The Suicide Squad: Every new villain character, explained

We’ve understood that James Gunn’s The Suicide Team would have an extensive cast for a while now, however the very first huge trailer for the movie offers us a look of every washed-up, third-string supervillain in his motion picture.

The Suicide Team is essentially the Dirty Lots of the DC Universe. Press ganged into battling the battles of the U.S. federal government, the private team of founded guilty extremely wrongdoers that works under the radar (due to the fact that the U.S. federal government doesn’t desire anybody to really understand they employed a lot of extremely wrongdoers to eliminate their battles).

Gunn’s brand-new The Suicide Team is constructing on David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Team, restoring a number of characters to repeat their functions, consisting of Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, the stone-faced developer of the Suicide Team; Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag, the tired supervillain baby-sitter; Jai Courtney as (Captain) Boomerang, the group’s resident firebrand; and, obviously, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

However there are likewise a lots of brand-new characters signing up with the group. After all, among the significant trademarks of the Suicide Team is that no one is safe. If you’re gonna kill a lot of characters, you need a lot of cannon fodder. And that cannon fodder comes from the ranks of DC’s truly disposable villains, characters that nobody except the most obsessive comic book fans would love.

So let this obsessive comic book fan tell you who they are, with a look at a boatload of new character posters for the film.

Bloodsport

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Idris Elba

Bloodsport has had a few variations since his creation in 1987, but basically, he uses guns to take on Superman. Otherwise, his incarnations have been very different. For example, in his first origin he was a Black man, who had a mental break after he found out that his brother took his place in the draft for Vietnam, and was manipulated by Lex Luthor into blaming Superman. In his second incarnation, he was a white supremacist.

But that version of him could teleport weapons in from other locations, so that could make it into the film, at least.

Savant

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Michael Rooker

Savant’s powers include being a certifiable genius, especially with computers and hand-to-hand fighting. The downside is that he struggles with short-term memory, something Gunn’s comedic sensibilities could take advantage of.

Javelin

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Flula Borg

I’m just going to leave the first line of Javelin’s DC Fan Wiki page here:

The man who would become the Javelin was an Olympic athlete, who for unknown reasons became a criminal.

He’s German, he tried to fight Green Lantern, what more do you need to know?

Polka-Dot Man

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: David Dastmalchian

The Polka-Dot Man’s career is short and ignominious, but he’s a guy who developed a costume covered with dozens of polka dots. Each one transforms into a useful item when torn off his suit, like a buzz saw, a flare, a throwing projectile, or even a getaway vehicle.

Ratcatcher

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Daniela Melchior

Ratcatcher lives in the sewers! Ratcatcher can talk to rats! Ratcatcher commands a rodent army! That’s it!

Ratcatcher is usually a guy in the comics, but is being played by a woman in The Suicide Team. The roll call teaser revealed at DC FanDome refers to her as “Ratcatcher 2” which could imply that she was trained by the original Ratcatcher as his protégé. The idea of Ratcatcher having a legacy just like Batman, Superman, or Wonder Woman fills me with a genuine delight.

King Shark

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Voiced by: Steve Agee

King Shark is a shark.

He’s had real renaissance lately, with appearances on the WB’s Flash and a supporting role in the animated Harley Quinn series.

He’s just a shark man. He likes to eat people. Sometimes it’s not that complicated.

Peacemaker

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: John Cena

While he’s nominally a good guy, in the first behind the scenes footage from The Suicide Squad, John Cena described the Peacemaker as “a douchey Captain America.” He’s not wrong. The character’s unforgettable tagline is “A man who loves peace so much that he is willing to fight for it!”

The Peacemaker’s biggest claim to fame these days is that he was partial inspiration for the Comedian in Watchmen.

Thinker

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Peter Capaldi

The modern version of Thinker is so intelligent that his ability to consider all variables and motivations nearly amounts to clairvoyance. The downside is that his brain needs so much energy that it’s prematurely aged him, so for all we know Peter Capaldi could be playing a 22-year-old here.

Blackguard

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Pete Davidson

Blackguard does not have an extensive history in DC Comics. He fought Booster Gold and lost, and then got kicked out of his criminal syndicate because he, you know, fought Booster Gold and lost.

Pete Davidson’s version of the character appears to be making some changes to the core concept. Blackguard can create energy constructs, but mostly used them to make a mace and shield. This guy seems to have guns.

T.D.K.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Nathan Fillion

I can’t find any evidence that T.D.K. is an existing DC Comics character. This could mean that he’s an original creation! It could also just mean that he’s even more obscure than usual. But there’s a compelling argument going around that T.D.K. is a renamed adaptation of everybody’s favorite failed member of the Legion of Super-Heroes, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy. The tip off is based on the T.D.K. emblem shown in The Suicide Squad roll call video. The letters, in this case, would stand for The Detachable Kid.

The Legion of Super-Heroes are both from space and the future, an intergalactic coalition of teens dedicated to bringing back the values of the 20th century’s Age of Heroes. Arm-Fall-Off-Boy was shown auditioning to join the Legion in a 1989 comic, but he didn’t make it in. Despite that, Arm-Fall-Off-Boy is the ironic favorite of a great deal of people who like the Legion of Super-Heroes, and he has made it into other incarnations of the group, in comics in 1994 and 2019, and in the 2006 Legion of Super-Heroes cartoon show, all under the brand-new codename of Splitter.

His power is what you’ve probably guessed and dismissed as too ridiculous, even for comics. He can pull off his own arms, use them as blunt weapons, and reattach them. When detached, the truncated ends of his limbs have a sort of … halved-grapefruit look to them, which is not too far off from the way T.D.K.’s arm endings look in his graphic.

Weasel

Image: Warner Bros. Images

Played by: Sean Gunn

In his first incarnation, Weasel was a man who couldn’t hack it in academia so he dressed up as a weasel and started murdering his competition for tenure. In his modern incarnation, he’s a bloodthirsty anthropomorphic weasel.

It be like that sometimes.

Mongal

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

Played by: Mayling Ng

Mongal is the daughter of space conqueror Mongul, ruler of Warworld, a planet designed only for gladiator battles. And she’s a big get for the Suicide Squad because her dear old yellow dad regularly goes toe to toe with Superman and she’s got essentially all his powers.