Let’s rank all the villains we wish had made it further in The Suicide Squad
Which supervillains most deserved to make it to the second half of James Gunn's blood-soaked spectacle?
Film Features Suicide Squad
We knew, going in, that James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad was probably going to have a pretty high bodycount among the members of its titular team. Gunn made it clear from the jump that he was pulling heavily from the work of Suicide Squad comics writer John Ostrander—who also cameos in the film’s opening minutes—and Ostrander is a man who never met a C-list supervillain he couldn’t kill off within a couple of pages of introduction for splashy and violent effect.
Still, the film’s MacGruber-esque wiping out of apparently major characters (many of whom were featured prominently in its advertising) arrives with a swiftness and a brutality that speaks far more to Gunn’s Troma background than his status as a journeyman employee of the WarnerMedia corporation. (Our own Katie Rife noted as much in her review of the film, aptly describing the opening minutes as “an orgy of bodies being torn to pieces in a wild beachfront massacre.”) But while Gunn’s film is never more energetic than when it’s blowing through more than half its cast in the opening minutes, it did leave us wondering: Could any of these characters have actually gone the distance? And so we’ve gone ahead and ranked everyone who dies in the first half or so of The Suicide Squad—no late-film spoilers here, although early-film spoilers should hopefully be obvious—on a simple basis: How badly do we wish they’d made it off that beach?
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To be fair to Captain Boomerang: Of any member of the Suicide Squad save Harley, he probably has the highest chance of being resurrected.In the comics he’s died and come back to life at least once. During the events of Identity Crisis, Captain Boomerang was hired to kill Tim Drake’s dad , Jack Drake, as part of Jean Loring’s convoluted and completely pointless scheme to get back with her ex-husband (Primarily because Jean left Ray Palmer in the first place and he still had feelings for her.). The plan was for Jack to kill Captain Boomerang in self defense but they both ended up killing each other.Than his estranged son became the second Captain Boomerang but the Rogues killed him during the event Blackest Night because he was feeding kids to his zombie dad. Than the original Captain Boomerang got resurrected at the end of the event.
The Blackest Night thing was so, so dumb. It ruined Owen’s character. He had a lot of potential, being part speedster. It was a good addition to Boomerang, even the upcoming game gives Digger that powerset.Regardless, I don’t think they’re gonna bring Jai Courtney back. Shame, since I really love his Boomerang. His little interaction with Harley pre-mission was cute.
“Boomie!”
Did they ever explain how Digger hooked up with Impulse’s mom as was implied?
I think they just showed that he somehow ended up in the future because of some kind of fight between Flash and Zoom.
I honestly thought they were setting him up to be somehow resurrected (maybe as a zombie?) in a post credit stinger or something because of that glowy boomerang his corpse was holding during the dead villain montage at the start.
I think it was just a neat bit to show that even mid-death by exploding helicopter he still caught his boomerang one last time. Was probably glowing just so you could see it.
Well, boomerangs do have a tendency to come back.
Not when I used to throw them they didn’t!
Any time I’m reminded of Identity Crisis I hate it a little bit more.
In the opening sequence they did show his arm shoot up while holding one of his boomerangs so they’ve kind of left it open.
I think there’s a good chance CB comes back if the Flashpoint movie goes well. A multiverse makes it possible for a version of Boomerang to come back, and the obvious Flash sequel is a movie where he fights his Rogues. Captain Boomerang is a prominent member of that group and already established as a popular cinematic character. Imo a Rogues streaming show is also a viable idea .
God, I hate Identity Crisis. And Blackest Night. There is definitely a trend here of crossovers being fucking horrible. I also really loathe killing off Tim’s dad. Drake being so much his “own” Robin, without the same kind of tragedy in his backstory, was powerful. Making him also an orphan was utterly unnecessary.
The only solidly good thing to come out of Blackest Night was the Weird Western Tales tie-in that had zombie Jonah Hex.
Thanks for the recap, I was wondering how Boomer came back after Identity Crisis. I will always love Boomer because of the JLU cartoon.
TDK never died though. He was last seen in Critical Condition which means that we didn’t see him die. Which means in Comic Book Law he’s alive.
Do you mean the post credits scene? That was Peacemaker.
