FanSided 250: Was Harley Quinn snubbed by the 2020 rankings?

FanSided 250 looks at the top 250 fandoms in the world, but does that list include Harley Quinn?

Harley Quinn is one of the most popular fictional characters of all time. Her character has transcended comic book for years – so much so that she’s been among the most popular Halloween costumes for most of the decade.

This year, she made her debut as the main character in a comic book movie. So far, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the highest grossing comic book movie of the year. This may change when Wonder Woman 1984 comes out later this month, but she nonetheless began the year with a bang.

For that reason alone, Harley should be among the elite on the FanSided 250. Unfortunately, Harley has been snubbed from this year’s list.

Harley Quinn the movie

Harley Quinn kicked all sorts of butt in the Birds of Prey movie. The film raked in $201.8 million against a budget of $84 million. Quinn being in this project made her a major player in the comic book movie industry and brought light to lesser-known characters like Huntress, Black Mask, and Victor Zsasz. Now, when these characters appear, people will have a point of reference. They may even go back and learn more about them in the comics.

Harley is part of the reason that people have regained faith in the DC Comics movie universe. It showed that their films could keep the dark, gritty tone, but also be fun and bright. If Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey wasn’t well-received, moviegoers may not have been excited to see The Suicide Squad. Their buzz can be directly tied to the success of Harley Quinn’s movie.

Yes, Harley has a lot of big-screen fans. And then there’s the small screen…

Harley Quinn the cartoon

Harley Quinn was a resounding success for the DC Universe, garnering a ton of fans to the streamer and introducing a ton of fans to the character. It’ll also be a bonus for people to get HBO Max now that it’s exclusive to that streaming service.

Every Friday, people tuned in to see what Harley and her crew would do next. And every week, Harley and her team would find a way to do something more ridiculous than the previous episode. Sometimes the focus was the main characters and others, it focused on something random like a talking crab singing about relieving themselves in the water.

It wasn’t just the shenanigans. The show had moments that were incredibly deep. Harley and Poison Ivy coming to terms with their feelings for each other and the constant message of equality were crucial to the show’s popularity. You couldn’t get fans to stop talking about how great everything was. They even found a way to make Joker to be a likable person.

Not seeing the Harley Quinn fandom appear on the FanSided 250 was disappointing after they enjoyed such a huge year for the character. We haven’t even gotten into her role in The Joker War. Without her, Batman would be dead. Yet another reason why Harley Quinn being left out of the FanSided 250 is unfortunate for the Harley Quinn fans.

Hopefully next year will be different with The Suicide Squad’s release!

What do you think? Should Harley Quinn have been on this year’s list? Let us know in the comments below!