Pre-Crisis Duela Dent first appeared as the Joker's Daughter in the
Batman Family series of comic books. She gained the attention of
Robin (Dick Grayson), as she later claimed to be the daughter of the
Catwoman, the
Scarecrow, the
Riddler and the
Penguin. She deduced Robin's identity and he revealed that she was Duela Dent,
Two-Face's daughter. Duela claimed that she wanted to join the
Teen Titans to atone for her father's crimes; however, not all of the members of the Titans were in favor of this idea. In
Teen Titans #48, she changed her name to the
Harlequin. As the Harlequin, Duela utilized gimmicks such as smoke-inducing powder puffs and bullet-firing lipstick. After the
Teen Titans comic books were canceled, she popped up in the
Batman titles, calling herself the
Card Queen while infiltrating a criminal organization called MAZE. Duela's last Pre-
Crisis appearance is in
Tales of The Teen Titans #50, as a guest at
Donna 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.
Post-Crisis 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 the
Team 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. However, due to the cancellation of the series, plans for her to return were aborted. The final issue of
Team Titans solicited a non-existent story for
Team 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. In
Teen Titans #43,
Miss Martian and Cyborg arrive at Belle Reve prison to question their former teammate
Bombshell, who has betrayed the team.
Risk and
Batgirl arrive and Batgirl kills Bombshell by slitting her throat with a
batarang. Duela and
Enigma 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 of
Raven, 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.
Countdown Duela appears in the first issue of
Countdown. She abducts a teen celebrity from a nightclub, only to be stopped by
Jason Todd. She claims that she comes from an
alternate Earth. After escaping, Duela is killed by a
Monitor, who states, "This world is not yours. Your presence in it is not tolerated. The penalty is death." When informed of Duela's death, the Joker says that he never had a daughter. 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 was
not".
Dan DiDio, editor-in-chief of DC, has stated that Duela's murder would have a ripple effect throughout the series.
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. In
Countdown Presents The Search for Ray Palmer: Crime Society it is revealed that
Earth-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-3
Riddler, 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 with
Talon,
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 by
Ultraman and Three-Face's arm was torn off by
Superwoman; the Jokester managed to flee until he is later tracked down and killed by Solomon, the Monitor who killed Duela.
The New 52 In September 2011,
The New 52 rebooted DC's continuity. In this new timeline, Duela Dent is re-established in
Catwoman #23. The character was featured in the "
Villains Month" one-shot comic book,
Batman: The Dark Knight #23.4 and, in early 2014, the character was further explored in yet another one-shot. In the aftermath of
Death of the Family, in which the
Joker seemingly falls to his death, his face (which he previously had cut off) 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 the
Dollmaker, 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. Much to the dismay of fellow member
Harley Quinn, the Joker's Daughter is recruited as part of the
New Suicide Squad. Critical and fan reactions to
The New 52 version of the Joker's Daughter have been mixed. ==Powers and abilities==