The first look at James Gunn‘s The Suicide Squad is here and we have your intro to the cast an characters for DC’s next wild blowout! We finally know the characters this stacked cast is playing and there were definitely some surprises, especially when so many predictions about which DC Comics characters would be a part of this roster were wrong and how deep Gunn is diving into the canon with some of the most previously obscure characters from the lore. So, without further adieu, let’s meet The Suicide Squad!
Margot Robbie is back as Harley Quinn and she might be the only member of the OG Suicide Squad who is going to have a major role in this movie. She likely has no real story threads influenced by the first Squad movie or the more recent Birds or Prey. She has got a new look, it’s more comic accurate with the black and red leather outfit. We’re still wanting to see her in the full on jester suit but this is a huge step in the best direction. Let’s just hope her head doesn’t explode.
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Idris Elba’s character is finally revealed. First we thought he was the new Deadshot. Then we thought he was Vigilante. Now, we know he is neither! Elba is playing Bloodsport! If you’re asking, ‘Who the hell is Bloodsport?’ That’s okay, so did pretty much everybody else! Bloodsport, aka Robert DuBois, first appeared in Superman Vol. 2 #4 in 1987. He’s a John Wick level henchman for Lex Luthor with strong ties to Superman, so no idea whether or not that will be a factor (fingers crossed for Henry Cavill to come back one day). He’s going to have some awesome weapons and armor built into himself as a character, so he’s going to be deadly.
Speaking of Superman ties, Mayling Ng plays Mongal. Mongal is the daughter of Mongul, cosmic royalty and the leader of planet Warlord. Mongul goes toe to to with Superman, so maybe the family ties and Bloodsport’s Lex Luthor ties could be a hint at some universe expansion.
Storm Reid is playing Bloodsport’s daughter Tyla and this is a unique story for the movie — which might be the production adapting to Will Smith’s Deadshot dropping out of the film because he had a similar story to follow up on after the first squad, but we can’t say this is the case for sure, just purely speculation after looking at everything.
John Cena is playing Peacemaker. The character’s costume is super colorful: red, yellow, and blue with a shiny silver helmet. Peacemaker in the comics is named Christopher Smith, he joined the army at 18 and fought in the Vietnam War but because he first appeared in 1966, he might have a new origin story where h e fought in a different war. He ends up in the prison after he massacres a whole village of innocent people thanks to bad info and Cena looks like he’s bringing every bit of intensity to the part. The thing about Peacemaker: he wants peace so badly, he’ll do anything to achieve it including killing.
Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag is back. He’s looking a lot more casual this time, dropping a bit of the soldier shtick and taking on a comics accurate yellow shirt. He’s got the dual pistol holsters thing going on and he’s looking more eager for combat this time around.
Flula Borg is playing Javelin. He’s pretty self explanatory, he throws a javelin, wears a mask not unlike that of Canary, and he looks fairly accurate by comparison to his comic book comparison. James Gunn definitely isn’t being shy about bringing colors to the costumes. Javelin’s a good hand to hand fighter -but given the fact Harley is carrying his javelin at one point in the trailer, he might not make it very far.
King Shark is coming to the Squad. Steve Agee performed the motion capture for this one, and he looks absolutely awesome from the little bits we got to see. King Shark isn’t rocking the hammer head look we see most often in the comics, he’s more of an upright Great White looking guy. I’m sure James Gunn has plenty up his sleeves and we’re all about to fall in love with a Giant Shark. I personally just want to see him eat a member of the Squad itself, rip a bit from the comics like how he eats Yoyo and then Yoyo is living inside of him. You just know James Gunn would have fun with this.
David Dastmalchian, who you know from The Dark Knight and the Ant-Man movies, he’s here as Polka-Dot Man, real name Abner Krill. His power set is going to be wild, he can kind of grow and expand and glow but he can turn his polka dots into weapons which is going to be insane in the movie. In comics he’s commonly a Batman villain, he’s launched crime waves in Gotham City, debuted in Detective Comics #300, and James Gunn wanted him in the Squad! He clearly just went around and was like, ‘How many obscure characters can I make famous?’ Maybe it’s because he needed to be able to kill a bunch of them off but, either way, here we are.
Michael Rooker, who Gunn had as Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy, is in this one as Savant. The white hair, the goggles, the red garb… He looks great and very comics accuate. Just more proof that Gunn is straight up bring a comic book to life. Savant is a genius, he’s a super skilled fighter, and he’s charming guy in comics who has played pretty big roles in Birds of Prey stories. If he survives this, which he very well might not, maybe he pops up in a sequel over there.
Boomerang also comes back from the OG Squad, we saw him very briefly in Birds of Prey when his WANTED poster was slapped on a wall and Harley Quinn recognized him from their first outing together. Jai Courtney is back this time around, he was one of the best parts of the original film but I’m still thinking the OGs might be some of the first to go in this movie so in the words of Gunn himself, don’t get too attached. It is cool to see he has some new boomerangs that strap to his chest and glow in the dark in this insane looking beach action scene?
Here is Peter Capaldi as The Thinker. He’s looking like an absolute horror movie, it’s like a comic book-ed up Hellraiser. He’s had a lot of different looks through the years in comics and I can’t say that this exactly in line with any of them but clearly the Thinking Cap is a part of this get up, if it’s not just totally built in to the character.
This wouldn’t be a James Gunn comic book movie if Sean Gunn wasn’t portraying an animal and that’s where Weasel comes in. Weasel looks a little crazy, he’s got those crazy eyes going and seems pretty dirty all around. He’ll probably get along with another filthy villain.
Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher-2 looks pretty comics accurate in being raggedy and dirty and… loving rats. Big-eyed mask and all. Controlling sewer rats is going to be one hell of a power to see used in a movie.
Pete Davidson checks in as Blackguard, a character who looks very different by comparison to his DC Comics counterpart. Blackguard is commonly a Booster Gold villain, and we all want Nathan Fillion to play Booster Gold, but he’s playing a character totally made up and non existent in comics called The Detachable Kid here. The closest comparison would be Arm Fall Off Boy.
This whole group, of course, is managed by Amanda Waller. Viola Davis is back and the so are the power suits, so we can only assume she’s going to make some heads explode.
What was your favorite part of The Suicide Squad? Do you love the character designs? Do you have any questions about them? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram @BrandonDavisBD.
The Suicide Squad hits theaters in August of 2021.