When they’re listing the squad members in the control room (Weasal: dead; Savant: dead; etc) TDK is listed as in critical condition. We are never updated on if he died or not. I think it’s intentionally left open because it would be a hilarious real death in another movie.
But Weasel wasn’t, so bad sensors?
In the opening credits they do a montage of the casualties, with a shot of the HQ’s monitor showing their status and then their corpse on the beach. TDK’s monitor says he’s in Critical Condition rather than dead, and there’s a shot of him, coughing up blood but still alive.
No, we never see his picture on Waller’s display say deceased.Sure, it says Critical Condition and he was coughing up blood, but we never see him actually die.
Exactly. We never see him be definitively called dead.
Interesting, thanks. There’s always a chance.
Maybe his arms came back and pounded his chest until his heart re-started.
Also if Weasel showed up dead on the screen but wasn’t then they’re all in play (except Davidson and Rooker).
My question about “TDK” is why they replaced his Awesome Stupid Name with a Lameass Stupid Name.
I also don’t know why they cast Nathan Fillion as a Kid? Is this like a Shawn Michaels thing where he’s been doing his thing since the 20s? Or are we going the The Rookie route and having Nathan Fillion exclusively play Midlife Crisis Guys? Because dude’s like 50 ain’t he? In what universe is someone my dad’s age a kid?
It’s just his moniker, like ‘Billy Quizboy’ from The Venture Bros., who is in fact 37 when he was first introduced but I’m sure he prefers just TDK than his full name.
I think that’s why he was so protective of the meaning behind it, because it’s silly to still be calling himself a ‘kid’ at his age… but the name has been around for decades.
Although he doesn’t bear much resemblance to his comics counterpart, and having to pay anything to Arm-Fall-Off Boy’s creator or even have him in the credits probably isn’t something anybody should do.
I think the idea was that he didn’t want to be a “Kid” anymore. Like he probably used to do freak show type things and then turned to a life of crime and thought TDK sounded cooler.
No, I’m not talking about initializing the name, I’m talking about what it’s an initialization of. The initialization of his Awesome Stupid Name would be AFOB.
I was sure we were going to see his disembodied limbs crawling around in the end credits, but alas
I’m just happy I got to see Pete Davidson get shot in the face.
“Let’s rank the villain we wish hadn’t made it into the cast of The Suicide Squad”
I was dreading this movie specifically because Davidson was in it and so I was positively glowing when he got killed almost immediately.
He died before the credits rolled and he still survived too long.
There are not enough stars in the world for this comment.
As soon as I heard he was in I knew he’d die horribly. That’s the only reason to cast him in this kind of movie.
Worth.
It kind of makes you wonder how much they got paid for like three days if work on set.
I heard Liev Schreiber got paid $10,000 for the first Scream movie and all you see of him is footage on a TV screen of him being put in a police car. Must have been 30 seconds of screen time if even that.
And those scenes probably don’t have to deal with too many takes, that’s a nice deal for an actor.
That sounds similar to DeNiro in Frankenstein. IIRC he was paid a few mil but he only had to be on camera for like 10 mins as his character had a lot of stunts.
Also did they think they were making a short film or something? Like did they receive a script script or did James Gunn just send them all napkins saying that they’re dead?
Gunn has said all the actors who died were given scripts that cut off when it happened.
So that’s a half page of script for most of them.
Based on the amount of CGI in Justice League, I’m surprised the main characters in THAT movie spent more than 3 days on the set together.Like the last 40 minutes that entail the fight with the parademons…how much of that really needed a live actor to be there?
3 days? I take it you’re not terribly familiar with the process..
I hope one of Peacemaker’s missions it to track down The Weasel. Since they’re probably not going to give us a horror movie of him killing the Corto Maltesian children.
I want a prequel for Javelin and more Flula in the DC world.
Reminds me of the first 15 minutes of The Hunt
That movie was crazy.
The survival sections of the hunt are so well done.
Drinking Mr. Pibb, that most uninspired of all the Coca-Cola products.
“Hey, you know which product we should make a knockoff of? Dr. Pepper! It’s a goldmine!”
“I had a Mr. Pibb. Mr. Pibb is a replica of Dr. Pepper, but it’s a BS replica because the dude didn’t even get his degree! Why’d you have to drop out and start making pop so soon?” -Mitch Hedberg
Gunn must like it, see also Gregg Henry’s rant about Mr. Pibb in Slither- it’s the only coke he likes.
