YMMV / The Suicide Squad

• Accidental Aesop: King Shark's portrayal makes a good case for training animals through kindness and not blaming them for their inherent urges. Waller and the government keep him locked up in prison where he can never better himself, even though the only crime we ever see him do is follow his animal instinct. When he's on the squad though, Ratcatcher treats Nanaue far better, sweetly appealing to his good nature and explaining why he shouldn't eat his friends. This very quickly gets through to him and he limits his feasting to the bad guys from that point on, with a simple talk bringing him far more growth than his colder captors likely ever could. This also makes the case that the dehumanizing prison environment is the wrong way to treat people who are a danger because their mental state makes them incapable of understanding right and wrong, and instead they should be treated with compassion and provided proper psychiatric help.
• Adorkable:
  • King Shark is practically a little kid in the body of a giant shark man. His simple, innocent attitude has made him an enormous fan favorite.
  • Polka Dot Man already comes across as awkwardly sweet in general, but his downright groovy dance moves define this trope.
  • Peacemaker's horrifically awful but well meaning dance moves help him apply as well.
  • TDK's enormously pleased and genuinely determined expression as he offers his team minimal, awkward help is strangely charming.
  • The otherwise manly badass Bloodsport has a horrible fear of rats that's both humorous and cute.
  • As always, Harley Quinn is beloved for shamelessly bursting at the seams with energy.
  • The often happy and sleepy Ratcatcher is so forthrightly sweet you can't help but like her.
  • Sebastian's little backpack.
• Alternate Character Interpretation:
  • Was Waller aware that Flag's captors were actually freedom fighters who had saved him instead of making him prisoner? Her orders to "terminate with extreme prejudice" could be seen as an opportunity to get rid of genuinely good, idealistic guys who could have become dangerous witnesses later on. Not to mention that Corto Maltisian citizens would have been understandably upset by learning of the USA involvement and willing to make it public, and the movie shows that Waller had no interest in helping the island, only in covering her tracks. It's even possible that Flagg was expected to make it out alive and meet with the freedom fighters so that Waller could locate them, although that would have been a Gambit Roulette.
  • Is Waller The Chessmaster or The Neidermeyer? Over the course of the movie, she doesn't anticipate Blackguard's betrayal which gets Team 1 killed (though she possibly might have since the whole plan of having two teams makes little sense unless she is sure that the military will go after the first, and with the exception of Rick Flagg all the powerhouses are in the second team, and Flagg was not only more idealistic than the other military guys, he was also needed to make the charade believable since he is the known leader of the squad), gives the squad orders that ends with them antagonizing their only allies, and most of the team's successful infiltration of Jotunheim happens when they are on radio blackout. By the end of the film, even her own staff become jaded with her and knock her out when she is about to detonate the Squad's explosives. The only virtue she shows as a tactician is in making backup plans, both with Team 2's north beach infiltration and having Peacemaker as The Mole.
  • Is Starro's rampage the display of a truly evil nature, or simply lashing out after having been captured and experimented on for 30 years? It noticeably leaves the Suicide Squad in peace after they free it (until the moment they decide to attack it first), and its last words imply it was quite content to be floating among the stars and did not seem intent on conquering anything.
  • Did Blackguard really manage on his own while in prison to contact the Corto Maltesian military about the mission on their soil, or did Waller allow him to make contact to as to make the distraction for the other team more effective? Keep in mind that Waller is never shown having told him or any of the members of Team A about Corto Maltese’s newfound hostility to the US, nor does she make either team aware of the other's existence, which doesn't make sense if she expected Team A to make it out alive. Blackguard's own motivation for betraying the team and what he hopes to get from it is also not elaborated on. Additionally, Waller reacts to Blackguard's betrayal nonchalantly and doesn't even activate his implanted bomb, which stands in stark contrast to her angry and outright explosive reactions to Savant and Bloodsport disobeying their orders, implying that Blackguard's doublecross was entirely expected on her end, if not planned by Waller.
  • Bloodsport in-universe openly questions whether Peacemaker's violent methods in general are sincerely motivated by a twisted desire for peace, or if he's merely using the pursuit of peace as a convenient excuse to hurt people, which Peacemaker never concretely answers. In a more specific incident, when Peacemaker tries to ensure Project Starfish is not exposed, is he truly aiming to prevent an international crisis, as he claims to Flag? Or is he just trying to protect his own country's reputation by covering up its involvement?
  • On the subject of Peacemaker, to what extent is he villainous? He seems to genuinely bond with the rest of the team in the bar scene, and also appears to truly regret killing Flag and trying to do the same to Ratcatcher 2. Is he only doing so because he was ordered to by Waller, and under duress? Or is his sense of morality so warped that he would value the reputation of his country over his own feelings? Was killing Flag a breaking point for him, making him believe that he was too far gone for redemption, and didn't care about anything else he did afterwards?. Peacemaker would later adress many of these, namely, that he genuinely regrets killing Flag and that his sense of morality was tremendously warped by having to grow-up as the son of Auggie Smith.
  • Milton tried to do his part by acting as lookout for the squad when they were at the strip joint, only to fail big time - it's entirely possible that he followed them into Jotunheim to make up for it. He didn't end up with a Heroic Sacrifice, but still.
  • Is Weasel as stupid as he looks and acts and only survived by sheer dumb luck, or, as Dr. Georgia Dow put forward, was it all a trick so that he can survive this suicide mission with Waller none the wiser?
  • Inversely, is Thinker as smart as he acts? We're told that his implants give him Super-Intelligence, but he has decades to work with Starro, masses of test subjects to work with, and ample funding from the Maltesian and American governments, and yet there is no indication other than his word that he's any closer to duplicating Starro's mind control than when he started. During the film itself, he never deduces anything that isn't also obvious to moviegoers, and the way he underestimates and antagonizes the squad seems lacking in intelligence if anything. Is he only claiming to have Super-Intelligence and to be making progress to maintain a firm grip on his position and the power and perks that come with it?
• Angst? What Angst?: Harley Quinn, considering that she lost Boomerang and Flag, who were close friends of hers, seems to get over their deaths pretty quickly; she's her usual Cloudcuckoolander self all throughout the film.
• Anvilicious:
  • The film is very heavy-handed with its commentary about the harm caused by malicious or incompetent American intervention, with most of the Squad's efforts failing to improve Corto Maltese's situation and even actively exacerbating it, until they finally defy Waller. This is particularly noted during a scene where the Squad casually slaughter dozens of freedom fighters because they assumed from a distance that they were the enemy military, which prompts Soria to directly call out the flaws in America's "shoot first, ask questions later" policies. If the allegory wasn't obvious enough, Squad A is framed in front of a huge American flag right at the start of the film, and Starro, who is revealed to be a direct consequence of the American government's past mistakes in Corto Maltese, is a literal red and blue star that causes death and destruction.
