The edgy kids who make up the DC Extended Universe's Suicide Squad are a far cry from
the comics' original team of straightlaced heroes.
While the original crew simply strove for the benefit of mankind, the modern Squad's
interests are generally a bit more unpredictable.
Which is not to say that the Suicide Squad hasn't always been filled with a fair dose
of crazy.
Here's a look at the Squad's weird history.
Origins
Secret Origins #14 reveals that Squadron S was where the Army put all of their crazier
soldiers, who would either get the job done... or kill each other.
The crew took the name "Suicide Squad" not because they were willing to die, but because
most soldiers would rather kill themselves than join Squadron S. The dysfunctional team
is headed up by Rick Flag Sr., and they’re called into action to fight super-threats
after the Justice Society of America temporarily quits.
Much later, Rick Flag Jr. takes over his dad’s legacy after Rick Sr. kills himself fighting
the War Wheel, while still in mourning for his deceased wife.
Flag Jr.’s team first appears in 1959’s The Brave and the Bold #25.
Colonel Rick Flag Jr., Karin Grace, Jess Bright, and Dr. Hugh Evans are all the last living
members of their respective teams, all willing to die to save the world and uplift their
lost friends' legacies.
They're basically a crew powered by pure survivor's guilt.
Even in their first appearance fighting a giant, red-hot dinosaur, the Squad makes it
clear that they're a bit suicidal—but for all the right reasons.
After about fifty issues, Bright and Evans are swallowed up in an icy crevasse while
battling a yeti.
The team disbands, and the two are assumed dead for years.
Bright, however, survives by pulling a page right out of Star Wars and digging himself
into the warm yeti carcass.
The Chinese government eventually finds him, removes his busted body parts, and uses their
own super soldier program to rescue him so they can use his scientific genius.
Bright, now angry and insane, goes on to create a terrorist supervillain team called The Jihad,
who plague the Squad for decades.
After the team disbands and re-forms, the Suicide Squad again becomes the repository
for the unwanted.
But instead of just really bad soldiers, Flag Jr. has to manage semi-reformed supervillains.
The Squad is a great place for DC Comics to put their stranger villains, digging up obscure
comic history along the way.
Harley Quinn
Dr. Harleen Quinzel entered DC Comics as an underqualified Arkham Asylum psychiatrist
who falls under the Joker's gross spell.
She became a fan favorite villain pretty quickly, but most readers seem to just ignore the fact
that the Joker has tried to kill Harley more times than her enemies ever have.
Despite regular abuse, her infatuation with the Clown Prince of Crime continued for about
two decades…until her writers realized that depicting an abusive relationship as endearing
wasn't really responsible.
In Harley Quinn #25, she beat the Joker to a pulp in his own prison cell, completely
biting off his lower lip in the process, making it very hard for him to smile that winning
grin.
Deadshot
Floyd Lawton is an assassin with a heart of gold and a cyborg eye who embodies the spirit
of the Suicide Squad better than any other member.
He has no wish to live, refuses to commit suicide, and wants to die in an honorable
way.
Deadshot's strangest adventure is set off by an airport employee who steals his costume
from his luggage and goes around killing innocent people, forcing the real Deadshot to, well,
shoot him dead.
Shooting a guy dressed as himself messes up Deadshot for a while… until he's possessed
by a demon, tries to blow up some kids in an elementary school, and then tries to kill
the Pope.
Which is probably the worst thing a comic character has ever attempted.
El Diablo
The name El Diablo has generally applied to heroic characters in DC's history, but the
modern El Diablo is first seen accidentally killing the entire innocent family of a rival
gang member.
He seeks redemption by joining the Squad and frequently voices his objections to any senseless
killing.
During his very first outing with the Squad, the team has to contain a stadium full of
humans infected with a robo-virus that kinda turns them into zombies.
When El Diablo and Deadshot are attacked by a pregnant woman-bot, Diablo is the one who
protects her from being killed.
