Wednesday Comics: The Suicide Squad Movie

Warner Bros. recently announced the cast for their upcoming adaptation of the comic book The Suicide Squad.

For those unfamiliar, the Suicide Squad is basically The Dirty Dozen of the DC Universe, but instead of US Army war criminals, they are made up of super villains.  These bad guys are given the option to go on "suicide missions" for the US government in exchange for reduced sentences.

Depending on who is writing the book, the Suicide Squad can have some fantastically thrilling adventures that you couldn't have in a normal book of superheros.  It's a great combination of rooting for the bad guy while s/he is generally doing something good for the country (albeit in a Jack Bauer-y kind of way).

What amazed me was the amount of talent they are putting behind this film.

David Ayer who just finished the lauded Brad Pitt tank movie Fury, will be directing.

The big news is that they have cast none other than Will Smith for the role of Deadshot.

photo by Tais Mellilo

This character is a stalwart of the Suicide Squad.  He is an assasin for hire who never misses his target.  He is not so much amoral as he has his own particular code.  He is still incredibly cold-blooded, but he is surprisingly likeable.  This is an incredibly dark turn for Smith, one that I think will be a welcome jump start to his movie career (I'm looking at you After Earth!).

Rick Flag is US Government "good guy" who is charged with leading this motely group.  For this they got Bane himself Tom Hardy.

photo by Vanessa Lua

 I am very excited to see Smith and Hardy lock horns in this movie.

There are some unknowns to me like Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang and Cara Delavingne as the Enchanteress.  I can't say I'm very excited about either the actors or the characters they are portraying.

But the surprising news to me is that this movie will have Harley Quinn (played by Margot Robbie) and the Joker (played by Academy Award winner Jared Leto)

What has me so very intrigued about these two bigger named characters is that this movie is supposed be a part of the larger DC cinematic universe introduced in Man of Steel.  If that is the case than Leto's Joker will be the main nemisis of Ben Affleck's Batman.  I think Leto is talented and I am curious as to what he will do with the role.

So what are your thoughts?