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It’s Time To Meet The Suicide Squad

It seems as though we’ve been talking about Suicide Squad for a very long time, and for good reason. Having DC supervillains forcibly banded together to work for the government under threat of death by explosive implant is a brilliant concept. In the source material, the original Suicide Squad first appeared in The Brave And The Bold #25 in 1959, and has popped up in various media numerous times over the years. Now, however, the third film in the burgeoning DC Extended Universe is among the most highly anticipated of the year - thanks to early images of the cast and, in particular, of actor Jared Leto as a very different kind of Joker. But, it’s not just the stellar casting and stunning production design that makes Suicide Squad such an exciting film prospect. It’s also the very fact of who these characters are.

Amanda Waller (Viola Davis)

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Amanda Waller is literally the boss. Highly intelligent, relentless and almost sociopathic, she’s a government official with her own agenda, and wields the means and resources to neutralize any threat to that agenda that any metahuman may pose. She is ambitious and powerful to the extent that, in the source material, she has been seen to intimidate even Batman into submission.

Suicide Squad – also known as Task Force X – is Waller’s initiative. She handpicks the Squad members, she gathers them for training, and she gives the orders. If those orders aren’t followed, Waller decides whether or not those Squad members are executed. Their lives are literally in her hands.

Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman)

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In the source material, three generations of the same family have held the name Rick Flag – a grandfather (Rick Flag Sr.), a father (Rick Flag Jr.), and a son (Rick Flag III). It is possible that, despite the lack of a suffix on his name, the version appearing in Suicide Squad will be a modernized variation of Rick Flag Jr. – something that is supported by the presence in the cast list of a character named “Grace” – who could be a nod to the girlfriend of Rick Flag Jr., Karin Grace.

Flag is a non-metahuman in peak physical and mental condition, trained to expert-level in military, special forces and guerrilla tactics. He is the Squad Leader – an employee of Amanda Waller – which puts him in direct conflict with the bigger, male personalities on the Squad, such as Deadshot.