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Suicide Squad
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The Suicide Squad is a name for two fictional organizations in DC Comics Universe. The first version debuted in The Brave and the Bold #25 (1959), the second, also known as Task Force X, in Legends #3 (1986). An "original" Suicide Squad was retconned into continuity in Secret Origins vol. 2, #14 in order to form a connection between the first Squad and the second.
Publication history
The first Suicide Squad was a minor backup series about a quartet of non-powered adventurers fighting super-powered opponents that appeared in The Brave and the Bold #25-27 and 37-39.
Discussion
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Encyclopedia
The Suicide Squad is a name for two fictional organizations in DC Comics Universe. The first version debuted in The Brave and the Bold #25 (1959), the second, also known as Task Force X, in Legends #3 (1986). An "original" Suicide Squad was retconned into continuity in Secret Origins vol. 2, #14 in order to form a connection between the first Squad and the second.
Publication history
The first Suicide Squad was a minor backup series about a quartet of non-powered adventurers fighting super-powered opponents that appeared in The Brave and the Bold #25-27 and 37-39. The Squad consisted of Rick Flag, his girlfriend Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans, and Jess Bright. This team was created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru. Later continuity, in Secret Origins Annual #1, established that the team, in its earliest incarnation, was expressly formed to fight monstrous menaces as a replacement for the Justice Society of America, whose members had mostly retired in the wake of unjust accusations during the McCarthy Era.
The Suicide Squad was revived in the mini-series Legends, and were created by John Ostrander. The renewed concept involved the government employing a group of supervillains to perform missions that were almost certainly suicide runs, a concept popular enough for an ongoing series titled simply Suicide Squad. They were often paired together with the government agency related series Checkmate, culminating in the "Janus Directive" crossover.
The concept self-consciously emulated the World War II film, The Dirty Dozen and the television series Mission: Impossible. In addition, the existence of the squad was top secret, creating much tension within the group and leading the group to be targeted (unsuccessfully) by the likes of Lois Lane and Batman (who was forced to back off from investigating the group when Amanda Waller threatened to use the government's resources to expose Batman's secret identity).
While the team were successful on most of their missions, there were often failures (most notably the capture of Nemesis by Russian forces after a failed mission in Russia) 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, most notably Rick Flag Jr., who was killed at the end of the book's second year. The series was also notable at the time for examining the lives, motivations and psychological makeup of its characters with one issue per year featuring the group's psychologist interviewing each member.
The Suicide Squad lasted 66 issues, 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 Superboy himself) and Chase after cancellation.
The second Suicide Squad volume was published in 2001 by Keith Giffen and Paco Medina. Though the group's first issue featured members of Giffen's "Injustice League" group as the Suicide Squad's membership, the roster was promptly slaughtered save for Major Disaster and Multi-Man (whose powers make him unkillable). The two departed after their one and only mission, leading Sgt. Rock to recruit new members, most of which died in the missions they went on.
The Brave and the Bold back-up
Membership
- Jess (sometimes called Jeff) Bright
- Dr. Hugh Evans
- Rick Flag, Jr.
- Karin Grace
History
In the team's last mission, Evans dies and Bright is captured by forces of the Soviet Union and transformed into the monstrous Koshchei; Grace and Flag split up, though she secretly bears his child. Flag eventually joins the Forgotten Heroes.
Secret Origins
Biography
During the days of World War II, a number of army riff-raff are assembled into a unit that is highly expendable, and is therefore nicknamed the Suicide Squadron (shortened to Suicide Squad). Several teams were assembled, but their history in comics is only scarcely recorded before Rick Flag, Sr. becomes the leader of the team (and even then, only a few adventures of this squadron are shown). Eventually, after the war ends, the team is, together with the 'Argent' group, put under the umbrella organization of Task Force X, to later be remolded by Amanda Waller into the version appearing in Legends.
Membership
History
One of the known missions of this Suicide Squad involves the German fortress Jotunheim in the country of Qurac, where they were assisted by Jeb Stuart. Their mission: Grab a new prototype German tank, incapacitate a prototype atomic bomb and destroy Jotunheim in their escape. The mission is described as being more important than the lives of the Squad (even more so than inherent in the concept) and that most of the Squadders liked this particular type of mission, besides Rick Flag, Sr. They escaped with the tank, but were unable to destroy Jotunheim or destroy the bomb (although it ends up buried).
Other World War II Suicide Squads
This World War II Squad of Secret Origins #14 was a means of tying the Silver Age Suicide Squad to the war-era Suicide Squad (also called the Suicide Squadron) created by Robert Kanigher in his "The War that Time Forgot" series of stories in the pages of Star Spangled War Stories #110-111, #116-121, #125 and #127-128 (1963—1966) and is described as a "top secret Ranger outfit" whose members were trained to tackle missions ordinary volunteers were not expected to return alive from.
Members of this squad include PT and Prof (#110—111), Morgan, Mace and Dino (#116—118, #120), Sheriff and Wild One (#119), Stoner and Manny (#121), Reed and "Mac" the G.I. Robot (#125), and Peters and Talbot (#127). It is unclear, however, whether this Suicide Squad is part of the current Squad "canon", or if the Squadron in Secret Origins was intended as a replacement for them in DC history.