    Sol Soria: Typical Americans. Just run in, guns blazing!
  • The movie also drives home the point that hurting and killing children is one of the worst things a person can do. In almost every instance where there's friction between a relatively sympathetic character and a truly villainous one, it happens because hurting children is the line the former absolutely refuses to cross while the latter sees it as a means to an end. Child abuse and parental negligence also factor in several characters' backstories, and Bloodsport is coded right away as a redeemable "villain" because he refuses to let anyone hurt his daughter.
    Fio Crawley: All those people, John... Little kids...
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment:
  • During the assault on Jotunheim, King Shark is sidetracked by the sight of some small, octopus-like sea creatures in an aquarium, who are later released and somehow injure him (despite being resistant to everything between gunfire and being smashed through buildings). It's never explained what those creatures are or why they were in Jotunheim, and the injuries King Shark receives from them don't have any lasting effect on him.
  • Harley's Curb-Stomp Battle escape from the Corto Maltesian militia is so over-the-top and surreal, you'd be forgiven for questioning if it's even happening or not.
  • When the Peacemaker stabs Rick on the chest we briefly see his inner organs bleeding to death. Although it's a striking visual, no other character has recieved an X-Ray upon death, so it's a bit weird.
• Can't Un-Hear It: Though it's more dim sounding on account of the Adaptational Personality Change, Sylvester Stallone's low, powerful voice is still a perfect fit for King Shark, regardless of which version. Additionally, his portrayal here is already so beloved it's gonna be hard to not think of him when reading for other versions.
• Captain Obvious Reveal: Two fairly major ones, though neither distracts from the power of the scenes in question.
  • Amanda Waller having ulterior motives for sending Task Force X to Corto Maltese, i.e. to cover up US involvement in Project Starfish. Given all previous portrayals of the character, plus the fact that Task Force X is a black ops team meant to be used when the US government needs complete deniability, it would be more of a twist if they were there just to destroy Project Starfish for purely selfless reasons.
  • Peacemaker ends up fighting against the Squad in the third act of the movie. While this was pretty much to be expected given his casual amorality, beyond that of the rest of the squad, the fact that he's working directly with Waller to accomplish the above goal may be a bit more of a surprise, despite some foreshadowing in the introduction.
• Catharsis Factor:
  • After getting away with her incompetent actions in the previous movie and threatening to ruin the life of Bloodsport’s teenage daughter by arranging for her to be tried as an adult and sent to Belle Reve where she would most likely die: it is so satisfying to see Amanda Waller knocked out by one of her underlings and later blackmailed into letting the surviving members of the Squad go.
  • Given The Thinker's spent three decades horrifically torturing Starro, it's a very welcome sight when his test subject finally gets his hand on the pathetically begging douchebag of a scientist and rips him apart before smashing him so hard against a window his body explodes.
  • Given he killed Rick Flag, was about to do the same to Ratcatcher, and has generally been a colossal prick throughout the mission, Peacemaker getting a bullet in the neck courtesy of Bloodsport is quite gratifying. Especially awesome is how Robert simultaneously settles their prior argument on who has the better bullets by shooting through his opponent's.
  • Suarez killed Luna's birds for no reason other than to show off how villainous he is. Being assimilated into Starro only to die a slow and agonising death is a well-deserved end for him.
• Character Rerailment: After being portrayed as just another superteam of antiheroes since the New 52, this movie finally brings back many elements of the Ostrander run of the Squad: Obscure supervillains, high risk of death, very dark humour, the team being involved in politics, Rick Flag as the Only Sane Man... Needless to say this was universally praised.
• Complete Monster: Even in a film about morally ambiguous if not downright crooked characters, these two stand out as the worst of the worst.
  • Dr. Gaius Grieves, aka "the Thinker", is the pet Mad Scientist for Project Starfish. For thirty years, the Thinker has subjected Starro the Conqueror to grotesque experiments and tortures with full knowledge that his superiors in America and Corto Maltese intend to use the alien as a weapon against other nations. A self-serving slime of a man whose loyalties lie with whomever can keep him alive, the Thinker has sacrificed thousands of innocent people to Starro, tortured the results in every way imaginable, and is even accused by Starro of rape, a sentiment that the deviant Thinker doesn't deny. The Thinker is completely remorseless over the lives he's consumed for "scientific advancement", even spitting at the squeamishness of his own American superiors for refusing to host his experiments on their soil.
  • Major General—later Presidente—Mateo Suárez is the bloodthirsty henchman of Silvio Luna. In taking over Corto Maltese, Suárez directly participated in murdering the entire royal family and anyone still loyal to them, then after Luna dies, Suárez celebrates the occasion by burning the late Presidente's birds alive. More savage and xenophobic than Luna ever was, Suárez immediately begins making plans to unleash Starro against entire countries and slaughter millions. In his meantime, Suárez also subjects a captured Harley Quinn to a brutal round of torture.
• Creator Worship: After getting this from Marvel fans, DC fans have embraced James Gunn for his stellar job redeeming the Suicide Squad's mainstream reputation thanks to his hilariously dark and poignant work both as the film's writer and director. Notably, he seemed to get this from Warner Bros. themselves too, as, despite the film's Acclaimed Flop status, not only did they greenlight a spinoff streaming series which received similar acclaim, but they eventually put Gunn in charge of all of DC Films, with him spearheading a full DCEU reboot and directing the first film in the new universe, Superman Legacy, to widespread anticipation from fans.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • Everything in this movie would fit this trope. Whether it would be a violent death, adult jokes, or topics they're tackling, it is all so horrifying, yet amusing. Polka Dot Man's backstory is a prime example: normally, a character who suffers extensive trauma from being turned into a living weapon by his mother would be something horrifying. But having that character hallucinate that everyone around him is his mother, with characters warping into versions of themselves played by a chubby middle-aged woman? Hilarious.
  • The opening credits fits this, whether it’s Waller’s satisfied smirk that the "distraction" for Team 2 worked by sacrificing practically all of Team 1, Javelin and TDK laying bleeding out, shots of the burning Mongal, the dismembered Boomerang and the drowned Weasel being shown, and Waller’s staff handing out money from their dead pool (with the two winners miming a "make it rain" scene together) and one of the staff flipping off the image of the Not Quite Dead Weasel. All set to The Jim Carroll Band's "People Who Died", an upbeat and peppy song about the lead singer's friends dying.
