The Cast of 'Suicide Squad': Then Vs Now

DC's Suicide Squad, which has been in theaters for nearly two weeks now, continues to prove to the critics that bad reviews will not stop fans from coming. So far it has raised $465 million in global ticket sales! This film is surrounded by controversy — particularly with Harley Quinn — and has sparked huge debate among fans and critics alike. Part of that problem are, of course, the costumes. Love them or hate them, they are an important part of the movie. Some of the actors are completely unrecognizable in their super villain get-ups, and I'm not just talking about Killer Croc.

Will Smith—Deadshot

It does not feel like 20 years have gone by since The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ended, but this is when the majority of us were first introduced to Smith. He was a street-smart teenager, West Philadelphia born and raised, who had us laughing out loud from '90–'96. He went to take on many roles in the '90s; from Mike Lowrey in Bad Boys, and Captain Steven Hiller in Independence Day, to Jay in Men In Black to name a few. Now we know him as Deadshot, an assassin who never misses and loves his daughter more than anything.

Margot Robbie—Harley Quinn

Margot Robbie's first big role was in the Aussie Soap Neighbors, where she played Donna Freedman, a seemingly confident teen who in actuality desperately needs love and acceptance. Many could argue, however, that her breakout role was in The Wolf of Wall Street, where she acted alongside Leonardo DiCaprio as his second wife. Many remember her for that full-frontal scene, but she mastered manipulation and completely owned that role. It led to her domination this summer, starring in both The Legend of Tarzan as well as Suicide Squad, as the Clown Princess of Crime. Robbie rocks the girlish pigtails and smeared makeup like no other, perfectly capturing Harley's insanity and fun uniqueness.

Viola Davis—Amanda Waller

Viola Davis has been in the industry since 1996, appearing in multiple films and television shows but taking on smaller roles as well. You may recognize her from Kate and Leopold or Law and Order: Special Victims Unit, but Davis's big break came in 2008 in the film Doubt. The film questions a relationship between a priest, Father Flynn and a troubled student, Donald Miller. Davis's supporting role as Donald's mother earned her multiple nominations, but she didn't stop there. She went on to land a lead role in The Help and more recently the hit series How To Get Away With Murder. In Suicide Squad, Davis takes on Amanda Waller, the cold and manipulative woman who creates Task Force X.

Jared Leto—The Joker

Jared Leto's first big role was in the '94 series My So-Called Life. It only lasted for a season, but the fans of the show are loyal to the '90s hit. Leto plays Jordan Catalano, a rebellious teen whose scholastic record is poor, but has a great talent for songwriting. Leto went on to take on multiple roles in the years that followed, appearing in Fight Club, Girl Interrupted, American Psycho, and Requiem for a Dream back to back. His casting as the renowned Mr. J, Gotham's Clown Prince of Crime stirred up a lot of controversy. Leto didn't appear nearly as much as fans were hoping which makes his performance hard to judge. However, I loved his comic book-like, unhinged portrayal of The Joker and hope to see more in future films.

Jai Courtney—Captain Boomerang

Jai Courtney started capturing our attention back in 2012 when he starred alongside Tom Cruise in the action-thriller Jack Reacher. He went on to star in films such as A Good Day to Die Hard, I, Frankenstein, The Divergent series, as well as the latest Terminator installment, Genisys. He takes on the role of Captain Boomerang in Suicide Squad, an expert thief who is currently serving not just one life sentence, but three. A confirmed brony who has no interest in being a part of Task Force X, he's definitely not the nicest or happiest member of the team, though definitely one of the funniest!

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje—Killer Croc

Like Davis, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje appeared in many films and shows before playing Lock-Nah in The Mummy Returns. You TV fans, however, will more likely know him as Mr. Eko from Lost, a character that first was quite intimidating but quickly captured our hearts. Akinnuoye-Agbaje has more recently appeared in Thor: The Dark World as Kurse and HBO's Game of Thrones as Malko. In 2014 he starred alongside Thrones star Kit Harington in Pompeii. In Suicide Squad, he is completely unrecognizable as the Batman villain Killer Croc. Of the Squad, he had the least amount of screen time, but he made sure to let us know that he is beautiful.

Jay Hernandez—El Diablo

Jay Hernandez is yet another actor who looks nothing like his character in Suicide Squad. He first appeared as Antonio Lopez in the show Hang Time, but is better known for his work in films such as Crazy/Beautiful and Torque (seen above). He's also starred in horror films like Hostel and Quarantine. In the Squad, however, he plays the extremely powerful El Diablo. He's Task Force X's secret weapon, but getting him to use his abilities proves to be quite tricky. Like so many, he's a meta-human with a truly sad story.

Joel Kinnaman—Rick Flag

A Swedish-American actor, Joel Kinnaman is best known for his role in the Swedish 2010 film Easy Money as JW. He also appeared in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Safe House, and in 2014 he landed the title role in Robocop. Since then he's appeared in The Killing along with House of Cards. In DC's latest source of controversy, Kinnaman is the leader of the Squad, Rick Flag. He's a soldier who is extremely frustrated by having to work with a gang of criminals. But Waller, the master manipulator, is able to convince him once he falls in love with June Moone, the woman who Enchantress is currently inhabiting. In order to keep her safe, he agrees to lead Task Force X.

Cara Delevingne—Enchantress

Speaking of Enchantress, this brings us to Cara Delevingne. She has been modeling for quite a few years now, but only recently broke into the film industry. Her first large role was only last year, as Margo Roth Spiegelman in the film adaptation of John Green's Paper Towns. As she is so new to the game, many fans were worried and wondering if Delevingne had what it took to take on such a powerful and important role, and many left the theater disappointed. The general consensus is that Delevingne's acting was sub-par, feeling more like a high school performance than anything else. Writing and editing also have a part to play in this, of course, and while I liked Delevingne's portrayal of the Enchantress in her grimy costume that we first see, I too found the rest to be overdone.

Adam Beach—Slipknot

Like many other actors in this list, the Canadian Adam Beach slowly worked his way up, appearing in a variety of films over time. He is arguably most known for starring alongside Nicolas Cage in the 2002 war drama Windtalkers, where he played Private Ben Yazzie. His role in Suicide Squad as the talented Slipknot was unfortunately a short one, and that has stirred up more questions from the fans. His death felt unnecessary, though it wasn't a huge surprise. Even if you don't follow the comics, many noticed that he wasn't a huge part of the marketing strategy, which meant he was either more important than we could ever imagine, or more likely, he wouldn't be around for a very long time.

Karen Fukuhara—Katana

Finally, we arrive at the newcomer of the group. This is Karen Fukuhara's first film ever, which is really crazy to think about! While we didn't see a lot of her, Katana was undoubtedly a strong warrior with a painful past, someone I would love to see more explored. There was a lot of publicity and a lot of pressure with regards to it being her first film, but Fukuhara took it in stride. She was just happy to be a part of it and trained hard to portray Katana to the best of her abilities.

Superhero films are notorious for casting well known actors and making them completely unrecognizable, and Suicide Squad is no exception! What makes this even more incredible is that, according to the cast, CGI was used as little as possible. It was almost entirely done with the right combination of makeup and prosthetics. The only question fans are left with is if there will be a sequel to Suicide Squad, and if so, what other characters can we expect to see? Only time will tell.