Suicide Squad (vol. 1)
Biography
The second Suicide Squad is a covert black ops government strike team. The team is partially made up of imprisoned supervillains who agree to serve as expendable agents performing extremely dangerous missions, which are 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 are other non-prisoner members such as Nemesis and Nightshade who participate in the team as part of individual arrangements. The Suicide Squad operate out of Belle Reve prison in Louisiana.
To prevent members escaping in the field, the prisoners are shackled with an explosive bracelet that will 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 acts as a back up disciplinary measure, and later, with the death of Rick Flag, as field leader of the team.
The group is largely run by Amanda Waller, although at times someone else acts as a cover for her, especially after the existence of the Suicide Squad becomes public. Eventually, the Suicide Squad leaves the government's control and becomes a freelance operation.
Membership
Because of the nature of the Suicide Squad, this list has been divided between those that serve on multiple missions, and those who do not. Also, the list is split between the members that participate on the behest of the government (Task Force X) and those that are later employed by Waller for her mercenary Suicide Squad after the "The Phoenix Gambit" story-arc.
Task Force X
Multiple missions
One mission
Post-"Phoenix Gambit"
Multiple missions
One mission
Task Force X
- Pathfinder
- Kaliber
- Metamorpheus
- Sidewinder
History
"Baptism of Fire"
The team's first mission in the Suicide Squad title set them up against their recurring enemies, the Jihad. They infiltrate their headquarters (the fortress known as Jotunheim, situated in Qurac) and proceed to defeat and kill most of the Onslaught members. Elements from this first story arc return over the series, such as: the death of Mindboggler, Captain Boomerang's cowardly and treacherous nature, Nightshade's attraction to Rick Flag, Jr., a rivalry between Rustam and Rick Flag, Jr., and Ravan's defeat at the hands of the Bronze Tiger.
"Mission to Moscow"
On orders of Derek Tolliver (the team's liaison with the NSC) the Suicide Squad is sent to Moscow in order to free the captive Zoya Trigorin, who is a revolutionary writer. Although the mission is largely successful in its first half, the team finds that Zoya does not want to be freed at all, causing friction amongst the team as they must plan their escape.
In the end, the mission ends with the Squad having to travel across a tundra to reach safety, but come face to face with the People's Heroes, the Russian's own group of metahumans. In the conflict, Zoya Trigorin dies and Nemesis (Tom Tresser) is captured.
Nemesis eventually escapes thanks to a collaboration between the Suicide Squad and the Justice League International, although the two teams fight one another first. This conflict is primarily the result of Batman's investigation into the Suicide Squad, and his confrontation with Waller, and his being forced to drop the investigation when she reveals that she can easily figure out his secret identity if need be.
"Rogues" and "Final Round"
In this story arc, building on subplots from previous issues, Rick Flag goes after Senator Cray in order to assassinate him. Previously, Senator Cray had been blackmailing Amanda Waller in order for her to ensure Cray's reelection, threatening her with the exposure of the Suicide Squad to the public, something potentially very dangerous for the existence of the Squad and Waller's career.
At first, there is also the threat of Waller being usurped by Derek Tolliver, the now former liaison between the Squad and NSC, who conspires with Cray against Waller. He is killed by Rick Flag in Suicide Squad (vol. 1) #21.
Waller deals with the situation by counter-blackmail (with help of Checkmate), but refrains from informing Flag, who, thinking that the existence of the Squad is in danger, decides to deal with the problem himself. In order to stop him, the Squad is sent after Flag, and it is eventually Deadshot who confronts Flag shortly before he can shoot Cray. Instead of disarming or killing Flag, Deadshot opts to kill Cray, nonetheless keeping to the mission statement: preventing Cray's murder at the hands of Flag.
Against Flag's intentions, the Suicide Squad is exposed to the public, thanks to a note for a press release (exposing the Suicide Squad) left in Tolliver's office, which the police discover thanks to his murder. Flag flees the scene, while Deadshot is shot by the arriving police officers. Unfortunately for Deadshot, who has a deathwish, he does not die from the injuries.
As the result of being exposed, Amanda Waller is replaced by a man called Jack Kale, in fact an actor, working as a cover so that Waller can continue to run the Squad. The team then goes on a public relations offensive, becoming for a time, a prominent heroing team. Rick Flag travels to Jotunheim, where the Onslaught are still headquartered, and finishes the mission his father couldn't. He destroys Jotenheim but gives up his life to do so.
"The Janus Directive"
"The Janus Directive" is a crossover storyline that involves an interagency war between Checkmate, the Suicide Squad, and Project Atom, who are manipulated by Kobra in order to distract the United States intelligence community from his activities. During the crossover, the headquarters of Checkmate and the Suicide Squad are destroyed as the war between the agencies worsens, as well as costing the lives of all members of the Force of July but Major Victory. In the end, with the defeat of Kobra, the various government agencies are made autonomous, to be overseen by Sarge Steel.
