Sy Borgman

Real name

Sylvester Borgman

Aliases

Gerbil (codename)

Affiliation

Harley's Crew
CIA (formerly)
US army (formerly)

Residence

Catwoman's Apartment
Gotham Mall (formerly)

Occupation

Criminal
Landlord
CIA agent (formerly)
Soldier (formerly)

Relationships

Familial

Mirielle Borgman
(younger sister)

Romantic

Golda
(former colleague and ex-girlfriend)

Other

Harley Quinn
(former tenant and former teammate)

Poison Ivy
(former tenant and former teammate)
Frank the Plant
(former tenant and former teammate)
Clayface
(former teammate)
King Shark
(former teammate)
Doctor Psycho
(former teammate; traitor)

Backstage

❝ I still have my License to Kill. ❞

— Sy Borgman

Sy Borgman is a supporting character of the animated series Harley Quinn and was a member of Harley's Crew.

He was once a government agent whose body was enhanced with state-of-the-art robotic limbs. That was a long time ago, however, and it's a race to see what falls apart first—Sy's antiquated hardware or Sy himself. Still, the retired superhero (who once answered to the name of Sy-Borg) befriended Harley Quinn in the comics, and it seems he'll be doing the same in the show.

Appearance[]

Sy is an elderly man with a severely retreating hairline, making him nearly entirely bald on top. His white hair covers the sides of his head and the lower top of his scalp. He has bushy eyebrows and a reddish aquiline nose. Sy's clothes consist of a mustard yellow button-shirt, light brown slacks, a wristwatch, and a pair of rectangular red glasses. He uses a wheelchair. His most noticeable features are his right grey metal arm and left metal leg.

After dying and being resurrected as A.I., he appears only on screens, although he looks like his regular self.

Biography[]

Background[]

Sy is an ex-CIA agent who moves around via wheelchair, and many parts of him, most noticeably one of his arms and legs, have been replaced with bionics. When he was a CIA agent, his main job was to be a "go-to cleaner" whenever a mess happened, and they needed someone to remove the corpses. As a result, he did several unsavory things worldwide, mostly in Asia, making him a war criminal. He once asked his sister and top CIA scientist, Mirielle, to create a "Monkeypus" hybrid creature to aid him in his missions. Still, the experiment went wrong and turned Mireille into a tentacle monster.

In his final mission in 1984, the CIA, taking notice of a new hit toy line, had him undergo a procedure using experimental technology. This turned him into a "transchanger," with the ability to turn into a sedan, albeit painfully. He later became a landlord and rented an apartment to Poison Ivy.

Season 1[]

"Finding Mr. Right"[]

Sy Borgman burst into Poison Ivy's apartment, threatening to evict her unless she stopped Harley's Crew from messing up the apartment and started listing the rules. Ivy closed the door on his face because it seemed like he was "gonna get racist." Later, he arrived with a formal eviction notice due to King Shark having stayed in the apartment, referring to him as a "pet," which was not allowed.

"Being Harley Quinn"[]

Sy bodies — Sy finds what he thinks is a suicide cult

Sy was showing a couple around the apartment when he found Ivy, Harley, Doctor Psycho, Clayface and Shark King lying seemingly dead on the apartment floor, which he assumed was "another suicide cult" when in reality they had just traveled into Harley's mind. He called over an old colleague Golda to dispose of the bodies, and the two reconnected over the old days. They carried the bodies to an abandoned mall to cremate them in a pizza oven. The gang returned to their bodies just in time before they got burned alive. Golda left, saying this was "Peru all over again".

Meanwhile, Harley was looking around the mall and realized it was the perfect lair for her. Sy tried to convince her they would have to pay 100 grand a month, but Harley threatened him, saying she was offering a dollar and wouldn't kill him for almost burning them alive. He agreed on one condition: that they would let him come along on some of their heists as today had made him feel alive again.

"You're a Damn Good Cop, Jim Gordon"[]

Sy helps Harley and the crew steal King Tut's body from a museum, but she gets frustrated when she discovers KGBeast has been nominated for the Legion of Doom while they haven't, so she asks the crew for ideas. Sy suggests calling his old friend Hank Kissinger as he's sure he has a few war crimes he never pulled off. However, Harley dismisses the idea, stating even though they're criminals, they're not war criminals. Harley instead gets the idea to rob WayneTech.