It’s a pretty solid mediocre man motif.
Harley Quinn wasn’t a Doctor. Harleen Quinzel was.
The slide for Savant doesn’t mention it, but having the blood pouring out of his neck — thanks to his head not being there to act like a cork anymore — spell out the “Warner Bros. Presents” credit? I was watching it in my apartment by myself, but I had to pause it to give that moment the appropriate standing ovation.
All the graphics used for the titles and location/time cards are really well designed and funny.
For me, the full reveal of Starro paired with “THE SUICIDE SQUAD VS. STARRO THE CONQUEROR” is what elevated the movie to true art.
See I was pissed they off’d C-Boom so casually. He was one of the only highlights of the first movie. Kinda of set a dour mood for me for the rest of the film.
Not me. I saw what unfolded, *boom* almost everyone gone, and now we need to reset and buckle in again for another story restart??! What the what? WOW! My energy level jumped and remained there throughout. I’m glad a few made it past the slaughter but, hell, let’s go in another direction (tone and character). I am fine not seeing the same ‘ol… Also a lot of genuine laughs which I can rarely say happens in DC. Went in with a touch of resignation and cynicism, left surprised and happy with a tip of the cap to Gunn and company. Giving it an appropriate amount of time to absorb, I will see it again.
I get Digger was important in the older comics, but they could pretty effectively replace him with a legacy and still get the same effect in a future movie right?
While the beach scene was fun, I just feel it was a massive kop-out having wondered how they were going to manage such a massive cast from the trailers. Turns out, half of them are just cameos. Especially disappointing as the movie ended up with such a manageable 5-person team for the final half hour, which made things feel quite generic in the end.
Completely agree
I think this is a good point, looking back, and I sorta feel the same way. The movie started off feeling bold, like it was breaking all the rules, but by the end, it actually got pretty conventional (kaiju starfish notwithstanding). The same thing happened with Deadpool 1, imo. I guess it’s the sort of thing that can’t sustain for a whole movie. (though it might if they were shorter)
……. it is literally called The Suicide Squad.
I agree – I was expecting a high body count – but I kinda thought it would be spread through the movie a bit more. It would have given some tension to who was going to make it or not. But after the beach scene it was pretty clear everyone would make it to the end at least.
What if Gunn got WB to agree to let him kill anyone as a misdirect for
having everyone survive? What a swerve that would’ve been!
From seeing how little was focused on a certain batch of characters, I surmised they’d be getting the X-Force in Deadpool 2 treatment.
I was disappointed Captain Boomerang was definitively slain so quickly since Jai
Courtney was most amusing as King Dirtbag. Boomerangs are supposed to
come back if they don’t hit their targets. I got my hopes up the stinger
would reveal he miraculously survived, but it was just Peacemaker to
lead into his HBO Max series.
https://mattthecatania.wordpress.com/2021/08/07/the-suicide-squad-is-to-die-for/
“writer-director James Gunn said no thanks to a star like Will Smith, but kept the guy who throws boomerangs?”Like, ya’ll are aware that they wanted Smith but he was unavailable. Very early on Elba was being courted as a recast for Deadshot, before everyone changed their minds and decided they should just make a new character in case Smith wanted to come back. I mean Bloodsport’s character is basically Deadshot in all but name.
^ this!
I’ll bet Gunn really didn’t want Will Smith anyway. WB or Smith’s ego might’ve asserted more creative control and reigned in the humor and violence.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone complain about working with Will Smith in the movies. He seems like a guy who gets along with everyone.
[edit]I made a comment about an excellent character who made it into the second half but I nevertheless wish had made it to the end, before I read the ‘second half’ stipulation in the subtitle
Suicide Squad was actually really good! At least I thought it was. It surprised me. It wasn’t so much the plot or anything or even the action. Which was awesome at times. The movie is super silly and dumb. It’s basically a comedy. It starts off weird and unappealing. I almost gave up on it but then it starts to get better and then it gets really good! No, what was really amazing about it was the character development. I actually ended up caring about the characters and their friendship. It was touching in a strange way lol. Harley Quinn escaping will be the most iconic set piece of this movie. You gotta see it. They’ll make gifs of it lol. BTW after the entire credits there’s a hidden scene.
