With the excitement that formed around Suicide Squad’s inevitable hype and then disappointing lack of success, many fans of the illustrious comic were still intrigued when rumors of character standalone films were in the works.

After using a twisted form of method acting, Jared Leto has expressed wanting The Joker to have his own film, as he’s excited to explore the clown more. But many fans are more intrigued with The Joker’s girlfriend, Doctor Harleen Quinzel, AKA: Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie. While Harley Quinn does have an interesting story there are a couple of bumps one runs into when debating if she really needs her own film.

A bit of background information tells us that The Joker and Harley Quinn have/had a very abusive relationship. Any 90’s kid knows that when Batman: The Animated Series was shown on the Warner Bros. Network that The Joker was always hitting Harley, throwing her out of windows, pushing her in the face and then some. Even back then as a four-year-old, I knew this wasn’t the kind of relationship anyone should aspire to have. However, if you’ve been reading the current comics you know that Harley has moved on and is doing much better for herself–sorry not sorry for the spoiler. But does this really constitute needing her own film? Here’s why it doesn’t.

For starters: Harley Quinn is a SIDE CHARACTER and as a supporting character the storyline is not focused on her. She gives The Joker a more interesting edge and as much as the nerdy feminist in me would love for her to have her own story it would seem quite redundant after her Suicide Squad debut. The film did a great job of giving each character about one to three minutes of their own backstory. Here it was reiterated that Harley Quinn got her start in the DC Universe as The Joker’s therapist, falling in love with him and then turning into a villain herself. So what else is there to say in her own standalone film? Honestly? Not much.

Also, if we follow the romance that was set up for us in Suicide Squad we all noticed something about the relationship between Harley and Joker: It was way more loving than the other adaptations. Seriously. It’s easy to see why newbies to the franchise would think this is #relationshipgoals. The Joker, while still crazy and definitely not the ideal lover, was way more sweet than he had been in the past. So with the background story of how they met already being shown in the beginning there is certainly no use for this alone to be the plot in a Harley Quinn film. And if you’re a fan of DC, you shouldn’t want this to be a plot. The DC film universe gets mocked enough without having a rom-com like this as part of their franchise.

Lastly, because their relationship was set up to not be as abusive as it has been in other adaptations, the story of “strong female getting out of a bad relationship” completely flops. It’s something that should be left for the comic books. And that ladies and gentlemen are the only reasons Harley Quinn would ever need her own standalone film…which is precisely why she should not have one.

Having said this, I am excited to see more of this character in the upcoming films. Margot Robbie brought to life that cute, badass spunk that we all love Harley for but having her own film just isn’t needed…at least, not until we get some more character development.