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Duela Dent
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Duela Dent is a fictional character in the DC Universe. She is a former member of the Teen Titans and current member of Titans East. She has used the aliases Joker's Daughter, Catgirl, Scarecrone, Riddler's Daughter, Penguin's Daughter, Harlequin and Card Queen.
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In Pre-Crisis history, Duela Dent first appeared as Joker's Daughter in the Batman Family series of comic books. She then gained the attention of Robin as she later claimed to be the daughter of Catwoman, Scarecrow, Riddler, and Penguin. She found out Robin's identity and he revealed her identity as that of Duela Dent, Two-Face's daughter.
Duela claimed she wanted to join the Teen Titans to make up for her father's crimes. Not everyone was for this idea. In Teen Titans #48 she changed her identity to Harlequin. As Harlequin, Duela utilized gimmicks such as smoke-cloud inducing powder puffs and bullet-firing lipstick.
After the Teen Titans comic books were canceled, she popped up in the Batman comic books. During two issues, she called herself Card Queen while infiltrating a criminal organization called MAZE.
Her last Pre-Crisis appearance was in Tales Of The Teen Titans #50, as a guest at Donna Troy's wedding. She was retconned as being too old to ever have been the daughter of Two-Face. Before the identity of her actual father can be found out, she disappears.
Delusional and schizophrenic, the mysterious Harlequin has been in and out mental institutions for several years. An acrobat who possesses numerous "clown-motif" gadgets, she has been called Duela Dent, but her true identity remains unknown.
Her first significant Post-Crisis appearance was in the Team Titans comic book, as a patient in a mental hospital. The writers of the title originally planned to reveal that Harlequin was a time traveling member of the Teen Titans who had gone insane from the shock of time travel and her separation from her fellow Team Titan cell members.[citation needed]
Due to the cancellation of the series, plans for her to return to the team in a storyline where she steals a reality-altering device and warp New York City back to a replica of the late 1970s version of itself were aborted. However, the final issue of Team Titans jokingly solicited the story as occurring in Team Titans #25, as a final joke towards its cancellation.[citation needed]
Harlequin next aided the Titans during the Technis Imperative, when Cyborg's automated system sought out all Titans allies, past and present. Although she was still in a mental institution at the time, Duela was rescued by Cyborg and helped battle the Justice League for Cyborg's soul. Following this she made a brief appearance in a bar in Titans Secret Files #1, insisting to anyone who would listen that the Titans would soon be contacting her about membership. She also claimed she was the daughter of Doomsday.
Duela's next appearance would be in the Titans Secret Files #2, in a backup story in which Gar's obnoxious cousin Matt decided to hold a membership drive for the new version of Teen Titans West, "Titans L.A." Harlequin crashed the official meeting-turned-party with a small group of villains, including Beast Boy's enemies Fear and Loathing, simply because she hadn't been invited. Flamebird and Terra defeated her and returned her to The Helping House Mental Institution in Industry, California. No explanation was given as to where she found the dangerous villains that aided her party-crashing.
In the same comic, a feature on former Titans stated that all her claims as to who her father was had been disproved, except one. No further information was given.
In a short story contained in the Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files #2, Duela is inexplicably socializing with several villains on their secret satellite headquarters. In this short back-up tale, Duela makes a handful of wild claims as to her parentage, all of which are dismissed by the non-plussed villains. The only new wrinkle added to her tale in this story was a claim that she had been resucitated by the Lazarus Pit and, most interestingly, that her mother may actually be the villainous parent she has always claimed.
Duela returned to action alongside almost every former Titans member against Dr. Light in Teen Titans (vol. 3) and again in Infinite Crisis #4 and Teen Titans #32 against Superboy-Prime.
One Year Later, it was mentioned that both the Joker's Daughter and the Riddler's Daughter were members during the lost year gap. Currently, she is a member of the splinter group Titans East, with writer Geoff 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." [1]
In Teen Titans #43, Miss Martian and Cyborg arrive at Belle Reve prison to question their former team mate Bombshell, who was had been revealed as a traitor. Risk and Batgirl arrive, and Batgirl murders Bombshell by slitting her throat with a razor sharp batarang. Then Duela and Enigma cut the prison's power supply, which allows the inmates to escape and attack Miss Martian and Cyborg.
During the attack, Enigma implies the duo may be sisters when she comments to Duela: "Wait'll dear old daddy gets a load of us!'
In #44, the two have Raven chained down in a room full of mirrors, torturing her psychologically.
Over the years, Duela has claimed, whether seriously or in jest, to be the offspring of the following DC Universe villains:
- The Joker
- Two-Face
- Catwoman
- Scarecrow
- Riddler
- The Penguin
- Wildebeest
- Doomsday
- Dr. Light
- Punch and Jewelee
In Titans Secret Files #2, it is stated that her father has been identified, however nothing was ever revealed. However, she has recently hinted that her villainous parent is actually her mother, and not her father. The mystery of Duela Dent's true identity continues today.
When creator Bob Rozakis was asked "What do you think of the current insane version of Duela Dent, who claims to be the daughter of multiple supervillains?", he 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 any more and felt they had to explain her away because of continuity, but they could have just as easily ignored her. Actually, I consider Harley Quinn to be a reincarnation of Duela." [2]
In the "Titans Tomorrow" storyline (which took place in a possible future), Duela destroyed Arkham Asylum and tried to reconcile with her father, who ignored her. In a fit of rage she killed Batgirl, Alfred Pennyworth, and Bette Kane. She was also responsible for doing something to members of the GCPD, specifically Crispus Allen. She again called herself Joker's Daughter, and traded chattering teeth and riddles for more deadly accessories. She was shot to death by Batman IV, Tim Drake of the future. Before she was killed she hinted that she knew more about him when he was younger.
A new Joker's Daughter appeared in the Kingdom Come mini-series and The Kingdom: Offspring # 1. She is described as a riot girl, who is "one of many to follow the Joker's chaotic style." She is not related to either Duela Dent or the Joker.
A female version of the Joker appeared as part of DC's Tangent Comics line in her own one-shot (Tangent Comics: The Joker) in 1997. This Joker bore little resemblance to the traditional interpretation of the character, and instead was modeled on Duela Dent.
In Teen Titans Go!, the comic book based off of the animated series, Kitten, the daughter of Killer Moth, took a certain revenge against him for not taking her on vacation in #41. She committed crimes disguised as Mad Maud, the daughter of Mad Mod, Joystick, the daughter of Control Freak, Marionette, the daughter of the Puppet King, Pink X the daughter of Red X, Gemini, the daughter of Madame Rouge, Mademoiselle Mallah, the daughter of Monsieur Mallah, Ravager, the daughter of Slade, and Daughter Blood, the daughter of Brother Blood. Duela Dent's character seems to have inspired this issue's event, and she is even mentioned in the comic as the Joker's Daughter.