'The Suicide Squad' - DC Reveals Promotional Images With New Villains On The Team

Last Saturday's DC FanDome virtual convention offered us an incredible look at upcoming DC properties, one of the most exciting of which is James Gunn's The Suicide Squad.

Gunn and the cast spoke about the movie and a little bit about what fans can expect. They answered fan questions, released a sneak peek of the film, and introduced the impressively large line-up of villains we can expect to see on the big screen.

While some actors are reprising their roles from 2016's Suicide Squad, including Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, there are a ton of new faces to be seen. Speaking about the new cast of characters, Gunn said that he explored a wide array of DC villains to pull together into the team he ultimately chose, even adding some of his own original characters.

Several promotional posters were leaked prior to Saturday's event, and gave us hints at who the villains might be, which Gunn elaborated on in the panel.

The first features the team's alternate name, Task Force X, with Harley Quinn front and center.

The second features icons to represent each of the villains, and while we are not completely clear on which icons fit with which character (since some are original characters of James Gunn's), the list of characters has been revealed as follows:

Featured in the top left, Margot Robbie is, of course, reprising her role as Harley Quinn. The style of her icon and the red background allude to the new look for her character, which features her most popular color scheme: black, white, and red.

Idris Elba, also known for his role as Heimdall in the MCU, is playing the role of Bloodsport. In the comics, Bloodsport's brother is severely injured in the Vietnam War, driving him to seek vengeance as a mercenary.

Alice Braga, also starring in the soon-to-be-released The New Mutants, is playing Sul Soria, a new character created by Gunn who is assumed to be related to comic book character Juan Soria. In the comics, Juan Soria joins the Suicide Squad after getting rejected by the Justice League.

Nathan Fillion will be playing T.D.K., which seems to be another character of Gunn's own invention. The name does hold similarity to a comics Suicide Squad character, Knockout, who is a female villain with super strength.

Pete Davidson is playing Blackguard, who, in the comics, is rather good at foiling his own plans. Given Davidson's comedic background, we can of course expect this character to function as some kind of comic relief.

Michael Rooker, longtime friend of James Gunn who played Yondu in Guardians of the Galaxy and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, is playing Savant, a character who in the comics becomes tied up with the Birds of Prey while trying to discover Batman's true identity.

John Cena will be playing Peacemaker. In the behind-the-scenes look (linked above), Cena describes Peacemaker as a "douchey Captain America." Gunn says that he is "the guy who believes in peace at any cost, no matter how many people he has to kill along the way."

David Dastmalchian, returning to DC after a brief role in The Dark Knight, will be portraying Polka-Dot Man, a Batman villain from the 1960s. If you are thinking that this a strange name...yeah, so are we. We are excited to see how Gunn brings this silly-sounding character into a modern context.

Sean Gunn, James Gunn's brother, is portraying Weasel, who is pretty much just as he sounds: a man-sized weasel.

Peter Capaldi, Doctor Who fan favorite, is playing the Thinker, who is one of the oldest DC Comics villains. He first appeared in 1943's All-Flash #12 and has the ability to control minds.

Flula Borg is portraying Javelin. He is a retired Olympic athlete who, in the comics, faces off against Green Lantern before becoming part of the Suicide Squad.

Daniela Melchior is playing Ratcather 2. The original Ratcatcher from the comics can control rats and is a villain who faces off against Batman, so there is no doubt her character is closely related.

Maling Ng, previously a member of the stunt team for 2017's Wonder Woman, is portraying Mongal, an alien who, in the comics, has a twin brother and battles with Superman.

Finally, portrayed above in the bottom right corner of the poster, there is King Shark, a character who is some combination of man and shark and was previously featured in the CW's The Flash. Steve Agee played the character on set of The Suicide Squad.

This lineup of characters is mind-boggling and totally exciting, and we cannot wait to see what this movie has in store. After seeing Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films, we can no doubt expect it to be packed with action, laughs, and unique and beloved characters.

We are counting down the days to when The Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 6, 2021.

Written By Alex Cherry

Syndicated From Culture Slate