She mutates into a crazy Jabba blob, King Shark bites her head off, and the team delivers
a healthy baby by slicing it out of the monster's belly.
The whole thing sets off a rivalry between Diablo and Deadshot.
Katana
While most of these Suicide Squad members are part of Batman's rogues' gallery, Katana
actually worked alongside Batman in his team, the Outsiders.
She still doesn't completely fit into the "superhero" model, as she wields a sword that
steals souls, and heroes generally like to leave souls in the bodies they came from.
Katana's sword has a pretty special relationship with death, so the heroine was able to help
stop the Black Lantern zombies' plans when they invaded Earth during the epic DC Comics
event, Blackest Night.
So while carrying around a sword full of tortured souls is a pretty sucky superpower to have,
it's not altogether useless.
Corpse whispering is a pretty profitable backup plan if the whole hero thing doesn't work
out.
Just ask John Edward.
Enchantress
If you go to a party at a creepy castle, don't wander around, or else you run the risk of
being possessed by an ancient space witch.
That's just common sense.
Unfortunately, June Moone didn't get the memo.
Now she plays host to a powerful evil that she can only sometimes control, causing her
to unpredictably slip between hero and villain.
After a while, the forces that gave Enchantress her powers went rotten, so she turned crazy
and attacked Supergirl, earning her new villain status.
Enchantress has been separated from and reunited with the dark soul that fuels her a few times,
leaving her catatonic or tucked safely away in an asylum, so she's kinda damned either
way.
All of this makes her a pretty good candidate for the Suicide Squad.
Captain Boomerang
Remember the time you brought your teddy bear to school and everyone laughed at you, so
you decided to go home and become a teddy bear-themed supervillain?
That's pretty much the origin story of Captain Boomerang, except with boomerangs.
Digger Harkness is probably one of the worst humans alive in the DC Universe.
He's outwardly racist, he's cowardly, and he went on a pie-throwing rampage against
his teammates that lasted a year and a half.
Eventually, everyone got so tired of him that he was dropped on a deserted island until
the Squad needed him again.
When he was picked up, he'd grown a wicked beard and was trying to build a giant boomerang
to fly himself home—because not only is he a jerk, but he's pretty stupid too.
His first mission back?
Dressing up like Batman to distract some bad guys, because Captain Boomerang’ best power
is being a human target.
Killer Croc
Waylon Jones has more origin stories than teeth, and that's a lot for a man-eating crocodile
person.
Whether his condition was caused by a skin disease, a gypsy curse, bad steroids, or genetic
experiments gone wrong, Croc is now a guy who is super strong, super dumb, and hungry
for living meat.
"When Batman came nosing around, he was getting closer...closer."
"And?"
"I threw a rock at him!"
Croc actually has a special relationship with DC weirdo Swamp Thing.
At one point, Swamp Thing lures Croc into breaking out of Arkham, causing Batman to
pursue him all the way to Louisiana.
After a battle through the muck, Swamp Thing subdues Batman with a puff of psychotropic
pollen, convincing Batman to let the animalistic Croc finally find peace and solitude in the
swamps… at least for a little while.
Slipknot
Years before the metal band of the same name made its debut, Slipknot was a forgettable
villain.
The bad guy is first seen attacking DC hero Firestorm, using a gimmick even worse than
Captain Boomerang's boomerangs: ropes.
Sure, they're durable ropes, but they're still ropes.
And even though DC Comics already had its ultimate durable rope in Wonder Woman's Lasso
of Truth, they still needed more ropes.
And that's Slipknot.
Slipknot's worst moment comes at the hands of Boomerang.
In order to keep the Suicide Squad in check, each member is fitted with explosive wristbands
that can't go beyond a certain range or they'll explode.
Boomerang isn't keen on using himself to test whether or not these explosive devices are
real, so he convinces Slipknot that they’re fake.
Slipknot takes the first opportunity to escape…only to have his arm blown off by a very real explosive
wrist bomb.
Which makes it pretty hard to tie slipknots for a while.
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