Earlier this week, news broke that Hostel and Gang Related alum Jay Hernandez was circling a mystery role in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad adaptation. Now, it appears that Hernandez’s character has been revealed, and that he’ll have one of several DC Comics character cameos in the film.
According to Latino Review, Hernandez is playing Chato Santana, the New 52 version of El Diablo. Santana has the ability to create and control fire, and is sentenced to Belle Reve prison when he burns down the building of a local gang and accidentally kills the innocent women and children inside. Soon after, he’s recruited by Amanda Waller and joins the Suicide Squad.
Latino Review notes that Hernandez will only have a small, cameo role in the film, as he remains under lock and key in the super-powered wing of Belle Reve. He won’t be alone, either, and will reportedly be joined by familiar DC villains Killer Frost, Block Buster, King Shark, Live Wire, and more.
Introducing these other villains in small, cameo roles is an exciting way for Ayer to lay the groundwork for their future appearances in DC films, or to merely tease their existence in the shiny new DC cinematic universe. There’s also the chance that one or several of these characters will serve as cannon fodder for Amanda Waller, who implants each Squad member with a bomb that will blow their heads off when they disobey her orders. Seeing as the main characters of the film will likely survive long enough to rack up a good bit of screentime, I could easily see a character like Block Buster or Live Wire used as a quick example of Waller’s explosive scare tactics.
Suicide Squad stars Will Smith as Deadshot, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jared Leto as the Joker, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Jesse Eisenberg as Lex Luthor, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. It’s scheduled to hit theaters on August 5th, 2016.