  • King Shark's many brutal kills shouldn't be funny, but the sheer absurdity of them combined with his innocent demeanor makes them totally hilarious.
  • Bloodsport and Peacemaker slaughtering a supposed enemy village doesn't sound humorous on paper. But the way they both try to outdo each other while casually butchering their opponents makes the whole scene a riot.
  • Related to the above, while the fact that Team 2 slaughtered their allies isn't funny by itself, the fact that they found out by finding Flag having tea with the leader adds a layer of awkwardness to it. The way they try to play off their misguided rescue attempt makes them all look like kids who are trying to hide a mess they made from their parents. All except Polka-Dot Man, who states that he turned them into his mother in his mind and killed them. After which Shark coughs up a finger from the rebel he ate.
  • In general, Peacemaker's Ax-Crazy nature, being totally unaware that his mass murdering ways are the complete antithesis of peace while also being more than ready to murder several individuals who are clearly not threats at all, succeeding several times.
  • Milton's death was tragic. He just wanted to help save his country with his friends and when it happens, Polka-Dot Man is visibly broken up about it when he reveals it to Harley and Bloodsport... but the latter is confused as to why he was there in the first place and the former had no idea who he was. Even as Polka-Dot Man tries to tell them why they should care, they just don't care like he does.
• Cry for the Devil:
  • Peacemaker's actions in the third act are anything but sympathetic. At the same time, even he realizes how disgusting they are, and looks like he’s ready to cry he's so ashamed.
  • Starro kills numerous innocent civilians and would've killed countless more had it not been stopped, but the movie goes to great lengths to illustrate that it's just as much of a victim as those it's destroying. Starro's final line, where it laments that it was happy to just float through space, staring at the stars, is absolutely heartbreaking.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Ratcatcher II has many traits of people with autism and can easily be seen by the audience as on the spectrum. Amongst other things:
  • To start with, her fascination and love for rats is clearly what people with autism call a special interest. ^note Liking something—it can be anything, but usally something "most people" would not really like—almost to the point of obsession, and having the need to talk about it a lot to other people who do not share the interest, and sometimes aren't even interested in having such detailed discussions about it at all
  • There's also the fact that she so strongly believes that people totally misjudge rats and are wrong to believe them to be vile creatures. She seems genuinely hurt by this. People with autism often feel strongly for "the underdog" and can be prome to call out they are judged/treated unfairly.
  • She's naive. Bloodsport at one point even calls her a "little idiot".
  • Horrible Judge of Character: She completely misses that King Shark, during the first half of the movie before they become friends, would gladly eat her (or her teammates), and when he almost does, she initally stands up for King Shark against her fellow team mates who saw it happen—until her rat Sebastian communicates to her that King Shark in fact did try to eat her.
  • Her subsequent interaction with King Shark where she asks to become his friends, is weirdly transactional. Most people would not ask someone to be a friend as a condition for not being murdered by them.
  • Literal-Minded: When Bloodsport and Peacemaker drop the expression "eat dicks" during a discussion, she genuinely wonders why people would put penises all over the beach, missing that it's a figure of speech.
  • She's referred to as being in her early twenties ^note The movie is set in 2021 and Peacemaker refers to her as a millenial, so she must be at least 22 years old, but looks way younger and acts like a teenager. People on the spectrum are also often Older Than They Look.
• Esoteric Happy Ending: The island of Corto Maltese has been liberated from tyranny...after accruing hundreds of casualties, plenty of whom were either innocent bystanders or resistance fighters. Not to mention the power vacuum that's now been opened with the deaths of the ruling party. Say what you will about the first Suicide Squad, but the damage done in that film was nowhere near extensive enough to leave an entire country in a state of socio-economic disrepair it would struggle to recover from.
• Evil Is Cool:
  • Though evil is arguably too harsh a term, Starro is still a major antagonistic force and by far the greatest threat in the film, putting up one helluva fight due to a combination of immense strength and being a lot smarter than it looks.
  • Peacemaker is easily the most reprehensible member of the team, but he more than proves himself to be a worthy member due to his absolutely ruthless and effective fighting style.
  • Despite being an utterly deplorable human being with absolutely no limits to his evil, the Thinker earns points for being able to play Mr. Exposition for the Squad despite being a Non-Action Guy, and being played by Peter Capaldi (well-known as the Twelfth Doctor and Malcolm Tucker) in all of his Sir Swears-a-Lot Violent Glaswegian glory definitely contributes to it.
• Fandom Rivalry:
  • There's been something of one with fans of the first one. Some, who wish to see the first movie's original cut, claim that this movie's presence will stop that from happening and have even threatened to boycott the film. Arguably fueling their fire is that a lot of the hype surrounding this film amounts to "it'll be better than the first movie" with some critics praising Gunn at the expense of David Ayer, the director of the first film, ignoring the fact Ayer's film was a victim of heavy Executive Meddling. This rivalry was so heated that both directors stepped in. Ayer clarified that his film resulted from circumstances out of his control while showing his full support for Gunn's film. Likewise, Gunn called out fans and critics for continuously bad-mouthing Ayer, making it clear that he would be perfectly fine with the Ayer cut being released.
  • Also one between the fans of this film and those of Zack Snyder's DCEU films, due to Zack Snyder's Justice League being released the same year and being surprisingly well received. It's essentially about which style is the best for ensemble DC movies (even though Warner Bros. executives have made it clear they're not interested in continuing with Snyder's Myth Arc and style).
• Fountain of Memes: King Shark's limited vocabulary has done nothing to stop him from achieving this rank, with his many hilarious lines being instantly repeated by fans.
• Friendly Fandoms: It has one with Lobo (Webseries) for showcasing lesser-known DC characters and a Black Comedy style. Some DC fans wanted James Gunn to make a Lobo project.
• Genius Bonus:
  • Harley is put into a Spanish flamenco dress. When she's ushered into the royal palace, she says "gracias" using the Castillian Spanish pronunciation (grathias) rather than the Latin American one.
  • Harley has a hard time figuring out what the demonym is for Corto Maltese. That's because "Maltese" is already a demonym for people from Malta. The nation's name originated from a comic book character of Maltese extraction.
  • When at the nightclub Peacemaker orders a round of fernet. While an Italian spirit, it's extremely popular in Argentina to the point where seventy-five percent of its consumption is from Argentina. It's commonly mixed with Coca Cola, which has Product Placement all over the movie.
  • The codename “Project: Starfish” alludes to the Cold War–era Operation Starfish Prime, a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States—the largest nuclear test conducted in outer space.