Later, the rest of the crew return to the lair, and Sy comes in with some extra gear, saying he's ready for the heist before he realizes he has already missed it.

"L.O.D.R.S.V.P."[]

As Harley and her crew received an invitation to visit the Legion of Doom as potential new members, Doctor Psycho rejoiced at possibly getting to move out of "this shithole", referring to the mall, which upset Sy, who came to defend it. At that moment, the mall started shaking at the oceanic roars beneath it, although Sy dismissed it and voiced his disinterest in the Legion of Doom. As Sy and Doctor Psycho stayed behind, the rumblings continued, and Sy denied hearing it.

When it continued, he then tried to assert that it was "just the pipes", at which point a pink, fleshy tentacle erupted from the ground, grabbed Doctor Psycho, and smashed him against the ground and ceiling repeatedly. Sy finally admitted that there "may be a giant tentacle monster in the basement". Doctor Psycho wanted to kill "that noise-making abomination" immediately, even arming himself with a harpoon. Still, Sy insisted that it wasn't an abomination and was, in fact, his sister, telling him how she ended up that way. Sy then took Psycho to Mirielle, seeing her face-to-face for the first time in 35 years.

Doctor Psycho used his telepathic powers to restrain her while Sy was sobbing beside him and begged for forgiveness. Harley Quinn, Clayface and King Shark then suddenly fell through the floor. Doctor Psycho filled Harley in as Sy continued sobbing with guilt, and King Shark suggested that Sy talk to Mirielle. Doctor Psycho decided to "be your Whoopi" and translate telepathically between Mirielle's thoughts and Sy Borgman's words. Sy apologizes for Mirielle's predicament, but she claims that it is not being transformed into a tentacle monster that angered her, but rather the decades of abandonment and of Sy closing himself off to her that had made her angry.

Sy and Mirielle hug — Mirelle and Sy reconcile

Psycho continues translating, saying, "I always thought no matter how bad it got, you'd never give up on our friendship." This prompts Mirielle, and Sy tells her he should have come to her before but feared she wouldn't forgive him. At this point, Mirielle picks Sy up with a tentacle and gently hugs him. Overjoyed, Sy claims he needs no translation for the hug. He says he should never have kept Mirielle trapped in his basement and promptly frees her. Mirielle joyfully surges out of the basement and into Gotham, although they watch in horror as Mirielle immediately begins destroying helicopters, attacking cars, and eating civilians.

"Bensonhurst"[]

Harley films Sy falling asleep in his wheelchair and driving around in circles and sending it to Ivy, writing, "Dead or sleeping? LOL" in an attempt to reach out to her after they fell out in the previous episode when Harley ditched her for the Joker.

"Harley Quinn Highway"[]

When Harley and her former crew intend to rescue Ivy from her captors, he learns that the crew broke up weeks ago and that he was never part of it. However, Harley allows him to join them in rescuing Ivy, which makes him elated, and he volunteers to be the driver.

Driving a pretzel-wrapped Weiner food truck to Planetwide Pavers, an alarm is nearly set, but a goon allows them entry into the parking lot because he loves the food. There, they knock out several goons, take their outfits, and infiltrate the building. There, they discover Ivy strapped to a table under the influence of Scarecrow's fear toxins.

Because they needed to delve into Ivy's mind to rescue her, Sy volunteered to stay behind and protect her as Harley and the crew did this. As they do this, Sy accidentally triggers an alarm and is forced to kill every goon that dares enter the room.

Afterward, Harley and the crew ride on Sy, who transforms his body into a fully mobile car, to chase Scarecrow and his goons and prevent him from using his modified fear toxins in Gotham. They chase them through Harley Quinn Highway, where they chase after Scarecrow and his fear-toxin-filled trucks.

Ultimately, they fail to prevent one of the trucks from falling into the Gotham Water Reserve, transforming the local trees into animate monstrosities. After this, Sy tries to pull himself back together, but can't because he needs something oily to grease himself with.