Some people seem offended by the fact this movie is a comedy. It’s James Gunn. Were they expecting something directed by Chris Nolan? Zack Snyder?I loved it, because I had almost given up on WB/DC movies after the WW84 shitfest.
lmao who the hell is upset it’s a comedy?
I know younger folks at work, who are saying it’s not worth watching because it’s a comedy. I completely disagree. Makes me wonder if these folks have ever watched James Gunn’s other movies. I am recommending it to everyone I know.
Peter Capaldi’s ‘Thinker’ was truly a wasted opportunity.
why
1) Peter Capaldi2) He gets dragged around like a doddering dote with like 4 lines of dialogue.
They probably could have said fuck it, skipped all the make up and just given him a lab coat.
*shrug* he was terrific with what he had. Plus, nobody says fuck like Capaldi.
I thought for sure he was going to be Doctor Light when I saw he was cast. That’s just a waste of perfect casting in and of itself.
I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting. Certainly after the disappointments of Birds of Prey/WW84, it was a step in the right direction for the franchise.Harley particularly was served better by being used sparingly and written better than Birds of Prey particularly.
All in all, Nathan Fillion and Pete Davidson had good chemistry for those 5 minutes
I laughed harder in the first half an hour (or so) than I have in a long long time.
(Spoiler)
I was really hoping Polka Dot Man was going to make it through the film still breathing. At least he got a moment of happiness before he got squished.So now we’ve had redemption for Sports Master (thanks to Young Justice), Kite Man (Hell yeah) and Polka Dot Man, I have to wonder how long it will be before they bring back Penny Plunderer with a tragic backstory.
I was so pleasantly surprised by Polka Dot Man and how they rolled with him.
At least he won’t be sufferring from that rash anymore!
I was just disappointed he never did anything that useful really. Especially because they kinda hyped him up as being the quiet one who’s actually super powerful. Like, at least let him really hurt the Kaiju before he gets squished.
James Gunn didn’t decide to not bring back Will Smith, lol.
I was kind of surprised Boomerang bit it (I would’ve figured Jai Courteney might’ve tried to get it in a contract that he couldn’t die, at least until later, so he’d be able to redeem himself from being in the 2016 trash fire SS movie) but I think the one good thing that came of it was we got to see how it affected Harley, seeing one of her only real friends go down gruesomely (whether you take the previous movie as “canon” or not, this one makes it pretty clear that he and Harley are veterans on the Squad and had developed a real friendship over their death missions)
Yeah, it was a cool bit when she comes on board and they greet each other like old friends who haven’t seen each other. IDGAF I hope they bring Jai back as Boomerang.
“What kind of dog do you think it is, mate?” is my favorite line delivery of he film. I hope he’s alive.
wild stuff seen in the film. I still don’t really care that much about them but the overall film was fun to watch.I hope that Ms. Ng gets to play Tigra over at Marvel. She was neat to watch again in orange makeup.
Javelin is top of the list for me – if you’ve got someone as weird as Flula Borg in the cast, keep him around at least a little longer.
This list should be longer, but not enough main characters died. In a Suicide Squad movie. Again.
We started with 14 members of the squad (arguably gained one or two along the way in Milton and the Thinker), and end with 6 still alive, that’s quite a lot of characters dying.
is mongal really dead? she’s super durable.
Weasel should just be handled like Scrat in the Ice Age movies: Every DC movie from now should just start with some crazy Weasel Looney Tunes antics before the main credits kick in.
The film was kind-of missing something by not having a Batman foe in the mix. They could have settled for someone Z-list, like Crazy Quilt. He could have had a back-and-forth verbal sparring with Polka Dot Man.
Pretty sure the female version of Crazy Quilt was in a scene in Belle Reeve. Sure looked like her.
I feel like Kite Man would’ve been a good addition to the group, being of some yet very limited use.
Does Harley not count?
Polka Dot Man and Harley are both Batman villains.
This movie was so great (A- for me) but I was so hurt that Boomer got killed off so quickly but it so worked. TDK was so hilariously bad that the whole opening scene and Waller picking him made sense.
It is a crime that Flula Borg didn’t get more screen time. He is a transatlantic treasure, and I hope he made $20 million for his 3-minute long performance.
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