Feature: Who in the heck is the Suicide Squad?
Time had not been kind to the Little Rascals.
Who in the heck is the Suicide Squad and why should you care? These are both pertinent and valid questions.
‘Suicide Squad’ aka ‘Task Force X’ aka ‘You Naughty Little Rascals’* (*may not be a real thing) is DC’s (think Batman, Superman, Flash) answer to the Justice League or Marvel’s Avengers or Old People’s, The Expendables.
A veritable rogues gallery of less-than-willing super villains offered a chance at reducing (or escaping) their confines by taking part in government sanctioned, black ops missions whose odds of success are, as the squad’s name suggests, less than amazing.
Written & directed by David Ayer (Training Day, Fury) 2016’s Suicide Squad will be the 3rd of 11 DC Comics’ Shared Universe Films and will act as the precursor to DC’s Justice League; Part 1 scheduled for release in November, 2017.
So who are these aforementioned scoundrels and who’s going to be playing them? We take a look (from left)
- Character: Slipknot
- Abilities: Can secure a trailer safely with his rope and knot tying skills. Oh. And kill you and junk.
- Actor: Adam Beach
- You might know him from: The go to Native American Actor for, like, everything. Clint Eastwoods Flags of Our fathers or Windtalkers with Nicolas Cage.
- What to expect: Beach will bring a deep, spiritual, softly spoken performance as the villain with a penchant for restraints. We’re thinking Christian Grey; 50 Shades of Dead.
- Fun Fact: The nu-metal band from Iowa, Slipknot also has 9 members and also contains a clown. Coincidence? Yes, of course. Don’t be ridiculous.
Character: Captain Boomerang- Abilities: Can play ‘catch’ with himself.
- Actor: Jai Courtney
- You might know him as: Yippee Ki Yay, Motherfucker Jr in A Good Day to Die Hard opposite Bruce Willis or Kyle Reese in the upcoming, Terminator Genisys.
What to expect: If those mutton chops are anything to go by we’re looking at an ostentatious performance full of off colour “down under” jokes. We hope. Austin Powers meets Wolf Creek’s, Mick. Yeah, baby, huhhuhunhun!- Fun Fact: Courtney trained at the same acting school as yours truly. Unlike Captain Boomerang, they didn’t want me to come back. (enter sad face here)
Character: Katana- Abilities: Like Tom Crusie in The Last Samurai. But actually Japanese. And a woman.
- Actor: Karen Fukuhara
- You might know her from: The picture above.
- What to expect: Samurai sensibility culture clash with the squad’s own methods & behaviour. We’ve seen the strong, silent, samurai type done so many times. Something new would be refreshing.
- Fun Fact: Armed with Soultaker, a sword that captures the souls of her victims and allows her to talk with them. That’s fun, right?
Character: Enchantress
Abilities: Muggle-born Witch, best friend to Harry & Ron. Wait, that’s not right. Magic.
Actor: Cara Delevingne
You might know her from: The fashion catwalks of London or Ole’ Pari’ or the upcoming film adaptation of young adult novel, Paper Towns.
What to expect: With a tomboyish quality and piercing eyes expect some resistance and distrust toward the swamp thing as the character’s Jekyl and Hyde persona of June Moone / Enchantress vie for control.
Fun Fact: Those are her real eyebrows.
Character: Rick Flag
Abilities: Having a kick ass name.
Actor: Joel Kinnaman
You might know him from: TV’s The Killing & the 2014 RoboCop reboot.
What to expect: The reluctant leader of the squad who already looks like he doesn’t want to be there. Kinda like everyone in RoboCop reboot. Zing! Hard man with a conscience yadayadayada Has his work cut out for him if he’s to keep this rag-tag bunch in line.
Fun Fact: Kinnaman was shortlisted to play Mad Max but lost out to Tom Hardy who was originally cast as Rick Flag but dropped out and was replaced by Kinnaman. Whaaaaat?!
Character: Harley Quinn
Abilities: Betty Boop with a baseball bat.
Actor: Margot Robbie
You might know her from: The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus, Neighbours (TV).
What to expect: Big things from this girl as the Jokers love interest. After Wolf of Wall Street and the solid Focus Margot is on the verge of stardom and is going to swing for the fences (cuz she has a baseball bat) and make some bold choices in her effort to join Hollywood’s elite.
Fun Fact: A Harlequin is the name of a mischievous character that originated in the commedia dell’arte – you know what, never mind, she looked great in The Wolf of Wall Street.
Character: Deadshot
Abilities: He’s a deadeye dick with the guns.
Actor: Will “Big Willie Style” Smith
You might know him from: MIB, Bad Boys, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
What to expect: Smith’s star has fallen somewhat with his recent endeavours missing the mark. Not known for playing second fiddle, Smith will be at the (dead)centre of this film no doubt banging heads with the squad’s leader, Kinnaman’s Rick Flag. We hope we get more, Mike Lowrey (Bad Boys) and less Cypher Raige (After Earth).
Fun Fact: Worked with Harley Quinn’s Margot Robbie in the 2015 thriller, Focus. Oddly, though, not a prequel.
Character: Killer Croc
Abilities: Looks great in/as boots. Is basically a big crocodile.
Actor: Adewale Akinnyoye-Agbaje
You might know him from: Mr Eko from Lost or Kurse from Thor: The Dark World
What to expect: Broody, intense, unpredictable and a little snappy. (geddit) The fact that he’s wearing a hoodie suggests he’s none too happy about his appearance / condition and may be the brunt of the squads jokes a la Beast / The Thing / Mark Zuckerberg.
Fun Fact: No stranger to the comic book genre, Adewale played Kurse in Marvel’s Thor and was circling to play the Black Panther which will now be played by Chadwick Boseman due for release in 2018
Character: El Diablo / Chato Santana
Abilities: Originally fashioned as Zorro with a dash of demonic possession. Ole’ Now, sadly, a heavily tattooed, Latino gang member with a proclivity for pyromancy.
Actor: Jay Hernandez
You might know him from: Hostel / Crazy/Beautiful
What to expect: Hot-blooded rebel and a bit of a bully. I don’t know why. I think it’s the jacket.
Fun Fact: El Diablo is ‘The Devil’ in Spanish. El Taco is Mexican – and means ‘delicious.’
So there you have it, a brief look at Task Force X. Granted there are some notable absentees in Viola Davis’s (TV’s How To Get Away With Murder) Amanda Waller (= Nick Fury) and Jared Leto’s (Dallas Buyers Club, 30 Seconds to Mars) Joker but we all know he doesn’t play well with others.
It’s very intriguing how/if this movie is going to work. It will be a breath of fresh air having the perspective of the bad guys but what happens when that novelty wears off? The real trick is going to be putting a bunch of assholes together for 90 minutes and making us give a damn. Having said that, Ayer did it with Training Day and he did it with Fury. Can he do it again with the Suicide Squad? Slated for release August, 5th 2016 – we’ll see.
