Suicide Squad: Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn hotpants so tiny they were Photoshopped to look longer in trailers

Margot Robbie might have insisted that Harley Quinn wears such tiny hotpants in Suicide Squad because they’re “sparkly and fun”, but it seems movie bosses deemed them simply too risqué for the film’s TV promo spot. So much so, that they added extra material to make them more like mini shorts.

Rumours have been circulating that the actress’s costume was digitally altered to make the shorts appear a more “family friendly” length. Beady-eyed fans spotted that more of Robbie’s bottom was on display in the film’s final trailer, which dropped at San Diego’s Comic Con earlier this month. Bleeding Cool magazine even made a video of the evidence (see below).

Robbie was quizzed about the hotpants mystery during a recent interview on Smallzy’s Surgery. “I didn’t know about that…having been there on the day, they were very small but wow, I wonder if they did?” she said. “That would be extensive Photoshopping to do.”

The 26-year-old has defended herself from accusations that Harley’s wardrobe is overly sexualised, arguing that The Joker’s unhinged on-off lover and accomplice wears skimpy clothes because she enjoys doing so, not because she “wanted guys to look at her ass”.

She did, however, admit that, “as Margot” she hated wearing the hotpants and tight T-shirt. “No I don’t like wearing that. I’m eating burgers at lunchtime and then you go do a scene where you’re hosed down and soaking wet in a white T-shirt, it’s so clingy and you’re self-conscious about it,” she told The New York Times.

Director David Ayer stated that he “didn’t think denim overalls would be appropriate” for Harley, but Robbie has half-jokingly insisted that she’s “not wearing hotpants next time”.

Harley’s revamped costume has already proved a hit with fans, becoming the most searched for Halloween outfit of 2015 despite the film still being in production. Robbie came close to wearing the character’s iconic jester suit but Ayer scrapped it, leaving costume designer Kate Hawley to turn to the likes of Courtney Love and Debbie Harry for inspiration.

Ayer said at a recent panel that the look of his female characters was based on the “aesthetic of comic books”, which focus on “hyper-masculine men and very feminine women” who are both traditionally attractive and “very aggressive”.

It remains unknown whether the barely there hotpants have been the movie’s final cut but Suicide Squad, about a group of supervillains who agree to take on black-op government missions in exchange for clemency, hits UK cinemas on Friday if you want to find out.

Warner Bros are yet to comment on hotpantsgate.