  • Sebastian the rat shows he's friendly by waving a paw at people. Owners of pet rats won't be surprised by this, as rats sometimes do raise a paw (although they don't wave it) as a greeting gesture. He also chatters his teeth (bruxing) to express happiness at the end, another distinctive show of rat body language.
• He Really Can Act:
  • John Cena is commonly known as a hammy actor, having started out in wrestling, which requires theatrics, and then moving into comedic films. At first it seemed like this film would see him continue that trend, but in the third act, Cena gives a very nuanced and powerful performance. For that matter, throughout the movie he manages to portray a man whose motives would be considered heroic and goofy on a surface level, but his actions are so extreme that it loops around to being villainous and deranged.
  • Though always well-received, David Dastmalchian is often cast in smaller roles that don't give him too much of a showcase. With a much larger role than usual as Polka Dot Man, he earned a lot of praise for his sympathetic and humorous work.
  • Sylvester Stallone has been acclaimed in the past, but comedy has never been seen as his strength. Here his vocal performance as King Shark has been very well-received, with many noting his line-readings were absolutely hysterical.
  • Joel Kinnaman's work in the first film certainly wasn't seen as bad, but the character of Rick Flag was regarded by many as a boring part that gave him little to work with. The now much better written Flag gives Kinnaman a much better showcase which he takes full advantage of, with his death in the third act in particular being cited by many as a legitimate tearjerker.
  • Flula Borg, mostly known for being that funny German from Youtube, gets a surprisingly touching death scene.
  • Daniela Melchior is new to international audiences (only having appeared in Portuguese films and dubs), but was cited in many reviews, and by fans, as a high point among the cast.
• He's Just Hiding: Since we never get a true confirmation he’s dead, some believe that T.D.K. could potentially show up later, even if not for very long.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In this film, David Dastmalchian's Polka-Dot Man gets mocked by Calendar Man. In the Batman: The Long Halloween duology (which began production after The Suicide Squad), Dastmalchian plays Calendar Man.
  • King Shark's laughed-off attempt at a disguise (using his finger as a fake mustache) becomes even funnier after The Bad Guys (2022), where Mr. Shark (a similarly sentient anthropomorphic shark) is treated as a full-blown Master of Disguise despite his disguises (many of which involve fake mustaches) being similarly unconvincing. Granted, Mr. Shark puts in a little more effort to his disguises than Nanaue, but he's still very obviously a walking shark.
• I Knew It!:
  • When Sylvester Stallone was revealed to be joining the cast, a lot of fans guessed that he would be voicing King Shark.
  • When Pete Davidson's character was revealed to be Blackguard, an obscure villain even by the film's standards with a much less creative costume than the rest of the cast, many fans correctly predicted that he'd be the first character to die. Many guesses that in the sheer basis that Davidson felt so wildly out of place in the cast, not to mention the fact that he was barely in the advertising.
  • Due to the bloating of the cast, many fans guessed most of the team would die early on to set up the stakes. They also correctly guessed that most of the bigger names would survive.
  • After the final trailer came out, a common theory was that Polka Dot Man's line "I'm a superhero!" would turn out to be his last words.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • The entirety of Team 1 (minus Flag and Harley), excluding (or including) the treacherous Jerkass Blackguard. None of them are innocent victims, but their deaths are so pathetic you can't help but feel bad for them. Boomerang and Javelin are the only two who go out with any kind of dignity, and the somberness of their ends still helps them count.
  • Starro may be a destructive force of nature, but it's an incredibly tragic figure. Just wanting to be alone in space, it was abducted by astronauts and brought down to earth, where it then spent three decades being tortured by the Thinker's cruel experiments. When finally released, after being subjected to humanity's great cruelty for so long, it's pretty understandable why Starro's first instinct is to take out its aggression on its surroundings. Despite its actions, it's hard to even call it evil. It's just a victim who finally had enough. Its life is especially sad given the strong implication that it was just a child when his torment began. Noticeably, its final moments aren't spent cursing the species it has every right to hate, but rather remembering its happier days amongst the stars, trying to look up at them one last time before it dies.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • The interest in this movie went up when the red band trailer revealed "the freaking Kaiju" is going to be STARRO.
  • King Shark's involvement has got many excited due to his recent surge in popularity, his adorable design and characterization, and being voiced by frigging Sylvester Stallone. He expectedly turned out to be one of the most popular parts.
• Like You Would Really Do It:
  • Harley's squad gets slaughtered in the first minutes of the movie. Even discounting the fact that her fate is the only one not shown onscreen, the fact that Margot Robbie is one of the first names to appear in the titles, and that the trailers featured a lot more scenes with Harley (not to mention how popular the character is) makes her demise quite unlikely.
  • Similarly, despite the Anyone Can Die tone that James Gunn promised for the movie, many were skeptical of Peacemaker biting it due to a HBO Max spinoff for the character getting announced months before the movie was even out. Sure enough, despite Peacemaker’s Face–Heel Turn and seemingly getting killed, he was revealed to have survived getting shot in the throat during the post-credits scene. Granted, though, Gunn acknowledged this by being deliberately cagey as to whether or not the show was a prequel before release.
  • Overall, while plenty of people do die, it's not quite surprising that the characters played by Idris Elba, Margot Robbie and John Cena, the movie's three biggest stars (other than Viola Davis, whose character doesn't take part in the action scenes) ultimately survive.
• Love to Hate:
  • Peacemaker is easily the most villainous member of the squad, with his prideful douchebaggery causing him to frequently butt heads with his team. The end results are very entertaining. Arguably even better is when he goes up against his team, where he proves to be a frighteningly competent threat.
  • Amanda Waller is seen as a vast improvement over her previous portrayal, coming across as far more intelligent and intimidating while being as enjoyably cold hearted and despicable as ever.
  • The Thinker is easily one of the most vile characters in the DCEU thus far but Peter Capaldi makes him so wonderfully loathsome that he's delightful to watch and cheer when he meets a bloody end. The fact that Capaldi seems to be summoning Malcolm Tucker at certain points only adds to it.
• Magnificent Bastard: Robert DuBois, better known as "Bloodsport", is a Consummate Professional hitman who was sent to Belle Reve for nearly killing Superman with a Kryptonite bullet. Uninterested in being the leader of Task Force X but blackmailed into the position when Amanda Waller threatens his sixteen-year-old daughter, Bloodsport recovers from his initial mistakes and leads a successful break-in to Jotunheim, once deliberately getting himself arrested to draw attention away from the rest of Task Force X so he can effortlessly kill his way out of police clutches later. At the end, Bloodsport's conscience overpowers any loyalty he might have had to Waller, and he defies her orders in order to lead his team into stopping Starro and saving millions of Corto Maltese. Bloodsport walks away an absolutely free man at the end, blackmailing Waller with the contents of Project Starfish to ensure she can never touch him, his daughter or his new friends again.
