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Suicide Squad is a name for a number of fictional organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. They first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #25 (1959), the second in Legends #1 (1986).

The first Suicide Squad was a minor backup series about a quartet of adventurers. The Squad consisted of Rick Flag, his girlfriend Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans, and Jess Bright. In the team's last mission, Evans died and Bright was captured by forces of the Soviet Union and transformed into the monstrous Koshchei; Grace and Flag split up, though she secretly bore his child. Flag eventually joined the Forgotten Heroes.

The second and better-known Suicide Squad was a covert black ops government strike team. The team was partially made up of imprisoned supervillains who had agreed to perform extremely dangerous missions, which were officially denied by the US Government using the prisoners' participation as rationale to claim that the incidents are merely attacks by criminals, in return for a full pardon for their actions. In addition, there were other non-prisoner members such as Nemesis and Nightshade who participated in the team as part of individual arrangements. The Suicide Squad operated out of Belle Reve prison in Louisiana.

To prevent members escaping in the field, the prisoners were shackled with an explosive bracelet that would detonate a certain distance from the field leader, who was typically Rick Flag, who wore a remote control that could detonate or disengage the bracelets as desired. The deadly martial artist called the Bronze Tiger often came along to act as a back up disciplinary measure.

The concept self consciously emulated the Second World War film, The Dirty Dozen and the television series Mission Impossible, and missions often ended in failure or the death of one or more members. The use of minor villains and heroes added to the jeopardy, as it was not clear whether any given character would survive a mission, and the series did not shy away from killing off some of its principal characters. The series was also notable at the time for examining the lives, motivations and psychological makeup of its characters. In addition, the existence of the squad created a believable rationale of how some supervillains were able to leave prison before the end of their sentences.

This Suicide Squad, code-named "Task Force X", was overseen by Amanda Waller; Rick Flag Jr. was her second-in-command. (Karin Grace also joined this Squad, but was revealed as a double agent and died battling the alien Manhunters who had manipulated her.) This Squad had a lengthy run of 66 issues in their own series, going on to appear in several guest appearances in titles like Superboy (a Hawaii-based version, incorporating many of Superboy's enemies, as well as the Kid himself) and Chase after cancellation.

Inherent in the concept of the Suicide Squad is the possibility that, at any time, the government may choose to form a new Squad, with any number of expendable new members.

Suicide Squad members

Original Suicide Squad (Silver Age)

  • Jess Bright (later RIP)
  • Dr. Hugh Evans (KIA)
  • Rick Flag, Jr. (later KIA)
  • Karin Grace (later KIA)

Task Force X

Luthor's Suicide Squad

Lex Luthor organized another Suicide Squad during his term as President of the United States of America; this team consisted of Chemo, Manchester Black, Mongul, Plasmus, Shrapnel and Steel (John H. Irons), and they forcibly recruited Doomsday to battle the alien Imperiex.

Sgt. Rock's Suicide Squad

A revived Suicide Squad, consisting initially of the members of the former Justice League Antarctica team and led by a Sgt. Rock imposter appeared in the short-lived Suicide Squad volume 2.

Members of the new Squad, not including those who were active in previous incarnations, include:

Other media depiction

The Squad appears in Justice League Unlimited, beginning in the episode "Task Force X". In that episode, the Squad appears as Task Force X which formed as a US Government force to respond to the Justice League.

Unlike the original, members of the Squad did not appear in their original supervillain costumes during their first mission, considering it was a stealth one: steal the Annihilator from the Justice League Satellite. However, Deadshot appeared in costume in a previous episode, and Captain Boomerang appeared in costume both in a commercial for a candy bar endorsed by The Flash and the later (Season Three) episode "Flash and Substance." The Clock King has also appeared in-costume in the Batman The Animated Series. As an added insurance, members of the team are unawarely fed food laced with explosive nanites that will destroy them if they abandon a mission. Each member has to work for 5 years to earn suspended sentences.

Members include:

Trivia

The Squiddy Awards given by the members of the rec.arts.comics newsgroup on Usenet ultimately derive their name from the Suicide Squad comic book. The original post, from April 1991, occurred when a regular poster to rec.arts.comics typoed "i" for "a", and other posters, seeing an opportunity for humor, went into great detail about what was going on in the (non-existent) Suicide Squid comic title. The self-destructive cephalopod is often seen on official rec.arts.comics t-shirts at conventions.

External links

DC Comics superhero teams | DC Comics supervillain teams | DC Comics titles | Fictional military organizations

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Suicide Squad".

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