Suicide Squad Cast

spokenjays
Dec 3, 2014
4 min read

Today Warner Brothers made their official announcement about the cast of their upcoming Suicide Squad movie. The announcement marked that Jared Leto will be playing Joker, Tom Hardy will be Rick Flag, Will Smith will be Deadshot, Margot Robbie will take the role of Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney will be Boomerang (noticeably lacking "Captain" in his name), and Cara Delevigne will take up the role of Enchantress.

When the news broke that there would be a Suicide Squad movie, I was impressed by Warner Brothers for such a bold move. Now that the cast has been announced, I'm not so sure that I am impressed or that the move was bold to begin with, and here's why.

The Suicide Squad is a government-assembled black ops team comprised, for the most part, of villains who are looking to have their sentence reduced. They get their hands dirty with the jobs that the government and the metahuman community wouldn't want to take. How do they keep this team in line, you ask? There is a small explosive device installed inside their head. If one of the team were to deviate from the plan: POP! Get the picture?

Over the years, the team has consisted of many villains, some heroes, and a few good men thrown in for contrast. Names like Rick Flag, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Enchantress have been synonymous

with the team since its Silver Age re-emergence in 1987. Since then, the team has included many different members; heroes and villains, alike. The new 52 re-launch of team added Harley Quinn to its ranks. While names and faces have changed over the years, the one constant has been Amanda Waller, the lady behind the scenes pulling the strings. While no official word has been leaked into the casting of the character, there have been rumors circling the internet about everyone from Viola Davis to Oprah Winfrey taking up the role of the team’s wrangler. Either choice would actually be fine by me, as Waller has had many looks over the years. The rest of the team? I have my reservations.

Jared Leto being announced as playing The Joker is my first and probably my largest reservation. While he is a villain, he’s also a sociopath AND he has never been a member of the Suicide Squad. No matter how hard I try, I just can’t picture him on this, or any, team. At his core he is not a team player. I should rephrase this statement. If the writers have the slightest idea as to whom they are writing, they would

know that at his core he is not a team player. While the details of his role in the movie are scarce, the smart money would be to make him who the team is after. You’d not only create an interesting target, but you would have a good story in where allegiances are. Would Harley Quinn remain loyal to her Puddin’? Would Joker stand a chance against a group who doesn’t have a “No killing” policy? What would The Joker have to do to end up on Amanda Waller’s hit list? While I know that Jared Leto has the acting chops to pull off the performance, I have to question what the writers are thinking if they include him as a part of the team.

Next we have my other deep concern -What the casting director was thinking with the appointment of Will Smith?. Deadshot has been around since 1950 and was introduced in Batman #59. His alter ego, Floyd Lawton, is a little bit Tyler Durden (with his chain-smoking and lack of regard for his own well-being) and a little bit King Joffrey (because he’s a no-good backstabbing bastard) and a good heaping mess of kick ass (he never misses and normally sports a pretty wicked Fu Manchu). With his dual, wrist-mounted silenced gauntlet guns, Deadshot is the comic equivalent of Leon the Professional.

Floyd has been a part of the DC mythos for going on 65 years and I know that it sounds nit-picky, but this casting choice has me at odds with this movie already. Deadshot is one of my all-time favorite villains and I have waited a very long time to see him immortalized on the silver screen. I could probably name off dozens of actors that would be perfect for the role and nowhere on that list does Will Smith appear. Yes, he is a great actor, and he has played roles that are amongst my favorites in recent cinematic history, but I can’t wrap my head around this one. The mental image of who Floyd Lawton is comes closer to Darryl Dixon than The Fresh Prince of Bel Air or Agent J. While I try to move past this, let’s look at the rest of the team.

Tom Hardy as Rick Flag? I’ve seen him as a badass at the peak of human performance before. I can buy into it. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn? The real question is if she can pull off the accent. This is make

it or break it territory. She has to look, and more importantly the smile that I would expect from Harley. I’ll reserve judgment until I hear her call someone Puddin’. The Sydney, Australia-born Jai Courtney already has the background for being named after a boomerang. We’ll see if he gets promoted to captain before the film comes out. I’m on board for him to represent George “Digger”

Harkness even though he’s a little prettier than I would have picked for Boomerang. Lastly, Cara Delevigne as Enchantress… let me be honest. I am far more familiar with Marvel’s Enchantress than I am the DC character. It could be a good pick. It could be a bad pick. All I know is that she’s not Poison Ivy which could have been a really good pick to help with team dynamic. Yes, both Poison Ivy and Enchantress have been members of the Suicide Squad, but Ivy has a bond with Harley and I personally think that it would be interesting to witness how they would interact as part of the team.

So, in ending. I’m up in the air about this. It could be completely Amazo, or it could be the Bane of superhero movies. Let us know what you think of this announcement in the comments and make sure you #OutSpokenJays I guess I’ll have to wait until more information comes out to make up my mind on this one.

-JB