James Gunn is stuck editing The Suicide Squad movie from home, but the man sure knows how to put on a show!
During the DC FanDome Suicide Squad panel over the weekend, the director introduced the cast members of his upcoming movie, answered questions and played a game with his cast.
First things first, Gunn has made it clear as day that his Suicide Squad movie is going to be a gritty 1970s war movie with more explosions than all the Marvel films combined and a lot of deaths involved – “Don’t get attached” as Gunn said so himself. After all, it is Suicide Squad, so expect to see the carnage of some of the villains on the big screen.
But who exactly are these villains? And why haven’t you seen most of them before? Well, Gunn used villains from all over DC and from different time periods. As a big fan of John Ostrander’s Suicide Squad comics, Gunn has included many elements from that run and it’s obvious that his film is deeply indebted to the comics as seen by the comic-accurate costumes.
That said, here’s an introduction to all the villains in Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad.
Colonel Rick Flag
Colonel Rick Flag is a returning character in this reboot movie. Flag is a US Special Operations Forces Specialist and was recruited by Amanda Waller to lead her new Suicide Squad team. His strengths include leadership, tactical networking skills, expert combatant, knife expertise and he can speak Japanese! Colonel Rick Flag will be played by Joel Kinnaman (Altered Carbon, Robocop).
Polka Dot Man
Making his live-action debut, Polka Dot Man may not look or sound lethal, but the colourful leotard wearing villain is not to be treated as a joke. Every polka dot on his costume holds – or should we say holes – different weapons and equipment necessary to fight. A buzz saw. A flying saucer. Or even a teleportation device.
Polka Dot Man will be brought to the big screen by David Dastmalchian (Dune, Bird Box, Ant-Man and The Wasp).
King Shark
King Shark has made a number of appearances in the comics and on-screen. He’s seen in Arrowverse’s The Flash, the animated Harley Quinn series and numerous video games – of which include the upcoming Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League game. Voiced by different people in King Shark’s iterations, viewers still have to wait around to know who will be voicing Gunn’s King Shark. Steve Agee, however, has been named as the on-set shark.
King Shark’s abilities include super swimming at great speeds, cold-resistance, enhanced strength and endurance, regeneration of lost bodily tissues, and weapon-like teeth and claws.
Sol Soria
Played by Alice Braga (The New Mutants, Predators), Sol Soria is a rather unknown character, especially since no such character exists in the comics. Many have presumed that her character is somehow related to and possibly a gender-swap of the villain Juan Soria.
Juan Soria was a common criminal. He started out wanting to become a superhero but got denied from joining the Justice League. He then robs a bank and was later drafted into the Suicide Squad. Should Sol Soria be a reflection of Juan Soria, her powers should also include cybernetic enhancements and multilingualism.
Weasel
Gunn’s brother Sean Gunn (Avengers: Endgame, Guardians of the Galaxy) will be portraying Weasel in his Suicide Squad movie. One won’t necessarily think of a Weasel as threatening or intimidating, but one look at him and you know that this little man has got issues and is quite possibly insane.
Named John Monroe, Weasel used to be a law student in the 1960s. Attending Stanford University meant that Monroe was an intelligent young man, but the incessant bullying he received pushed him to murder his bullies. After killing them, Monroe adopted the name his bullies used to taunt him with – Weasel. As a villain, Weasel has great agility and is an expert in hand-to-hand combat.
Blackguard
Blackguard is a supervillain in the DC Comics universe. Hired under a conspiracy called ‘The 1,000’ Blackguard lead troops to steal tech from Cybdorg’s dad’s company, S.T.A.R. Labs. Blackguard was eventually betrayed by ‘The 1,000’ when they were unhappy with his performance and was put in a sluggish state of mind, devoid of initiative. Blackguard may not be the brightest, but his superhuman strength, energy-enhanced superpowers, a sick combat suit and the ability to handle great tech gadgets makes him an asset to the Suicide Squad.
Blackguard will be played by SNL Comedian Pete Davidson.
T.D.K
Nathan Fillion’s T.D.K is Gunn’s original character. Similar to Sol Soria, many believes that T.D.K. is an old character reimagined. The character in mind? Arm-Fall-Off-Boy – yes that’s his real name.
Introduced back in 1989 in the Legion of Super Heroes, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy has the power to remove his limbs and use them as weapons to beat on people. The thought of it is horrifying, to say the least, so it’s no surprise that most of us haven’t heard of him. Promo images released of T.D.K. shows his arms removed from his body too, which only adds on to this theory. Not much else is known about this character. but rumour has it that T.D.K. is the acronym to The Detachable Kid. Guess we have to find out more about him in cinemas!
Javelin
Javelin really is as silly as he looks. As Green Lantern’s punching bag in the comics, Javelin was a world-class athlete who chose a life of crime as he found the lifestyle of an Olympian mundane. Javelin’s abilities include, well, excellent javelin skills.
Seemingly clumsy and kooky, Javelin will probably be a character viewers may grow to like and enjoy. If his fate in the movie is as unfortunate in the comics – hint: he’s died multiple times in the comics – then we better soak him up as much as we can whenever he’s on screen. Played by German actor Flula Borg (Pitch Perfect 2, Boss Baby), Javelin is quite possibly in good hands.
Harley Quinn
Everyone’s favourite Maiden of Mischief is back for The Suicide Squad. For the uninitiated, Harley Quinn is The Joker’s ex-lover. She was a former psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum before being seduced by the Joker into joining a life of crime.
