Before a single page of The Suicide Squad came together, James Gunn already had Harley Quinn stealing the spotlight. The director revealed that her unforgettable monologue to President Luna wasn’t just a key moment, it was the very first thing he wrote for the film. “Harley’s speech to bleeding Luna is one of the first things I wrote before I even started the screenplay. It’s her version of personal growth,” Gunn shared on Twitter.
And fans were all in. Responses flooded in, with one calling the speech “so Harley” and another praising how the film “zigs when you expect it to zag.” That scene didn’t just capture attention, it captured Harley’s evolution. And it proved Gunn had a real grip on her chaos-meets-clarity vibe.
Harley Quinn had already been through a wild ride by then. First unleashed in live action in 2016’s Suicide Squad, Margot Robbie turned the Joker’s infamous partner into a cultural storm. With her explosive charisma, bat-swinging unpredictability, and “I’m crazy, but cute” edge, she took Harley beyond just another comic-book sidekick.
Robbie reprised the role in Birds of Prey in 2020, digging deeper into Harley’s psyche and shedding the Joker baggage. By the time The Suicide Squad dropped in 2021, Harley had grown sharper, wilder, and a whole lot more independent, and Gunn’s pre-script speech nailed that arc. That Luna moment wasn’t just a badass flex. It was Harley leveling up.
Behind all the action, it was still Robbie driving the madness. The Australian actress, who broke into Hollywood opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in The Wolf of Wall Street, had turned Harley into one of DC’s most beloved characters. Critics raved. Fans obsessed. And Gunn? He clearly knew exactly how to write for her.
But it hadn’t been all laughs and chaos. After back-to-back shoots for Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad, Robbie admitted she needed a breather. “It was kind of back-to-back filming Birds… and filming this, so I was kind of like, oof, I need a break from Harley because she’s exhausting,” she told Looper. She didn’t rule out a return, just hit pause.
So while Harley Quinn’s cinematic fate hung in the air, Gunn had already left his mark. That speech, penned before anything else, gave fans a moment of clarity amid the chaos. It showed a side of Harley that felt raw, honest, and, in Gunn’s words, full of “personal growth.”
No matter when Robbie suits up again, that Luna speech will stand as one of the most Harley things ever. And the fact that Gunn wrote it first? Just proves he understood her long before the bullets started flying.
