The First 10 Members of the Suicide Squad, Ranked by Power

The Suicide Squad is an elite government strike force team that includes some of DC Comics’ B-tier supervillains who are considered expendable. The group is a spinoff of the classic group from World War II, re-formed and run by Amanda Waller and Rick Flag Jr., with the twist that they would use imprisoned super-criminals with the offer of reduced sentences, but implanted with explosive devices that would detonate if Waller decided they stopped following her orders. While the original Suicide Squadron debuted in The Brave and the Bold #25 (1959), the Suicide Squad that readers know today debuted in Legends #3 (1987).

That original team saw Amanda Waller discover the Suicide Squad files and recruit Rick Flag Jr. to serve as the team leader, before she set out to bring in the rest of the team members. Those first 10 members included some of DC Comics’ most eclectic villains.

10) Rick Flag Jr.

Rick Flag Jr. ranks at the bottom of the list for the first 10 Suicide Squad members based on power because he has no superpowers at all. However, he is the field leader, a non-powered human soldier who is still a tactical genius when sending his team into action. That said, several Suicide Squad members died under Flag’s leadership, making his actual power as a leader questionable as well. His main role is to keep the most dangerous criminals on a leash, and he was never meant to be a heavy hitter. He led the first version of the team to successfully destroy a monster known as Brimstone.

9) Black Spider

Black Spider is a vigilante and crack-shot marksman named Eric Needham. He debuted in Detective Comics #463 (1976) before the post-Crisis DC reintroduced him as part of the Suicide Squad while he served time in prison. He is similar to the Punisher in that he became a vigilante after his family was killed. Like Rick Flag Jr., he has no powers, but he is an “elite human” with high-end firearms skills and acrobatic martial arts skills. He is similar to Deadshot and Captain Boomerang in that he fills in the assassin profile.

8) Blockbuster

Blockbuster was a chemist who experimented on himself with a strength-enhancing serum and became a monstrous, near-mindless brute as a result. He debuted as a Batman villain, but in the post-Crisis world, he joined the Suicide Squad in the “Legends” crossover. Waller promised a possible cure for him to get him out of hiding and join her team. However, this would never happen. Despite being superhumanly strong, Brimstone incinerated him on the first Suicide Squad mission, and he was the first on-panel Suicide Squad death.

7) Captain Boomerang

Captain Boomerang is a non-powered Suicide Squad member, but he ranks above many others because he somehow survives almost every experience that should kill him, including betraying his teammates more than once. Digger Harkness is a long-time Flash rogue who was one of the first members of the team and was part of the original mission to take out Brimstone. While he clearly didn’t have the powers to kill Brimstone, he was there as a distraction, and unlike Blockbuster, he didn’t die. His main power is as a master-level boomerang combatant, and he has several trick boomerangs. He is the most enduring expendable member.

6) Plastique

Plastique is Bette Sans Souci, a Canadian terrorist with the metahuman ability to detonate anything she touches. She started out in DC Comics as a Firestorm villain before she ended up being recruited from prison after her arrest. She joined the team in Suicide Squad #1 (1987), where she was part of the Belle Reve roster that Waller used for her missions. Her power scales based on the size of the object she touches, and this means that if she touches something big enough, she can level an entire city block. Since she actually has metahuman powers, she is automatically more powerful than non-powered mercenaries on the team, like Black Spider.

5) Nightshade

Nightshade is Eve Eden, and she is one of the few “trustworthy” agents on the Suicide Squad team (alongside Rick Flag Jr., Vixen, and Bronze Tiger). She is not one of the criminal recruits, and she is one of the team’s longest-running characters, dating back to the Charlton Comics run. She possesses dimensional shadow powers, allowing her to merge with darkness, travel through a shadow dimension, and create solid darkness constructs. She debuted as a support character in Suicide Squad #1 (1987), and she ranks above many of the villains on the team thanks to her shadow dimension powers.

4) Deadshot

Deadshot is Floyd Lawton, and he is a long-time Batman villain. He is DC Comics’ greatest assassin, as he can hit any target that is in his line of sight. In the first-ever Suicide Squad mission, he was on the team that hunted down Brimstone, and after Captain Boomerang and Blockbuster distracted the villain, it was Deadshot who fired the killing shot that took down this seemingly unbeatable villain. Deadshot is also one of the most tragic characters on the team, as he was given a genuinely emotional backstory. While not having superhuman powers, the fact that he is a perfect shot makes him one of the deadliest assassins on the team, and he is one of the longest-lasting members throughout the various iterations.

3) Vixen

Vixen is one of the few actual superheroes on the Suicide Squad team. She was a former Justice League member, and she agreed to join up with Amanda Waller’s team when Waller promised her that she could help her learn to control her animal instincts, which often caused her to lose control during fights. She is one of Waller’s most trustworthy agents, and also one of the most powerful. Vixen can tap into the abilities of every animal that has ever lived on Earth, which means she can channel the strength of an elephant, the speed of a cheetah, or even fly like a bird.

2) Bronze Tiger

Bronze Tiger was a member of the very first Suicide Squad mission. He is one of the most powerful fighters who has ever served on the team, and he is considered one of the deadliest unarmed fighters in the DC Universe, comparable to Lady Shiva and Richard Dragon. He is one of Amanda Waller’s “trusted” agents, as he served as the co-leader with Rick Flag Jr. He is a master of multiple martial arts disciplines, weapons combat, and has beaten several superpowered beings over the years. While he has no powers, there isn’t anyone on the team deadlier than him when it comes to hand-to-hand combat.

1) Enchantress

The Enchantress is a magical entity who shares a body with June Moone. She is easily the most powerful of the first 10 Suicide Squad members. She was on the first mission to beat Brimstone, and she was able to transmute Brimstone’s plasma directly, which allowed Deadshot to make the killing shot. Her powers involved reality manipulation, which dwarfs every other original Suicide Squad member’s power levels. She is also the most dangerous, as Moone is loyal, but Enchantress often overpowers her mind and goes rogue when she desires.

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