"Devil's Snare"[]

Sy and the rest of the crew flee after Ivy and Harley fail to fight against the mutant trees. One of them launches large-sized wooden spikes at them, which hits Sy in the back, curing him of his crippled nature, but immediately reverts after he's hit in his right leg.

Briefly, Sy mourns the loss of Clayface, who was struck by multiple spikes, but it was all just a performance.

Eventually, the Justice League arrives, and they believe that Harley and her crew are the ones responsible for the mutant tree incident and are to be banished to the Phantom Zone. However, to prevent them from being banished into the place, Ivy uses Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth to confess that they weren't the ones responsible.

Although cleared for the tree incident, Queen of Fables arrives and traps the Justice League in her Book of Fables. She then sends Harley and the crew to where Jack and Beanstalk's giant is. So, Sy begrudgingly allows Ivy to use his phone to contact Kite Man to rescue them. He'd rescue them by tossing hot sauce packets into the giant's eye and have them ride on his kite's tail to the surface.

Later, Harley commandeered a tank from Gordon, and they rode it toward the Legion of Doom, where they planned to use it on the L.O.D. base. But the Joker's tower sprung below and destroyed it before they could. He and everyone else watch the Joker's speech about taking over Gotham and that they'll be reusing the tank to destroy the newly appeared tower. However, another tank thrown by a mutant tree destroys it.

This forces Ivy to drink some of the toxins that created the mutant trees, causing her to grow into a giantess and attack the trees, allowing Harley and the crew to try and infiltrate the tower. They're stopped by Queen, who unleashes the Big Bad Wolf against them.

Ultimately, the Big Bad Wolf is killed, and Harley uses her bat to decapitate Queen. All seemed well until the Joker ruins a tender reunion between Harley and Ivy by launching a spear through Ivy's back. They all watch as the Joker laughs at from his TV screen tower.

"The Final Joke"[]

Sy, along with the rest of Harley and her crew and Kiteman, perform a funeral for Ivy, and Sy uses his construction arm to dig a hole to bury her body in. From there, Harley tries to rush to Joker's tower, but is stopped by Psycho. She admits she doesn't have a plan, but she's working on one.

Eventually, Sy accompanies Harley and the rest of the crew to the Joker's tower, where they turn in "Batman", but it is foiled when "Batman" is really Clayface. Started singing alongside Harley when the Joker requested that they sing Happy Birthday for him.

A week after Harley's plan fails, Sy falls down several flights of stairs by Joker.

To rescue her former crew, Harley capitulates to Joker's demand to put on her old costume.

Sy is last seen by Harley, Ivy, and the rest of the crew after Joker's tower has fallen.

Season 2[]

"New Gotham"[]

Like Nam after the US pulled out — "It's like 'Nam after the U.S. pulled out."

Sy enjoyed the chaos of Gotham City following the Joker's defeat, likening it to Vietnam after America pulled out. He nearly went into a flashback, but Harley snapped him out of it and discarded what he said. He later tried to bring it up again, again edging toward a flashback, but Harley angrily told him to stop.

Later, when Harley is kidnapped by the Injustice League, Sy Borgman tries in vain to rescue her with the rest of Harley's crew, failing for two months straight until they finally decide to follow Clayface's plan. Sy's job was to provide a distraction, which he did by creating smoke and by loudly singing "Happy Birthday" to The Penguin at his party (even though it wasn't his birthday). This allows the rest of the crew to steal Harley's block away, and although they get bogged down in pursuit, Sy arrives to push Harley along with his motorized wheelchair. This goes well until two goons smash Sy aside, forcing the other crew members to hold them off.

After doing so, Sy resumes pushing Harley, using a blow torch to free Harley's swinging arm so that she can join the fight. He pushes her until her momentum allows her to outpace him, smashing through several goons and even getting thrown by Doctor Psycho into more goons. However, this allows The Penguin to seal off a door and separate Sy from Harley. Eventually, they managed to break through the door, only to find Harley covered in blood as she finished off The Penguin.

