When our first look at 2016's Suicide Squad was revealed, the response to the tattoos covering The Joker and Harley Quinn was mostly negative. Given what a departure this body art was from the comic books, that's not overly surprising, but the biggest issue for many fans what the tattoos actually said!
We all know how ridiculous the Clown Prince of Crime's "Damaged" tattoo was (which is probably why it vanished in Zack Snyder's Justice League), but Harley's "Rotten" ink was every bit as bad.
Some changes were made to the character's appearance in Birds of Prey, but the tat remained. Well, it's M.I.A. in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, and the writer and director has now shed some light on the decision to scrap it for his highly anticipated take on the eclectic members of Task Force X.
"Margot [Robbie] didn't like it and found out I also didn't like it so we decided just to remove it," he told a fan during a recent Instagram Q&A. As for whether the tattoo's disappearance will factor into The Suicide Squad in any way, Gunn made it clear that, "No, it's not addressed."
This isn't something the movie really needs to waste time explaining, and scrapping Harley's "Damaged" tattoo feels like the right decision. It's interesting that Robbie wasn't a fan of it either, and it feels a lot like the actress is making a real effort to move the character away from the one we met in 2016.
The Suicide Squad will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6, later this year.
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