Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) makes references both big and small to Suicide Squad throughout the movie. The film follows Harley Quinn striking out on her own after breaking up with The Joker, and finding herself pursued by everyone she ever wronged during her time with Mr. J. Though Harley thinks she’s found a way out of her predicament by retrieving a stolen diamond for Gotham City’s rising crime boss Roman Sionis aka Black Mask, she is soon forced to team up with Black Canary, Huntress, Renee Montoya, and Cassandra Cain to bring down Sionis once and for all.

Despite the presence of her aforementioned allies, the movie is very much Harley’s story (which is further exemplified by its updated theatrical listing as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey). At a glance, the movie might seem fairly distant from its predecessor, due to Harley being the only character from Suicide Squad to appear in the movie, with Jared Leto not appearing as The Joker despite his and Harley’s break up being the catalyst for the events of the film. The movie also offers what could be a tiny retcon of Harley’s request of an espresso machine at the end of Suicide Squad, with Harley listing her pronunciation of it as “expresso” as being among Black Mask’s many grievances towards her. However, Birds of Prey not only doesn’t sever ties with Suicide Squad, but repeatedly goes out of its way to remind audiences that it was the last place they had seen Harley on the big screen.

To be sure, Birds of Prey works well enough as a standalone story that moviegoers who haven’t seen Suicide Squad can follow it with no major difficulty, with the film’s animated introductory sequence getting viewers up to speed on Harley’s past with The Joker in no time. Nevertheless, the repeated references the movie makes to the events of Suicide Squad make very clear that it is very much a continuation of Harley’s story as seen in that film. Here are all the ways in which Birds of Prey references Suicide Squad.

Harley Quinn Blowing Up ACE Chemicals

The first and arguably biggest direct reference that Birds of Prey makes to Suicide Squad comes early in the movie. Following Harley’s break up from The Joker, she attempts to solidify her newfound freedom to Gotham City and to herself by running a fuel truck into ACE Chemicals. As the plant goes up in flames, Harley walks away in satisfaction, knowing that she’s definitively cut ties with Mr. J once and for all (though he remains a major point of reference throughout the film.)

ACE Chemicals is significant in the movie’s ties to Suicide Squad, as it was the very location where Harley pledged her fealty to the Joker. What’s more, Birds of Prey even intercuts Harley’s destruction of ACE Chemicals with footage from Suicide Squad. Through both Harley’s narration and the interwoven footage from Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey creates an unambiguous link between the two movies right out of the gate.

Gotham PD Has A Wanted Poster For Captain Boomerang

Suicide Squad is referenced once again during Harley’s raid of the Gotham City Police Station to find Cassandra Cain. After Harley learns where Cassandra is being held in the precinct, she turns around to retrieve her and sees a Wanted poster on the wall. Recognizing the man on the poster as Digger Harkness aka Captain Boomerang, Harley comments, “Hey, I know that guy!”

Boomerang, of course, was previously portrayed by Jai Courtney in Suicide Squad, where both he and Harley alongside numerous other villains were recruited by Amanda Waller into stopping Enchantress. With Boomerang now having his face on a Wanted poster, this indicates that he managed to escape from prison some time after the end of Suicide Squad. Both Margot Robbie and Jai Courtney are also set to reprise their respective roles in next year’s The Suicide Squad, meaning that the scene also serves as a brief but notable lead-in to their reunion in the movie.

Harley’s Monologue In The Grocery Store

Birds of Prey creates another clear link between itself and Suicide Squad later in the movie when Harley Quinn and Cassandra Cain are in a grocery store. After displaying her own talent for misdirection by freeing herself from the handcuffs Harley has placed her in, Cassandra expresses admiration for Harley, and asks how she can be more like her. Harley, in turn, responds that this is an impossible aim for Cassandra to achieve, and proceeds to explain why.

Harley Quinn then gives a rapid-fire rundown of every event she experiences in Suicide Squad, from the beginnings of her relationship with The Joker and her capture by Batman, to her being recruited into the Suicide Squad and her subsequent escape from prison and break-up with The Joker. Additionally, when the two return to Harley’s apartment, Cassandra is stunned by the sight of Harley having a pet hyena, leading Harley to reference Suicide Squad from a different angle, telling Cassandra “I named him Bruce after that hunky Wayne guy.”

Though Bruce Wayne only appeared unmasked to Amanda Waller in Suicide Squad, Harley Quinn’s reference to him nevertheless offers another unmistakable strand of connective tissue with Suicide Squad on top of her monologue in the grocery store. Indeed, Batman is referenced in Birds of Prey as frequently as The Joker himself, including at the end of Birds of Prey’s credits.

Harley’s Shirt With Sentimental Value

Birds of Prey manages to fit in one more direct tie to Suicide Squad in its final act as Harley Quinn, Cassandra Cain, Black Canary, Huntress, and Renee Montoya prepare to battle Black Mask’s army of henchmen in Harley and The Joker’s old amusement park hideout. With the group opening a chest full of limited supplies for battle, Montoya reaches in an pulls out a T-shirt. Harley then takes the shirt back, saying that it has “sentimental value”.

It turns out, she has good reason to feel this way, as this is the exact shirt that Harley Quinn wears in Suicide Squad. The shirt is easily recognizable due to the “Daddy’s Lil Monster” slogan written across it, and what’s more, Harley’s attachment to it may actually be a minor aspect of her character arc in the movie. Specifically, although she has broken up with The Joker and grown significantly as a character in her efforts to move on from him, she may still retain some degree of lingering affection for him, or at least of their time together, in the back of her mind.

With all of these taken together, it is crystal clear that Birds of Prey is definitely intended as a continuation of Harley Quinn’s story in Suicide Squad. What’s more, the reference made to Captain Boomerang specifically allows the movie to both tie directly into Suicide Squad while also serving as a bridge connecting it to The Suicide Squad next year. Although the specifics of how Harley is set to rejoin the team of villains once more in the latter remain unknown, the numerous references that Birds of Prey drops to Suicide Squad definitively solidifies the bond between the two.

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