"Catwoman"[]

❝ There's no reason to freak out over a lost prisoner. Unless... you've built a report to gain their trust to break them, but in the process, they've broken you. I guess what I'm sayin' is, did anyone fall in love with the Riddler? Come on. Show of hands. ❞

— Sy Borgman

Sy, along with the rest of Harley's crew, notice that the Riddler who was held captive at Gotham Mall had gone missing. Sy assures everyone that the loss of a prisoner is nothing to panic over as long as none of them has fallen in love with him, but his ramblings are largely ignored. Doctor Psycho instructed them to spread out to find him. While flying around the Mall, Sy saw something moving and, on Doctor Psycho's command, shot who turned out to be Psycho himself with a tranquilizer dart. When Harley returned, the crew told her about Doctor Psycho losing Riddler, with Sy calling him a "schmuck", questioning why he was even in the crew. However, soon enough, they noticed that the Riddler had returned willingly.

"Dye Hard"[]

Sy Borgman noticed when Harley came back depressed after the events of "Bachelorette", and although he tried to give her heartfelt advice about "feeding your soul", she ignored it and went off to have sex with a stranger. Later, he notices Doctor Psycho in the Gotham Mall and berates him for leaving the crew, but Doctor Psycho gives him instructions for feeding the Riddler before leaving. After that, he went with Clayface and King Shark to Wayne Tower after receiving a text that he thought was from Harley.

Sy Borgman sacrifices himself — "I regret lots of things!"

He fought on Harley's side and was unaffected by Doctor Psycho's attempts to control his mind due to the metal plates in his head. Although he was overwhelmed, a missile shot from the Batplane temporarily overwhelmed Doctor Psycho - but they couldn't break free of the dome. Realizing this, Sy stood up and prepared to sacrifice himself to blast a hole through it, telling Harley that this was "feeding my soul". He left Harley his mechanical eye and then turned to Doctor Psycho. He mocked him, then launched into the sky, colliding with the shield in a titanic explosion that completely disabled it.

"Lovers' Quarrel"[]

Sy Borgman survived the death of his body by transferring his consciousness into the eye that he gave to Harley. When she plugged it into a TV, he came on screen, alive and well within the technology. At Harley's questioning, he explained that he resisted Doctor Psycho's mind control because the CIA created an anti-mind-control device that they jammed into his skull. Reproducing them takes some time without the necessary components, so Sy set Kite Man to work and walked him through the process.

After finishing the device, Sy had Kite Man run it, which allowed Sy to access the internet and assume control of his household appliances. Using these devices, he created two anti-mind-control devices for Kite Man to give to Harley.

"Something Borrowed, Something Green"[]

Sy attended Poison Ivy and Kite Man's wedding on a television screen.

Season 3[]

"A Thief, a Mole, an Orgy"[]

To be added

Personality[]

Sy cannot tell the difference between a pet and a human with animal features, having decided to evict Ivy and Harley's gang after King Shark started living with them. He is known to be cold and bitter to Ivy. However, when he joins Harley’s crew, he becomes friendlier and nicer to her after being part of the team. He also seems chaotic sometimes, forgetting or suddenly recalling important things, likely due to his age.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

Cybernetic Enhancements: Sy has numerous cybernetic enhancements granting him several powers.
- Transformation: Sy can transform into a car.
Mechanokinesis: After Sy became an A.I and Kite Man upgraded him, and he gained the ability to control the machines around his house.

Abilities[]

Expert Spy: He was a CIA spy during his youth.

Media Appearances[]

Season 1

Season 2

"New Gotham"
"Catwoman"
"Batman's Back Man (cameo; pictured)
"Dye Hard" (Dies in this episode)
"Lovers' Quarrel" (Revived)
"Something Borrowed, Something Green" (cameo)

The Eat. Bang! Kill. Tour

"Journey to Love" (cameo; pictured)

Season 3

"A Thief, a Mole, an Orgy"

Trivia[]

In the comics, Sy Borgman shared an apartment with Harley. Here, he owns the apartment building where she lives.
He and Mirielle were both CIA agents who went through experiments. Sy became a "Transchanger" who can transform into a car, and Mirielle accidentally turned into a tentacle monster.
After his death in "Dye Hard," it was theorized that he could still be alive as he gave Harley his cybernetic eye, which might contain his consciousness. This was proven to be true in "Lovers' Quarrel", which showed that his consciousness could be accessed by plugging a phone jack into a TV. He used this to upgrade to a stand mixer to help Kite Man finish the mind control blocker to fight against Dr. Psycho.