Follow Us

The Suicide Squab

The characters are all evil, but they’re not all interesting.

By Amy Garcia, Johns Hopkins University

Everyone knows the stories of Batman and Superman, as these heroes have been around since the late 1930s.

The countless comic books, graphic novels, TV shows and movies for these DC Comics characters make it so you would have to live under a rock not to know that Superman was an alien or that Batman’s parents were murdered in front of him. You may have had their action figures as a child, you’ve definitely seen one of the “Dark Knight” movies, and you can’t pretend that any of those Marvel heroes that have recently done so well in theaters can come close to the notoriety of the Man of Steel or the Dark Knight.

But there is a DC movie coming out that you may not know quite as much about, with characters you might have never heard of. Why is Will Smith playing someone named Deadshot? And who is Margot Robbie playing and why does she look so bizarre?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyJH39ZbPAg

Suicide Squad was a storyline first released in 1954, but the members of the team and the purposes of its origins have grown and changed in the past 60 years. While there are always new members added and taken away with new missions jumping in each storyline, fans can figure out quite a bit due to trailers, cast lists and other spoilers. But for those who have no idea what the Suicide Squad is or who the hell Harley Quinn is and why everyone is so damn excited about her, here’s a simple explanation.

Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis, will be the reason behind the Suicide Squad’s creation in the first place, as you have probably seen in the trailers. She has a desire to use the powers and the skills of these convicted felons for the good of the country, threatening them with death if they disobey a single order. She’s ruthless, unyielding and cruel despite her good intentions, and the members of the squad will despise her after the way she had them treated in prison.

Deadshot, or Floyd Lawton, is normally portrayed as a villain of Batman. He’s an assassin with terrifying accuracy, and often he ends up as the leader of the Suicide Squad. He is somewhat of a depressing character, as he has very little regard for his own life.

His past might explain this—he idolized his brother as a child due to their abusive father, and when his father threatened his brother, Floyd tried to shoot his father. Instead, he accidentally killed his brother. This led to him “never missing” his future targets, and often expressing frustration that he wasn’t dead when he would wake up in a hospital after a risky mission. Will Smith will play this role in the movie, and there is no doubt he will do very well as this antihero.

Jared Leto will be playing the Joker, but if you don’t know who the Joker is by now, maybe you shouldn’t go see this movie. One thing to note: The Joker will definitely not be a member of the Suicide Squad (did you really think he could be controlled that way?).

Many don’t know that the Joker actually has a steady love interest in the comics—silly, delightful Harley Quinn. Originally created in “Batman: The Animated Series,” Harley was so well loved by fans that they created an origin story and placed her in the comics. Since then, she has become a fan-favorite in the Batman universe. Harley was once the Joker’s psychiatrist in Arkham Asylum, but he manipulated her into falling in love with him and helping him escape multiple times before the police caught on. She eventually ditched her normal life to join the Joker as a villain, loving him despite his abuse and neglect. She became a capable villain herself, holding her own against even Batman at times. She will be played by Margot Robbie in the movie, and it is most likely that her stay in the Suicide Squad will be short if the Joker comes to claim her back as his own.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is Killer Croc. He is another Batman villain, with many different depictions in comic book storylines and TV shows. Often, he is a man with a genetic condition that makes him look reptilian. He is incredibly powerful, with skin resistant to most methods of combat, but he tends to be pretty stupid. Batman can usually defeat him pretty easily because of that.

Captain Boomerang, as his name suggests, is great with boomerangs. Usually a villain of the Flash, he’s often less of an antihero or more of a straight-up asshole.

Not only does he frustrate every member of the team with insults and worse, he’s also racist and doesn’t hide it.

Of course, the film might not choose this route for the character; sometimes he ends up being very valuable to the team. Jai Courtney will be bringing him to life in the movie.

Rick Flag is not a criminal, unlike the rest of the squad. He’s a military man who reports to Amanda Waller. He will be played by Joel Kinnaman.

Cara Delevingne will be Enchantress, probably the most powerful member of this squad. She usually fights Supergirl. Her real name is June Moone, and struggles with her real identity and her villainous side who has the powers. She will likely be difficult to control if her sorcery is unchecked.

El Diablo has had three different identities, but it seems that Jay Hernandez will be playing the third: Chato Santana. El Diablo normally hosts a demon in his body, which is the reason for his powers. It is unclear if this is the route that the movie will take, as Chato Santana seems to want nothing to do with crime or using his power over fire.

Katana is actually a good guy, not a villain, with a cursed sword that traps the souls of its victims. Her husband was murdered by his own brother despite Katana’s attempt to stop it. She will be played by Karen Fukuhara.

The last character is Slipknot, who can tie super durable knots. Christopher Weiss will portray him. Slipknot is really not that cool, so you can just focus on all the other intense characters that Warner Brothers will be bringing to life.

With a cast including Will Smith, Jared Leto and Margot Robbie, the anticipation for this movie is incredible. Hopefully, they will do a better job than “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice” did, a disaster you can just blame on the fact they attempted to make another Batman movie less than five years after “The Dark Knight” trilogy. This time, Batman will not be a star of the movie (though he will appear), but those he locked up will. Now it’s time to show Marvel that they might have some great superheroes, but nothing compares to DC’s villains.