• Memetic Badass: While also mocked for his useless power, some have ironically given TDK this rank, much like Slipknot in the first film. The fact that he seems genuinely pleased with his abilities only adds to it.
• Memetic Loser:
  • Blackguard was mocked before release for looking far more generic and meek compared to the other squad members. Many were also convinced he'd be the first casualty. This was proven correct, with him dying an anticlimactically humiliating death where he comes across as a total idiot.
  • Mongal also got hit with this a bit, being mocked for stupidly getting herself killed while simultaneously offing one of her team's only effective fighters at the same time. The fact that this team kill was directed at Captain Boomerang doesn't help.
  • TDK has been mocked for having an incredibly stupid power. The fact that he doesn't even seem aware of how lame it is only adds to this.
• Memetic Mutation: Has its own page.
• Moe: Ratcatcher 2 is absolutely adorable mostly due to her sweet personality, which is influential enough to make her the Morality Pet of both Bloodsport and King Shark. She’s also The Baby of the Bunch due to being the youngest and most innocent member of the Suicide Squad, an Animal Lover who has a cute bond with her rats, and has a cute Unkempt Beauty appearance too.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • We already know that Amanda Waller is a horrible person, but in case we forget, she very quickly makes it known when she blackmails Bloodsport into joining the Squad, threatening to put his daughter in prison for a minor offense, going so far as to taunt him with the possibility of her enduring prison rape. Even her staff is horrified by this. And if that wasn't bad, not only does she set up her own colonel, Rick Flag, to die alongside the rest of Team A on the beach, she also tells the Squad to let Starro destroy Corto Maltese and kill everyone living there in order to get rid of a hostile nation towards the U.S., and is completely prepared to kill them when they defy her, an action so despicable it finally causes her own team to betray her.
  • Blackguard's willingness to immediately sell out his team more than earns him that new hole in his head.
  • The Thinker's decades of horrific torture on Starro and human subjects (including children) certainly counts as his. One part in particular, where he gives a joking half-smile to one of the female Starro subjects crying that "he had his way with [her]" makes it so much worse.
  • While Peacemaker is very clearly a villainous asshole from the start, his murder of Rick Flag purely to keep America's image clean is a clear crossing of that line. Even worse, when he tries to do the same to Ratcatcher, who noted that murder is unnecessary since he can just destroy the evidence, a notion he seems to briefly consider before rejecting it. Noticeably, he himself seems disgusted with his actions here, but still goes through with them anyway. Oil addition to all that, if you believe his implication that he's murdered children in the past then he crossed it long before this event.
  • If their being at the head of a dictatorship didn't indicate they were bad dudes, both Silvio Luna and Mateo Suarez have their own individual crossings. The former's being his plan to continue using Starro, feeding his enemies to it, including children. The latter being when he expresses a desire to unleash Starro on rival nations. Not only that, but he also pointlessly burns all of the fallen Luna's birds to death.
• More Popular Replacement: This film's squad as a whole has gotten a lot of praise for being much more developed, interesting, and funnier than the first film's. To elaborate on specific examples:
  • Deadshot was criticized as being radically different from the comics version, excising the traits that made him unique in favor of being portrayed as your typical Will Smith character. His Suspiciously Similar Substitute Bloodsport was praised as being more like Deadshot than his prior portrayal, in addition to being an endearing and awesome badass played excellently by Idris Elba.
  • Killer Croc was mostly forgotten for having almost no dialogue and little personality with his portrayal never properly touching on the character's interesting pathos. King Shark fills his spot as the squad's animal teammate and has quickly become beloved due to being a hilariously adorable character who frequently shows himself to be a total powerhouse.
  • While Captain Boomerang was and still is well liked, he had no plot importance and was given almost no time to shine in the first. This film's Jerkass Token Evil Teammate Peacemaker is lacking in neither department, allowing him to revel in the role to stronger results.
  • Polka Dot Man is similar to El Diablo as they're both two of their respective films' more likable characters who are reluctant to participate in fighting and ultimately die in the third act. But the former has been deemed an improvement owing to a more colorful and enjoyable depiction while not falling victim to the latter's clunky use in the narrative, and also providing some of the film's funniest and saddest moments, often at the same time.
  • Ratcatcher II bears a resemblance to Katana, both being the second most prominent woman on the team who stand out as the most morally good member. While Katana was noted to be shoehorned in with very little to add, Ratcatcher has been praised as an infectiously likable character who both acts as The Heart of the film and is instrumental in saving the day.
  • Team A featured a whole team of One-Scene Wonder's as Sacrificial Lamb's making them much more memorable than Flat Character Slipknot.
• Nausea Fuel:
  • Near the beginning of the film, Blackguard and Captain Boomerang get toilet paper and human crap, respectively, stuck to their feet, and struggle to get them off. Boomerang scrapes the crap off his shoe with his own eponymous weapon, the same one he uses for the rest of the film.
  • The supervillain Double Down makes a cameo. Due to a curse, he has patches of skin missing from his face. The exposed tissue looks very fresh.
  • When Polka-Dot Man goes too long without expelling his dots, they form large lumps all over his face and he visibly struggles to breathe, resembling the effects of an allergic reaction. Even with the vibrant, glowing colours, it's incredibly unsettling to look at.
  • During the assault on Jotunheim, King Shark rips a man in half vertically.
  • When Peacemaker stabs Rick Flag, we are given a shot of the latter's still beating heart pierced and gushing blood.
  • The sheer amount of rats Ratcatcher II summons solely from the island nation of Corto Maltese to fight Starro can make a person gag.
  • The way Starro is defeated (getting its eye pierced and having thousands of rats rushing inside to gnaw at its exposed nerves) can be uncomfortable to watch.
  • For that matter, the rats have that opening because Harley used Javelin's javelin in a leaping stab at Starro's eye, and ends up swimming in ocular jelly. Ew.
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Outside of very brief appearances from a few later, the first squad (excluding Harley and Rick) only appears for the beginning sequence where they all die off (although TDK and Weasel are confirmed to have survived). In that short amount of time though, they managed to to be fairly entertaining and memorable.
  • Taika Waititi appears in two brief scenes as the original Ratcatcher, and only has lines in one of them. The second appearance is arguably one of the most emotionally moving scenes in the entire movie.
  • Calendar Man and Double Down only briefly show up to belittle Polka Dot Man, but their blunt dickishness is enjoyable. The multi-coloured inmate Kaleidoscope also leaves an impression, despite having only a few seconds screentime.
