The Suicide Squad is coming, with another trailer teasing all the reckless rebellion
in store. A lot goes on in the second trailer for The Suicide Squad, so let's break down
what you may have missed the first time watching.
In The Suicide Squad, the former aspiring Mrs. J will channel her distaste for her ex-boyfriend
in various creative ways.
The first official trailer for the film showed Harley Quinn sporting a "property of no one"
tattoo, a clear reference to her break-up with the Joker and the fact that she's loving
the single life.
It also featured a scene in which the lovably kooky criminal tells the Thinker that if he
has "personalized license plates" on any vehicle he owns, he'll die — even though it's not
an agreed-upon offense or consequence for the supervillain in affiliation with Task
Force X. That remark is another shot at the Joker, who was seen in 2016's Suicide Squad
driving a car with a "HAHAHA" vanity plate.
In the new trailer, Harley kicks things up a notch by declaring her Joker hatred in the
most obvious way yet: a leather jacket that reads "live fast, die clown." You know what
they say: Nothing like having a toxic ex to motivate you to live your life on your own
terms.
James Gunn has a penchant for infusing groovy tunes into his movies, so it's no surprise
that this new trailer features an energetic backing track.
Where the previously released trailer for The Suicide Squad made use of Steely Dan's
"Dirty Work," the new trailer features a cover of a hit pop song — one that should be a
familiar tune to anyone who frequents sporting events.
The song in question is "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," originally by Steam. Here, it's
been slowed down and given a little bit of a Western flair, if those church bells ringing
in the distance are any indication. Those touches definitely indicate how Gunn wants
to give off some Magnificent Seven vibes with his supervillain team-up film, and from what
we've seen so far, he's definitely nailed it on the head.
Seeing as how DC basically gave Gunn carte blanche to do whatever he wanted with the
characters, we'll probably have to say goodbye to quite a few Squad members when the film's
released in theaters and on HBO Max in August.
We get our first glimpse of the weirdness that is Polka-Dot Man in the new trailer for
The Suicide Squad, as the notorious Batman villain gives us a sneak peek of his odd — and
colorful — powers.
In the movie's red-band trailer released last week, we saw his signature white uniform,
which is covered in — you guessed it — polka dots, but the footage didn't offer much more
insight into the character. Now we know what he's capable of — and although it looks
like Polka-Dot Man's skills start and stop at releasing floating polka dots into the
air, it's not that simple.
"I thought you were the crazy one."
"I am."
Also known as Abner Krill, Polka-Dot Man controls each small dot on his costume through his
utility belt. Once the dots are released from his uniform, they are able to transform into
a plethora of deadly devices like buzzsaws, flares, or even human fists.
These dots can also be used for teleportation, but it doesn't look like that's what Polka-Dot
Man is using them for in the new Suicide Squad trailer. When he crouches down, he slowly
releases the creepy, colorful dots into the air, and we can only assume they're about
to do some serious harm to the pair of oblivious guards in front of him.
King Shark, voiced by Sylvester Stallone, made a big splash in the first The Suicide
Squad trailer thanks to his love of gobbling people up, tearing them in half, and his ability
to recognize his own hand. The squad's resident aquatic predator/human hybrid gets plenty
of attention in the second trailer, and this time fans get a bit of insight into his peculiar
reading habits.
While scenes of various Suicide Squad members getting up to time-killing activities in prison
flash by, there's a quick shot of King Shark standing in a room full of guards and reading
a book.
This moment reveals to the audiences something surprising: King Shark's fluency in epistemological
philosophy.
A pause at just the right moment in the trailer reveals that the book ol' Sharky is studying
up on is The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James,
an American philosopher and psychologist who rose to prominence in the late 19th century.
The Varieties of Religious Experience is a collection of essays compiled and published
in 1902, leading up to James' development of philosophical pragmatism, and was groundbreaking
for its approach to the study of how personal religious belief and practice has shaped society.
A few of its entries might be pertinent to a prisoner forced to come to terms with their
own mortality. There's a chance that King Shark might be reading the 14th and 15th lectures,
which explore the inherent values of saintliness. Lecture number eight discusses the inability
of a sick soul to find happiness simply by outnumbering their negative experiences with
positive ones. The very first section of the book attempts to separate an object's value
from its origin, echoing the old antihero tradition of becoming more than the sum of
your broken, tortured parts. Any one of these concepts could prove life-changing to a creature,
unique and alone, in the custody of a society that he doesn't understand.
However, this would all be dependent on King Shark actually reading the book the right
way and not upside down. Gotta love him.
Another interesting takeaway from the trailer includes two members of Task Force X wielding
the same weapon.
At first, we see Javelin holding his javelin during the slow-motion antihero walk as the
group appears to be departing for the fictional island of Corto Maltese.
Once an Olympic athlete, Javelin is highly skilled at throwing his weapon, of which he
has several variations, most including explosives of some kind.
However, it's Harley Quinn we see with the intricately engraved javelin the most in the
new trailer for The Suicide Squad.
This doesn't exactly bode well for Javelin himself, who appears in the trailers significantly
less than everyone else. If Harley is the one wielding his weapon, it's likely that
Javelin doesn't make it very far in the movie — a close parallel to that of Slipknot,
who was the first to die in 2016's Suicide Squad.
How Harley comes to acquire Javelin's javelin remains to be seen, but how she handles the
new weapon will definitely be a blast to watch.
"I don't think that you know what to expect."
"Don't get too attached."
Ratcatcher 2's gonna... catch rats
In the new trailer for The Suicide Squad, we also get a much better indication of what's
to come with Ratcatcher 2.
Daniela Melchior will be playing the second incarnation of the character — who, in the
pages of DC Comics, was the protégé of the first Ratcatcher, Otis Flannegan.
At the 29-second mark of the trailer, when Amanda Waller bursts into Ratcatcher 2's jail
cell, a photo taped to the wall seems to be one of Ratcatcher 2 with an older gentleman,
likely Otis.
Much like Marvel's Ant-Man does with his six-legged buddies, Ratcatcher — whose real name isn't
known as of yet — has the ability to tame and control rats.
She seems to control or call them with the help of some kind of light — even on the
battlefield, where she's seen to call hundreds, if not thousands, of rats to swarm to her
side and do her devilish bidding.
One of the strangest new additions to the roster for The Suicide Squad is Floyd Belkin,
aka T.D.K. In the comics, he's known as Arm-Fall-Off Boy, Splitter, or the Detachable Kid.
As his descriptive nicknames suggest, T.D.K.'s power is simply the fact that, well, his arms
fall off. He appeared in the world of DC Comics when he tried and failed to try out for the
Legion of Super Heroes. Surprisingly, when he demonstrated his power — which, again,
is simply that his arm comes off like that of a plastic-doll — his petition for membership
was respectfully declined.
Exactly how this obscure character will factor into The Suicide Squad remains to be seen.
Did getting rejected from the Legion of Super Heroes drive him to a life of crime?
Is the fact that he's being played by Nathan Fillion a sign that he'll have a bigger role
in the movie than first meets the eye? It's too soon to say.
However, one thing the new trailer does give fans is a look at T.D.K.'s gloriously goofy
power in action. Toward the end of the trailer, there's a quick shot of both of T.D.K.'s arms
popping right out of their sockets, complete with a comically grotesque squish sound. They
also appear to hover in the air for a moment after they come out, suggesting slight complexity
to T.D.K.'s odd power. Harley took the "What the...?" right out of our mouths.
Start counting down the days for The Suicide Squad to arrive in theaters and on HBO Max
on August 6.
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