The new Birds of Prey trailer proves Harley Quinn is better off without The Joker

(Image credit: Warner Bros)

Birds of Prey's second trailer has arrived. It's the spin-off from the 2016 movie Suicide Squad that focuses on the character of Harley Quinn, again played by Margot Robbie. It introduces us to the movie's ensemble cast, which features a refreshing array of lesser known DC Comics characters like Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), alongside the Batman villain Black Mask (Ewan McGregor). 

We also get a little look at Harley Quinn's break-up with The Joker, even if the Crown Prince of Crime doesn't appear himself. Take a look below:

Birds of Prey launches worldwide on February 7. It's the first of two DC Comics adaptations coming this year, with the second, Wonder Woman 1984, releasing in June. Filming has also begun on The Batman from director Matt Reeves (best known for the last two Planet of the Apes movies), and The Suicide Squad from James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy director), with both scheduled for a 2021 release. Robbie returns as Harley Quinn in the latter. 

Birds of Prey surely can't be worse than the 2016 Suicide Squad movie, which works in its favor, even if the tone of this trailer might remind you of it a little. And Robbie's version of Harley Quinn remains incredibly popular: go to any big comic con and you'll probably see 100 people cosplaying as that character. 

DC vs Marvel

Warner Bros is taking a 'Worlds of DC' approach to the continuity of these movies, which means these films don't necessarily exist in a single timeline. That's proven to be a good thing, so far: it means a harder-edged movie like Joker doesn't have to tie into the Suicide Squad version, for example. 

While the MCU movies are designed to connect as one big story, Warner's approach allows for more simultaneous interpretations, which arguably yields a more diverse range of films. 

Birds of Prey comes from director Cathy Yan, and it'll hopefully continue the form that we've seen with the DC movies since Aquaman surprised everyone by grossing a billion dollars at the box office in 2018. Aquaman, Shazam and Joker are all a little different in tone to the likes of Man of Steel and Batman Vs Superman, which seems like a good thing. 

Samuel Roberts

Samuel is a PR Manager at game developer Frontier. Formerly TechRadar's Senior Entertainment Editor, he's an expert in Marvel, Star Wars, Netflix shows and general streaming stuff. Before his stint at TechRadar, he spent six years at PC Gamer. Samuel is also the co-host of the popular Back Page podcast, in which he details the trials and tribulations of being a games magazine editor – and attempts to justify his impulsive eBay games buying binges.