Every new supervillain chucklehead in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, explained

We’ve known that James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad would have an expansive cast for a while now, but the new big trailer for the film gives us a glimpse of every washed-up, third-string supervillain in his movie. 

The Suicide Squad is basically the Dirty Dozen of the DC Universe. Press ganged into fighting the fights of the U.S. government, the clandestine squad of convicted super criminals that works under the radar (because the U.S. government doesn’t want anyone to actually know they hired a bunch of super criminals to fight their fights). 

Gunn’s new The Suicide Squad is building on David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad, bringing back several characters to reprise their roles, including Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, the stone-faced creator of the Suicide Squad; Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag, the exhausted supervillain nanny; Jai Courtney as (Captain) Boomerang, the team’s resident firebrand; and, of course, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

But there are also a ton of new characters joining the team. After all, one of the major hallmarks of the Suicide Squad is that nobody 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

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

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

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

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

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 Squad. 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

Voiced by: Sylvester Stallone

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

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

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

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.

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 Squadroll 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 lot of people who love 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 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

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

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 basically all his powers. 

By Susana Polo