In the 2016 Suicide Squad film, Quinn was still rather wrapped up with being the Joker’s girlfriend. Her character and fighting skills were not as fleshed out as it should’ve been. Her solo-film Birds of Prey saw Quinn at her peak post-breakup and showcased more of her skills. With Gunn’s The Suicide Squad to take place after the Birds of Prey movie, we are looking forward to seeing this new badass, yet still funny version of Quinn. Australian actress Margot Robbie will be reprising her role as Quinn.
Captain Boomerang
Yet another comeback character, Captain Boomerang. Australian Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang is an enemy to the Flash. His secret weapon of choice is none other than boomerangs. He’s had his own set of boomerangs with special properties like bladed, explosive, incendiary, and electrified boomerangs.
In the 2016 Suicide Squad, Boomerang is self-centred and manipulative. He’s tricked Slipknot into trying to escape just to see if the explosive bracelets works. He is depicted to a having a love for animals, particularly pink unicorns and carries one around named Pinky. Captain Boomerang was also briefly featured in Birds of Prey and is said to appear in The Flash sequel film with Courtney helming the role again.
Savant
No, that’s not Lucius Malfoy. Savant, played by Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy, Fantasy Island) is a villain that first started out wanting to follow the footsteps of Batman. Whilst pursuing a life of vigilantism, the Bats told him that he would never be successful because he showed a lack of care for others. Dejected, Savant turned to a life of crime. Along the way, he developed a dangerous chemical imbalance in his head, leading him to have non-linear memory and forgetfulness. On his good days, Savant is a genius and is seen associating with the Birds of Prey.
The Thinker
The Suicide Squad sure is packing alot of The Flash’s enemies. The Thinker is one of the biggest antagonists in The Flash and can also be found in the Batman comics. Named Clifford DeVoe, The Thinker was a failed lawyer whose career came to a bitter end in 1933. DeVoe realised that many criminals had skills but not the brains to rule Gotham City’s underworld and started a career as the brain behind dim villains, thus calling himself The Thinker.
DeVoe eventually got caught and joined Task Force X in exchange for a full pardon. Apart from being the brains, The Thinker’s powers include technologically derived telekinesis and mind control, telepathy, fear projection, and the capability to integrating into and controlling computerised and electronics systems. The Thinker will be played by Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, Paddington).
Amanda Waller
Without Amanda Waller, there would be no Task Force X, no Suicide Squad. With Academy Award Viola Davis (How To Get Away With Murder, The Help) reprising her role as the director of Suicide Squad, Waller researches into people with power and provides them opportunities to turn a new leaf or work for the government in exchange for a pardon.
Waller does not have any superpowers but is instead a ruthless, high-ranking government official who uses intimidation and political connections to achieve her personal goals, oftentimes misusing the name of national security.
The Peacemaker
Dubbed the douchey Captain America, The Peacekeeper is a diplomat committed to peace that he was willing to use force to advance the cause. Most of the people he went up against are dictators and warlords.
Known as Christoper Smith, his peace-through-violence efforts happened to be the result of a serious mental illness brought on by the shame of having a Nazi for a father. Smith believes his father’s ghost haunts him and that by becoming a deadly vigilante, the ghosts of the people he killed are collected inside his helmet. The Peacemaker is played by wrestler turned actor, John Cena.
Mongal
Mongal is an alien warlord with superhuman strength, durability, stamina, speed and agility. She is also able to project energy and has strong leadership skills.
Played by Mayling Ng, this alien warlord ruled over Almerac – the homeworld of Queen Maxima. Daughter to Mongul, a powerful supervillain who’s fought against the likes of Superman, survived Doomsday and defeated a New God, Mongal’s strength lies in her loyalty to her family too. However, her brother Mongul II disagrees and sees weakness in family, killing Mongal with one single blow to the head.
Ratcatcher 2
Like what her name suggests, Ratcatcher 2 is an exterminator and turned to a life of crime when she realised she could control and train rats to do her bidding. Just like Sol Soria, Ratcatcher 2 is a gender-swap of the original 1988 Ratcatcher in the comics.
Mainly an enemy of Batman, Ratcatcher has crossed paths with the caped crusader multiple times and is unsuccessful each time. Once in prison, Ratcatcher uses a flute to draw the rats from the sewer to free himself but finds himself back in prison when Dick Grayson, who had taken over as Batman, finds him again. In The Suicide Squad, Ratcatcher 2 will be portrayed by Daniela Melchior.
Bloodsport
Resembling Ridley Scott’s Alien, Bloodsport is a villain dated back to 1987. Portrayed by the one and only Idris Elba (Luther, The Mountain Between Us, CATS), Bloodsport is one of Superman’s enemies. He is incredibly good with guns and loves shooting anyone he sees, including those who are innocent. In his first comic appearance, Bloodsport opens fire on a crowded diner the day before Christmas Eve, killing 25 civilians, including children.
Bloodsport has a difficult backstory. He harbours a lot of guilt after his brother takes his place in the Vietnam War and returns home a quadruple amputee. He became obsessed with avenging his brother and Lex Luthor was able to take advantage of his instability. Lex Luthor brainwashed him into believing Superman is a threat and made him an errand boy in trying to kill the man of steel himself.
Bloodsport is a gun-loving killing machine, but is seen to have much more morals and empathy as compared to his squad members. He reminds us of Deadshot, who was also equally obsessed with guns in the 2016 Suicide Squad. Another similarity drawn is Bloodspot having his own daughter as well, named Tyla (Storm Reid – Euphoria).
There is still plenty more to learn about all 17 main characters in Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, but one things for sure -they’re surely not who you would expect to be brought onto the big screen.
Maybe Gunn bringing in new (well, technically old) characters back may just be what viewers need to fully dissociate this reboot from the 2016 film. From the looks of the promotional materials and DC FanDome panel, The Suicide Squad is set to be a wild, violent and funny ride.
The Suicide Squad is releasing 6 August 2021.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
