shot.[13] In the aftermath ofDeath of the Family, in which theJoker seemingly falls to his death,[14] his face (which he previously had cut off)[15] is found by a psychotic young woman living in the sewers. The woman wears the severed flesh as a mask, dubbing herself "the Joker's Daughter". She becomes obsessed with not only serving the Joker, but also with having his blood course inside of her, so she can truly become his "daughter". Refusing to accept the Joker's apparent death, she begins harming, murdering and destroying other people and property, to find him and get his attention. This leads her to theDollmaker, who is responsible for removing the Joker's face per his request. After making a deal with each other, Dollmaker gives the Joker's Daughter vials of her "father's" blood, so she could inject it into her veins, and he sews the Joker's face onto hers. After failing to find her "father", the Joker's Daughter gives up hope until she receives a note from someone claiming to be the Joker.[13]
DuringBatman: Eternal, Joker's Daughter participates in the mass scheme against Batman, including attempting to use the spirits of Arkham to 'resurrect' her father in the body ofMaxie Zeus-only to summon the spirit ofDeacon Blackfire instead-and later confronts Batgirl at the carnival where the Joker tookCommissioner Gordon after shooting Barbara (as portrayed inBatman: The Killing Joke).
The Joker later returns in theEndgame storyline, very much alive.[16]
Much to the dismay of fellow memberHarley Quinn, the Joker's Daughter is recruited as part of theNew Suicide Squad.[17]
Critical and fan reactions toThe New 52 version of the Joker's Daughter have been mixed.[18][19]
Duela Dent is an expert at acrobatics and armed combat.
Duela Dent has claimed to be the offspring of the following villains:
Duela is originally depicted as the daughter of Two-Face and his estranged wife,Gilda Dent. CreatorBob Rozakis stated, "It didn't take too long to decide whose daughter she would turn out to be. After all, the only married villain was Two-Face. I convinced [editorJulius Schwartz and associate editorE. Nelson Bridwell, the acknowledged keeper of DC's historical consistency] that Harvey and Gilda Dent had a daughter, that Harvey had been disappointed because she wasn't a twin, and that they'd named her Duela".[23] Rozakis, upon being asked his thought regarding the current insane version of Duela Dent, who claims to be the daughter of multiple supervillains, replied: "I got a laugh out of it when I first saw it, but I thought they wasted the character. I realize that Marv and company didn't want her around anymore and felt they had to explain her away because of continuity, but they could have just as easily ignored her. Actually, I considerHarley Quinn to be a reincarnation of Duela".[23]
It is later revealed that the Earth-3 hero the Jokester is her biological father andThree-Face, Evelyn Dent, is her mother. Since Evelyn disappeared from Duela's father's life while she was still pregnant, he was not aware of Duela's existence until her teen years. As a result, Duela's stepfather, theRiddler, helped Evelyn raise her. Upon meeting the Joker, Duela started calling herself the Joker's Daughter, even though her real father's hero name was theJokester.
InInfinite Crisis #6,Alexander Luthor Jr. creates multiple Earths. On Earth-154, Superman and Batman, along with their sons Superman Jr. and Batman Jr. (theSuper-Sons), round up two young, female versions of the Joker and Riddler, along with the daughter of Lex Luthor, Ardora.
InKingdom Come, there isa new Joker's Daughter, identified as both theJoker's Daughter and theHarlequin in annotations for the series and according toAlex Ross.
TheKingdom Come Revelations supplement[24] adds the following: "Along with Batman's apparent influence on others to follow his style, so has the Joker inspired a few to take after his chaotic clown style. The original Joker's Daughter (who actually turned out to be Two-Face's Daughter) was a former member of the Teen Titans and has no direct relation to this new "riot girl" version, nor is there a true familial relation to the Joker".
The Joker's Daughter II is modeled onJill Thompson, a writer/artist; Thompson is Chicago-based, as is Alex Ross. Austin Loomis adds that Thompson has occasionally drawn herself into stories that she was illustrating for Vertigo.
It is noted throughout this series that the Joker's Daughter II is always quite dour and serious, quite the change from her namesake, and another example of the generational-clash theme ofKingdom Come. Following the death of Von Bach, Ex1Machina points out that the Joker's Daughter II has undergone a drastic makeup change, with a tear tattooed beneath her eye. She is one of the few characters to survive the final battle in #4. She later reappeared inThe Kingdom:Offspring #1.
A female version of the Joker appeared as part of DC'sTangent Comics line in her own one-shots (Tangent Comics: The Joker #1 in 1997 andTangent Comics: The Joker's Wild! #1 in 1998). This Joker bore little resemblance to the traditional interpretation of the character and instead was modeled on Duela Dent.
InTeen Titans Go! #41,Killer Moth's daughter Kitten masquerades as the child of numerous other villains. WriterJ. Torres confirmed that her motives were inspired by Duela Dent.[25]
Duela Dent frequently appears in theTiny Titans series as the Joker's Daughter. She often antagonizesRobin, who informs her inTiny Titans #17 that there are no clowns allowed at his birthday party. On many occasions, she has tried to kiss him. InTiny Titans #25, she briefly, (though accidentally) becomes a member of theSinestro Corps when she wears a ring thatStarfire buys at a pawn shop. During theTiny Titans/Little Archie miniseries, she andLittle Archie are discovered in theBatcave by Batman. Duela then states she is "looking for Robbie". Batman, assuming that Little Archie is the Joker's son, then calls the Joker and tells him to come over and pick up both his kids.
In theTitans Tomorrow storyline (which took place in a possible future), Duela destroyedArkham Asylum and tried to reconcile with her father, who ignored her. In a fit of rage she killedBatgirl (Cassandra Cain),Alfred Pennyworth andBette Kane. She was also responsible for doing something to members of the GCPD, specificallyCrispus Allen. She again called herself the Joker's Daughter and traded chattering teeth and riddles for more deadly accessories. She was shot to death byBatman IV,Tim Drake of the future. Before she was killed, she hinted that she knew more about him when he was younger.
In theAme-Comi storyline, an alternate universe where all the superheroes and villains are teen and 'tween female counterparts to theEarth One versions, Duela Dent appears as this continuity's "Joker". She is the daughter of Jack "the Joker" Dent, a criminal shot and paralyzed by "Jim Gordon". Duela is Gotham's most dangerous criminal and the main antagonist to this continuity's "Batgirl" and Robin (Carrie Kelly Gordon).
In the alternate timeline of theFlashpoint event, Harvey Dent has twin children who are kidnapped byJoker.[26] ChiefJames Gordon locates Joker with Dent's children inWayne Manor and goes in without any backup. Gordon is tricked into shooting Dent's daughter, as she has been taped to a chair and disguised as the Joker. The Joker then appears and kills Gordon beforeBatman arrives.[27] Batman rushes in and manages to save the daughter. Batman then moves them away from the Joker.[28]
In theDC Bombshells continuity, the Joker's Daughter serves under theThird Reich duringWorld War II and helps theNazi cause by keeping magic users such asRaven andZatanna under her control. She is eventually defeated by the Bombshells - Raven, Zatanna, andMiri Marvel.
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