• Questionable Casting:
  • The cast was very well received, but many were confused by Pete Davidson's involvement, given he's regarded by most as more of a stand-up comedian than a good actor, and his usual slacker type characters don’t fit into this kind of story at all. Though the fact that his character is the first to die gives the impression that his presence was intentionally jarring.
  • Michael Rooker as Savant was also considered a baffling choice for fans of the character, since the comic character is young and very conventionally attractive.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • In the first movie, Rick Flag had detractors who believed he was boring and got outshone by Deadshot and Harley while also stealing the spotlight from the more interesting squad members. In this one, he's been deemed a much more likable, cooler, funnier, and overall enjoyable character who has a far better dynamic with the squad instead of just being the guy who bossed them around. While several viewers didn't care about him in the previous installment, his death here was seen as a legit gut-punch.
  • While Viola Davis' performance as Amanda Waller was praised for capturing the character's intimidating personality in the 2016 film, the film's treatment of the character was heavily criticized for writing Waller as an overconfident bureaucrat who makes many blatant mistakes to drive the conflict, despite the film still trying to portray her as a strategic genius. In this film, Waller's impulsiveness is significantly toned down and she clearly has much more control of the situation, which allows her to feel more like a genuine Chessmaster. At the same time, the film is fully aware that her planning and methods are still flawed and her strategic failings here are openly noted and criticized in-universe, and unlike the previous film, Waller doesn't get off scot free.
• Salvaged Story: This movie is considered an improvement to Suicide Squad (2016) because:
  • The first movie was widely criticized for the female characters' revealing costumes and the way it frequently used the male gaze on Harley. Here, none of the female characters have overly sexualized outfits and Harley isn't subject to demeaning camera angles. If anything, the female gaze is more in effect; there are lingering shots of Rick Flag, Peacemaker, and Silvio Luna in various states of undress, with the latter expressly intended for Harley to eat the eye candy. In fact, this movie has a more equal-opportunity approach to fanservice: there are also the busty secretary with Camila and the strippers of the La Gatita Amable- one of which is shown topless in a brief shot. Harley's one bit of Fanservice comes during an impressive acrobatic stunt to facilitate a cunning escape.
  • The first installment had several uses of over-the-top, comic-book text and effects that were clearly slapped over the film in post-production, providing inelegant and irrelevant exposition that was never mentioned in the film itself^note Such as Rick Flag's golf handicap and completely clashing with the Darker and Edgier footage that had originally been filmed. The Suicide Squad has similar texts, but they are much simpler and easier to read, primarily being used for title cards rather than infodumps. Owing to the film's Denser and Wackier style, the use of these visuals is also much more creative and varied with many of the title cards actually being part of their scenes, such as the grime on a toilet seat spelling out "3 Days Earlier", or "Operation: Harley" being formed in flames.
  • The first film's soundtrack was heavily criticised, including by its own director, for randomly cramming most of the scenes with out of place licensed songs, which were forced on the film via Executive Meddling in a blatant attempt to ride the coattails of Guardians of the Galaxy (2014). The Suicide Squad, ironically helmed by the same director as Guardians, heavily downplays its soundtrack, and uses its licensed songs in much more appropriate and meaningful moments.
  • The first Suicide Squad was frequently mocked for having its characters in-universe constantly insist that they're "bad guys", even though all but two of them are perfectly compliant and don't act out at all during the mission. In this film, the Squad members don't brag about or revel in their villainy at all, and their nastier, more unethical aspects are shown through their actions rather than their words.
  • The first film infamously said that Harley was an accomplice in the murder of Robin in tagged on text, which many felt was far too unsympathetic and out of character a detail to add on without explanation ^note David Ayer has stated that this revelation was added without his approval via Executive Meddling, as Joker was supposed to have killed Robin before he even met Harley. In this film, Harley kills Luna as soon as she learns that he plans to kill children, explicitly stating that she sees it as a major step too far.
  • Harley was also criticized in the first film for being a questionable choice to put on the Squad, given she's both a major liability and didn't really come across as particularly useful until the very end of the film, and that was only because of a pretty simple trick. Here, Harley is initially put on the Squad intended to be killed as a distraction, indicating that she is indeed seen as disposable, but still survives and escapes against all odds, more than proving her worth to the Squad when she rejoins the main group.
  • The prior installment explicitly states that the Suicide Squad was assembled to take on Superman level threats, even though the film’s lineup was mostly comprised of grounded, street level villains, only two of whom were actual metahumans. In The Suicide Squad, the team are sent on a stealth mission against a more grounded, human threat. And while they do wind up facing off against a threat far beyond their level, Starro was not intended to be their mission, and the resulting battle makes it much more apparent that the team is overmatched against it.
  • The first movie was mocked for its low level of casualties despite the promise of an impossible suicide mission, which was seen as inevitable due to the team being mostly comprised of popular characters and mainstays who were obviously going to be fine. Here, the lineup is mainly comprised of much more obscure and disposable characters, and only six of the Squad's fourteen members (or seven out of fifteen if you count Sebastian) are alive by the end, with two very popular staples being among the dead. While some of the deaths were criticized, audiences overall were pleased to see this film truly embrace the Anyone Can Die nature of the source material.
  • The previous film was also criticized for blatantly telegraphing that Slipknot, the most obscure character and the only member of the group to get neither a backstory or introductory text, would be the film's first casualty, and killing him in an extremely underwhelming fashion after a few mere minutes of screentime. In this film, the entire first squad excluding Harley and Flag acts as the Sacrificial Lamb or rather lambs, but are much more fleshed out than Slipknot was, even starting the film as the apparent main characters before they meet far more brutal and memorable deaths.
  • A major criticism of the first film was that its plot and conflict was mostly driven by Amanda Waller's blatantly incompetent decisions and most of her successes were the result of sheer luck, making her apparent strategic expertise come off as an Informed Ability and causing her unambiguous victory to feel unearned. Here, Waller spends the entirety of the film at mission control and is not the direct cause of the film's conflict, and her abilities as a manipulative mastermind are much more on display. While the mission is ultimately a success, Waller is unable to enjoy victory after being defied by the Squad and her own staff, with the former group successfully blackmailing her and a member of the latter group knocking her unconscious, giving Waller a well-deserved comeuppance.
