Karen Fukuhara Talks About Her Badass Suicide Squad Character

Recently, Katana (real name: Tatsu Yamashiro) fans have been getting spoiled. In May 2015, Katana (played by Rila Fukushima) made her first in-costume live-action appearance on The CW’s Arrow. Then in January, DC Comics launched Suicide Squad Most Wanted: Deadshot/Katana, a six-issue anthology series. And come this August, Katana will make her cinematic debut in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. She’ll be brought to life by Karen Fukuhara, a 24-year-old actress making her own feature film debut.

“It’s rare to see an Asian female take on the role of a badass,” Fukuhara told Playboy about her Suicide Squad role, as part of the magazine’s ongoing “No Filter” feature. “As a first-generation Japanese American, I’ve always wanted to play a samurai warrior like my Suicide Squad character, Katana. Samurai are almost always male, so growing up in America I had a hard time figuring out role models. Katana and I may not have the same personality, but coming from the same cultural upbringing, we share core values. In Japanese culture there’s this idea of putting others before yourself, but I’ve also never wanted to let myself down. Someone recently told me how refreshing it is to see an Asian woman as a superhero. That stuck with me. Stand up for yourself and what you love.”

It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity.U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do.However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?

Written and directed by Ayer based on the characters from DC Comics, the film also stars Jai Courtney (“Insurgent”), Jay Hernandez (“Takers”), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (“Thor: The Dark World”), Ike Barinholtz (“Neighbors”), Scott Eastwood (“Fury”), Cara Delevingne (“Paper Towns”), Adam Beach (“Cowboys & Aliens”), and Karen Fukuhara in her feature film debut. It is produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers.

Suicide Squad opens worldwide in 3D, and in 2D, and in select IMAX 3D theaters beginning August 5, 2016.