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Things That Could Totally Ruin \'Suicide Squad\'

Suicide Squad is coming—that much is for sure. And, really, only that much, since the only other bits from the DC Comics villain team-up movie have been various set photos that have made their way onto the Internet. So while the whole cast in one photo made it seem plausible that Suicide Squad might actually work, there’s still plenty of reason to be afraid.

So Deadshot’s movie costume looks awesome. His outfit when he’s out and about as his alter-ego Floyd Lawton? Not so much. The long red trench coat is a questionable fashion choice any day of the week. But adding a fedora (ugh), gold belt, shoe buckles, and fingerless gloves makes Deadshot seem less like an assassin and more like Huggybear Junior. It looks dumb with a capital D. Maybe it’s a nod to his original costume, which was a domino mask with a tuxedo and top hat. But probably not.

Those same set photos seem to show Lawton out and about on a shopping trip with a kid—presumably his kid. That’s kind of a bummer considering that Deadshot’s comic book equivalent has little to no story ties with his kids. There’s no rule that says you can’t make a change from the source material, but it does seem like an odd choice considering this is going to be most viewers’ first exposure to the character.

On that same note, Harley Quinn’s look is pretty questionable as well. Harley Quinn started out as a fun addition to the DC Universe by way of Bruce Timm’s work on Batman: The Animated Series. She had a simple costume and gimmick, dressed as a “harlequin,” and hopelessly in love with the Joker. Since then, she’s morphed into a shadow of her former self, and seems to have more in common with a fan of the Insane Clown Posse than her animated roots. Then again, if they’re going for someone who looks scary, you can hardly do worse than a fan of the Insane Clown Posse.

Look, we will never get over how stupid this looks. Yes, knowing what the rest of the cast looks like helps justify this new Joker design…but, man, it is still really awful. Jared Leto’s going to have his work cut out for him to make this happen.

Some more set photos seem to indicate that at least one portion of Suicide Squad will take place in Midway City. That’s not one of DC Comics’ more interesting fictional burgs, especially considering that the superhero it’s known for is Hawkman. That’s right: the dude who has wings…and that’s it. One has to wonder why the production team decided on Midway City, considering it’s such a nothing place in the DC Universe, especially since there are so many other interesting cities we’d rather see show up on-screen (Keystone or Opal come to mind). Sure, not everything can take place in Metropolis and Gotham, but Midway? Some say that it’s the DCU’s version of Chicago, but you know what would’ve been more interesting than setting a super villain movie in Midway City? Setting a super villain movie in Chicago. We know what and where Chicago is, and might care when something happens to it. Not so with Midway.

Suicide Squad will feature the third live action incarnation of Amanda Waller in the last few years. She appeared once in the Green Lantern movie (which we guess we’re just pretending never happened) and in the Arrow TV show (which is in a separate continuity). Deadshot, meanwhile, has been running around Arrow for a while now. Essentially, Suicide Squad has the potential to just confuse the hell out of anyone who’s seen either of those two properties. Since there are going to be so many crazy, obscure characters vying for screen time, it seems awfully risky that the film won’t bother referencing when these characters might’ve shown up relatively recently.

Let’s also not forget that with a few very notable exceptions, very few members of Suicide Squad’s mainstream audience will know a single one of these super powered villains. It’s cool that we get to see some obscure characters in a Hollywood blockbuster, but it seems questionable that audiences are being asked to accept a world where Killer Croc and Captain Boomerang can hang out. Shouldn’t we take some time and establish all these villains in a more grounded world first? If they were recruited for Task Force X from jail, who put them there? As far as this movie universe is concerned, there are only two heroes: Batman and Superman. It seems like we’re putting the cart before the horse here.

This might be the biggest problem of all. Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor are both confirmed on the movie’s cast list, which means that whatever happens in Zak Snyder’s new Man of Steel or Batman vs Superman movies will have some kind of impact on Suicide Squad—and vice versa. Building cinematic continuity on such an absurd foundation, one that’s more style than substance, seems like a recipe for disaster. While Joss Whedon’s Avengers sequel was ten pounds of crazy in a five pound bag, it still relied on the more grounded movies that came before it, starting with the practically realistic first Iron Man movie. By comparison, Suicide Squad might feel like being shot out of a cannon into the worst cosplay convention on earth.