  • Another criticism leveled at the original Suicide Squad film was that the team members who were given the most focus spent most of the film at each other's throats before suddenly claiming to be a Family of Choice in the third act, with El Diablo's Heroic Sacrifice for his "family" being particularly mocked as a blatantly unearned payoff. In this film, the New Squad's mission in Corto Maltese takes place over several nights with plenty of time given to forge friendships with one another in-between skirmishes, making their status as True Companions feel far more genuine in comparison, while also never shoehorning in any sappy claims of them being family like the first. A lot of this is due to the presence of Ratcatcher 2, who is contagiously upbeat.
• Signature Scene: Bloodsport and Peacemaker showing off by killing the rebels with their skills. Even more iconic and dark when it's revealed to be an innocent one, much to Soria's dismay.
• Spiritual Adaptation:
  • Critics and fans alike have noted how this is the closest James Gunn and his team has gotten to making a mega-budget mainstream Troma film in terms of tone and subject matter. And just to drive the point home, there's the fact that Gunn himself was a Troma employee in the past.
  • Ratcatcher's segments using her powers make up for the closest there is to a 21st century-set adaptation of A Plague Tale: Innocence.
  • Boiling the film down to its basic plot-beats, characters, and Anyone Can Die atmosphere, this could very well be the closest we'll get to a Darkest Dungeon movie. An authority figure drafts an eclectic group of people with varying skill-sets and personalities to venture into certain death that ultimately involves a powerful being of otherworldly origin that turns its victims into monsters, and one of the adventurers has to die in order to kill it. Squad B even lines up with characters from the game: Bloodsport and Peacemaker are analogous to The Highwayman and a Crusader that's turned Abusive; Ratcatcher II is The Houndmaster (being The Beastmaster and the most morally upright of the heroes); King Shark matches up with The Abomination (though, lacking a human form); Polka-Dot Man aligns with The Occultist. Even Rick Flag and Harley Quinn could be seen as The Man-At-Arms (being a veteran and The Leader) and The Jester (due to the clown motif and Tragic Backstory) respectively.
  • Ratcatcher also has been seen by many fans of Worm as the closest to Skitter coming to the silver screen as we'll ever get due to her creator's reluctance to accept any adaptation deals. Particularly in regard to how someone with such a seemingly underwhelming powerset can take down a cosmic-level threat.
• Surprisingly Improved Sequel: The film is considered to be a massive improvement from Suicide Squad (2016) in every aspect. To contrast, while the first film had a 26% critic score and a 59% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, indicating mixed-to-negative reviews, this film has received widespread acclaim from both sides, with far more positive 90% and 82% scores from critics and audiences respectively.
• Stoic Woobie: While King Shark initially seems content with his life, it's soon made clear that he's never actually had any friends, which has made him quite lonely. It's rather telling that Nanaue's so quick to latch on to anyone who shows him basic kindness or even speaks to him. Just look at the poor guy when he can't join his friends amongst normal humans, he clearly hates being on his own. Also sad is how he loses a few of his new friends during the mission, and his fish ones actually try to eat him. Additionally, him being imprisoned is quite pitiable since there's no real implication that he's even a criminal. He's just a simple animal who can't help but follow his urges simply because he doesn't realize it's not alright to eat people. Adding to this, when Ratcatcher speaks to him as a friend and makes it clear he can't eat them, he actually listens, further proving that prison is the wrong place for him, as he just needs the proper training and basic decency to do the right thing.
• Tainted by the Preview: While audience responses to the advertising have been strong, there have been complaints that the trailers barely hide the strong possibility that almost all of the initial squad is killed at the beginning. Most notably, Mongal, Javelin, TDK, Blackguard and Savant only appear once in each trailer and have little to no dialogue. Putting aside spoilers in the trailer, this idea has especially bothered fans of Captain Boomerang whose preemptive complaints are detailed below after they were validated by the final product.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Though it was expected by many, the first squad is killed off almost immediately, giving them very little time to shine. Not the worst example since they're almost all very obscure and unpopular characters, but some would've liked seeing them show off a bit more before they can taken down.
    • Easily the worst example is the previous film's already underutilized Ensemble Dark Horse Captain Boomerang. Unlike the others, he's a very popular character, which makes him being killed off right away feel like a major misuse of the villain, especially given his long history of serving in the squad and surviving against all odds. Additionally, not only was his death seen as the waste of a squad member, but it also prevents him from ever properly facing off against the DCEU's Flash outside of their seconds long meeting in the first film. Digger Harkness does die in the comics, but he's replaced by his son immediately afterwards, which isn't likely to happen here anytime soon since Jai Courtney's in his 30s.
    • While we get at least a glimpse of the others' abilities, the fairly unique Javelin and Weasel never get theirs highlighted. In the case of the former, we at least get to see Harley giving his weapon its proper use later on. We also don't get to see Blackguard's showcased though that's more excusable given his seemingly pedestrian skillset.
    • Savant in particular is never properly explored, especially given how he's the first character introduced in the movie and is shown to have both good and bad qualities where he was shown to be a sadist who killed an innocent bird and is a Miles Gloriosus to boot but also showed a tiny bit of humanity when he saved Weasel to make the audience wonder if he could've truly changed for the better if he stayed in the movie longer. Instead, he's killed off early in the movie, doesn't get to show off his unique abilities more, and we don't see if there could have been true character growth for him if he had lived longer.
  • As charming as he is to watch, King Shark does not actually affect the plot at all. His contributions are killing off a few inconsequential mooks, placing a single bomb in a row of many, and taking a bite out of Starro before getting tossed aside. The mission would have gone almost entirely the same even if he had stayed home. Despite Waller's insistence that they need his great strength, the team never runs into any obstacles that required muscle strength to overcome.
  • Several fans were upset that Rick Flag was killed off given he's one of the squad's mainstays in almost all their depictions. The fact that he just became more popular and in line with his comics self only added to this for some, though others have noted at least he had a major role with his improved characterization before exiting, and that he died (or as was later retconned, appeared to die) about halfway through the original run of the comic anyway.
  • While Flo Crawley does have a Awesome Moment in the climax, her relation to Waller (who is her cousin in the comics) is never established, which could have been a way to humanize Amanda and bring her closer to her more sympathetic comic counterpart.
  • Mongal can't help but feel like a wasted opportunity to not only use the character and actress Mayling Ng, who is an extremely skilled martial artist, but connect the film to the wider DC Universe since her being the daughter of Mongul, one of Superman's biggest enemies who many fans are eager to see in a film, is never even mentioned.
  • While he was correctly guess by most people to die (and even the first to die), one can’t help but think that Pete Davidson’s Blackguard should have at the very least stuck around a bit longer, if for no other reason than to see what Pete would be like in a Superhero Comedy film.
