SUICIDE SQUAD : Anti-heroes assemble!

Fury director David Ayer is bringing DC’s villainous superteam to the big screen. Here’s what to expect...

Forget The Avengers. Forget the Justice League. In fact, forget the good guys. The next new comic-book ensemble has much murkier morals – and much cooler credentials. As Fury director David Ayer gets busy picking his team of antiheroes to head up Suicide Squad (announced as part of Warner Bros 10-film plan for its DC properties), here’s everything you need to know about the (good) bad guys…

BREAKING BAD

Also known as Task Force X, the Suicide Squad are basically just DC’s best bad guys. After the superheroes have sent them to prison, supervillains that want to redeem themselves – and don’t mind the odd micro-bomb brain implant – are recruited by A.R.G.U.S. (DC’s version of S.H.I.E.L.D.) to carry out black-op missions for the government. So secret even Batman and Superman don’t know they exist, their assignments are also extremely high-risk. It’s not called the suicide squad for nothing…

NO I IN TEAM

Because the missions are so deadly, the turnover in the Squad is pretty high. Making their debut in The Brave And The Bold #25 (1959), the original line-up was a Dirty Dozen-style team of minor baddies led, reluctantly, by WW2 vet Rick Flag. Several new rosters have been picked since, including a complete reboot in Legends #3 (1987) and a New 52 relaunch that’s still going strong. Over the years, opponents have ranged from yetis, giants and dinosaurs to the Onslaught (super-powered Middle-Eastern terrorists) and the Hayoth (super-powered Israeli super-commandos).

TRUE GRIT

Using this year’s WW2 actioner Fury as a stepping stone from down’n’dirty cop movies (End Of Watch, Sabotage) to big budget blockbusters, David Ayer is another bold choice to helm a comic-book movie. If his past record is anything to go by, Suicide Squad could be the gritty, violent and realistic DC adaptation we’ve been waiting for since the end of The Dark Knight trilogy. Expect shaky cams, macho male bonding and plenty of PG-pushing action.

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS

The final seven-member Squad hasn’t been announced yet but bionic-eyed assassin Deadshot is the only safe bet – with the likes of Nemesis (master of disguise), Harley Quinn (The Joker’s henchgirl), Harkness (aka ‘Captain Boomerang’), Mindboggler (a punk rock telepath) and Vixen (who wields animal powers) all in the mix. More exciting is the rumoured list of actors playing them; with Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie all apparently circling lead roles.

PICKING UP THE PACE

Although there won’t be any crossover with characters that have already popped up in Arrow, there’s plenty of scope for Suicide Squad to start stretching the DC-verse. Dawn Of Justice big bad Lex Luthor often makes an appearance in Squad missions, and they play a sizeable role in the Doomsday storyline that Zack Snyder might be edging towards with his Justice League double bill. With two super-ensemble franchises now on the horizon for DC, Marvel might need to check over its shoulder again… PB

ETA | 2016 Suicide Squad opens in two years.