  • On another level, the use of the Thinker as a villain feels like a wasted opportunity. While he is obviously an intelligent and dangerous figure, considering that this Thinker has spent thirty years working on a black ops government project rather than doing anything on his own, it feels as though the producers could have easily used Capaldi as a more generic scientist rather than reduce an established villain to little more than a mook.
• Too Cool to Live:
  • Colonel Rick Flag. A noble, badass soldier who dies because he valued morals over blind loyalty. And when his time comes, he makes sure he won't go gently, and gives his murderer a brilliant verbal middle finger.
  • Polka Dot Man. While reluctant to display his abilities, when he does it becomes clear that he's supremely powerful. He dies using them to help save the day, overjoyed that he's now a superhero.
  • Captain Boomerang. The only one of the first team's casualties who manages to put up a strong fight, not dying because he's incompetent, but because his team was. And unlike the others, he Goes Out With A Smile.
• Ugly Cute:
  • King Shark seems to take influence from his portrayal in Harley Quinn, if his appearance in the teaser is anything to go by. His childlike personality only adds to this, as do the swim trunks. In fact, his portrayal was deemed so cute he practically borders on Moe.
  • Weasel has gained a few followers in terms of popularity thanks to his weasel-like humanoid appearance which can be found to be both cute and ugly. His humorous absent minded portrayal can also help.
  • Starro may be a giant, destructive monster, but it's still a big starfish, and there's an odd charm to the way it moves around, particularly when it cartwheels. To say nothing of its spores.
  • Sebastian is a rat, and Bloodsport is terrified of the little guy. But Ratcatcher II gave him a little backpack! He also apparently told Cleo that Bloodsport was a good man and she could trust him. Sebastian was right.
• Unexpected Character:
  • When Idris Elba was first cast (and after it was confirmed he was not Darrining Deadshot), the popular fan theory was that he was playing either Bronze Tiger or Vigilante. ^note Vigilante, however, would later be used for the Peacemaker series. Almost nobody called that his role was Bloodsport, an extremely obscure Superman villain who wasn't even part of the team in the comics.
  • Starro the Conqueror (appearing at the end of the first trailer) was even less expected, considering how it's usually a foe of major heroes like the Justice League of America and not a smaller team let alone the Suicide Squad, who it's never clashed with on their lonesome.
  • Calendar Man (played by Sean Gunn) and Double Down get to make cameos, the former adopting his popular Long Halloween look.
  • Mongal in particular. Especially considering that in most television adaptations where members of the Mongul family show up, it's typically Mongul Sr who makes the most prominent appearances, with a few exceptions like Batman: The Brave and the Bold or DC Super Hero Girls where Mongal shows up. Taking into account just how memorable her father (being able to beat up Pre-Crisis Superman will give you that aura) and to a lesser degree her brother are to a lot of comic book fans, seeing Mongal being the first member of the Mongul family to make their very first big screen, cinematic appearance can come as a genuine surprise.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: Don't let the bright visuals and the fact it was directed by the guy who had written Scooby-Doo fool you, this film is easily one of the most goriest superhero films of all time.
• What Do You Mean, It's Not Political?:
  • Several articles have pointed out the movie's massive Take That! towards the American government's long record of hypocrisy regarding siding with totalitarian states and turning a blind eye to whatever travesties they commit so long as they're useful to national interests; only to abandon them later when they become an inconvenience.
  • There’s also a critique of the American prison system as well. While the Squad itself could be construed as a commentary on prison labor, there’s also the much more specific instance of Waller blackmailing Bloodsport into joining the Squad by threatening to ensure that his 16-year-old daughter, arrested for stealing a smart watch, is tried as an adult in a Louisiana court, which would almost inevitably land her in a supermax prison with a very high prisoner mortality rate.
• The Woobie:
  • Ratcatcher 2, real name Cleo Cazo. Growing up without a home, the father she loved died of a drug addiction, leaving her with nothing but rats for company. She turned to crime out of necessity, being the only way she knew how to get money, which winds up putting her on an extremely dangerous mission that should be reserved for people far worse than her. Especially sympathetic is when she's nearly murdered by a teammate that she had previously treated as a friend, terrified and left begging on the ground, with her totally valid points to spare her falling on intentionally deaf ears.
  • Harley Quinn loses one of her only friends, seeing him die a brutal death. She then gets placed in a prison which is literally just a dirty hole in the ground before things start to look up for her when she meets a new love. Unfortunately, things end quickly when she realizes he'd just be another monster she'd date, forcing her to kill him. She's then tortured before freeing herself only to shortly after lose another one of her few friends.
  • Polka Dot Man undeniably counts. Born Abner Krill, he and his siblings were experimented on by his mother, who exposed them to an alien virus to turn them into superheroes. The sole survivor of this abuse, he inherited powers, but he also develops glowing dots over his face, which begin to swell to horrific levels so bad he can hardly breathe, only going away when he uses his powers. To repay his mother for the Hell she put him and her other kids through, he murders her, which causes him to be locked up, with others being quick to bully him over his condition. Despite only being guilty of killing a woman who absolutely deserved it, he's placed on the famously dangerous Suicide Squad. He sadly dies on this mission, though only after he finally feels content with himself, happily exclaiming that he's now a superhero.
  • Poor, sweet Milton. His status as this is significantly funnier than the preceding examples due to the fact he's a character whose death is a punchline, but he is still just some terrified schmoe who gets forced into the frontlines on the attack on Jotunheim, and pointlessly loses his life for it. That the equally poor Polka Dot Man is the only guy who mourns Milton while everyone else forgets about him is equal parts pitiable and hilarious.
• WTH, Costuming Department?:
  • Some of the costumes look a little too pristine for characters that are experienced enough to be considered viable recruits for a black ops team.
    • Potentially justified; Since Gunn has gone on record saying that many of the roster are "screw-up supervillains", it's entirely possible that the only fight they've ever been in is the one that got them captured by Waller, meaning there would be very little wear on the costumes due to having almost never been used.
    • Also entirely justified in a Doylist sense, as a large criticism that modern superhero movies has been that rejecting crazier costumes in favour of "realism" has resulted in many classic, vibrant costumes have been lost to shades of brown and black; here, Gunn takes the goof and colors up to eleven, with all the advantages and drawbacks of that approach in full effect.
  • Michael Rooker's Savant costume is comic-accurate, but the combination of lank hair, craggy features and large sunglasses makes him look like a cyberpunk Tommy Wiseau.
  • Pete Davidson’s Blackguard costume looks extremely generic and boring in contrast with everyone else’s more colorful and creative outfits. The fact that Davidson himself sticks out poorly amongst the other actors means that his costume sticking out poorly amongst the others just makes him look especially distracting and out of place.

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