"The Coils of the LOA"
With the Suicide Squad on the verge of being disbanded by her superiors after Waller's lone wolf tactics during "The Janus Directive", Waller gathers Ravan, Poison Ivy, and Deadshot in an assassination mission of the LOA, a group that are planning to create a zombie army. The deal for the villains is simple: the three will be set free after helping Waller kill the LOA. While the villains run after the assassination, Waller allows herself to be put into custody.
"The Phoenix Gambit"
The storyline running through Suicide Squad (vol. 1) #40-43 reassembles a scattered Suicide Squad after a year of imprisonment for Amanda Waller. She receives a presidential pardon, courtesy of Sarge Steel, as well as one million dollars and her old privileges concerning the use of imprisoned villains.
This is done so that Waller can reassemble her Squad and prevent a confrontation between American and Russian forces in the war-torn country of Vlatava. As the Suicide Squad succeeds and finishes their mission, they go into a new direction, free from the government, as freelance operatives, per the terms negotiated by Waller. Under the leadership of Waller, who herself now also goes into the field as an operative, they are a mercenary squad open to the highest bidder.
"Serpent of Chaos"
This storyline ran through Suicide Squad (vol. 1) #45-47, Amanda Waller and the Squad covertly sneak into Jerusalem seeking to capture or kill Kobra. However, the squad's arrival is detected by the Hayoth, and their Mossad liaison Colonel Hacohen takes Waller and Vixen into custody in order to show them that the Hayoth has already captured Kobra. Amanda figures out that Kobra allowed the Hayoth to capture him but is unsure of why. Judith follows Vixen to a meeting with the Bronze Tiger and Ravan, critically wounds Vixen, and is nearly killed by the Bronze Tiger. Meanwhile, the Atom discovers Kobra's true plan all along was to corrupt Dybbuk the Hayoth's AI team member. Kobra "corrupted" Dybbuk through a series of philosophical conversations about the nature of good and evil; he then attempts to use Dybbuk to start World War III. The day is saved by Ramban the team's kabbalistic magician who has a lengthy conversation with Dybbuk about the true nature of good and evil, choice, and morality. Meanwhile, Ravan and Kobra have their final battle which results in Ravan's supposed death via poisoning.
"Mystery of the Atom"
This storyline ran through Suicide Squad (vol. 1) #59-62, the Hayoth mistakenly believe they would be allowed to take Qurac's former President Marlo into custody. This misunderstanding caused the Hayoth to become embroiled in a four way conflict with the Justice League (Superman, Batman, and Aquaman) who were there searching for Ray Palmer (the Atom) as well as the Suicide Squad, and the Jihad. After a series of skirmishes Superman ends the free for all with a shockwave caused by clapping both his hands together. The League confront Ray Palmer and he tells them about Micro Force and their murder of Adam Cray, the man who had been impersonating him as a member of the Suicide Squad.
"Rumble in the Jungle"
The series concludes in issues #63-66, in which the Suicide Squad travels to Diabloverde (an island near the Bermuda Triangle) to depose a seemingly invulnerable and invincible dictator calling himself Guedhe, who has his own personal bodyguards, a group of villains calling themselves the Suicide Squad. They go partially in order to free the people of Diabloverde (of which one, Maria, hires them at the price of one peso) and to clear their names.
During that mission they face the other Suicide Squad, who the actual Suicide Squad beats. At the end of the storyline Amanda Waller tricks the despot, actually Maria's husband, into a form of suicide (the despot believes himself to die, and thus dies). Before that each of the Squad members travel through the mystic jungle to Guedhe's fortress and in that jungle face their personal demons (except for Deadshot. The creative team makes a point of showing he is seemingly unaffected or simply does not have any fears. Also note-worthy, the other Bat-villain, Poison Ivy, is not shown facing her fears and shows more concern for her nylons). Afterwards, Waller disbands the Suicide Squad and the series ends.
In between volumes
Biography
Interim members
History
Superboy
The Squad resurfaces in Superboy #13 (March, 1995). Members are Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Knockout, King Shark and Sidearm, the latter meeting his death in the issue. Boomerang was thought to have perished but later returned alive.
Chase
Amanda Waller re-forms the Squad once again in Chase #2-3 (March-April 1998). Cameron Chase takes Bolt, Sledge, Killer Frost, and Copperhead on a mission to South America, only to be betrayed by the villains.
Hawk and Dove
The superheroes Hawk and Dove (Sasha Martens and Wiley Wolverman) are targeted by the government, who assemble a new Suicide Squad to combat the pair of superheroes. Members at the time include Bronze Tiger, Count Vertigo, Shrapnel, Thermal, Flex, and Quartzite.
Luthor's Squad
Lex Luthor organizes another Suicide Squad during his term as President of the United States, so that they can recruit Doomsday and battle the alien Imperiex. This version of the squad consisted of Chemo, Mongul, Plasmus, and Shrapnel. It was led by Manchester Black, under the supervision of Steel. Doomsday seemingly kills most of the Squad upon his release, but all of the characters appeared alive in later comics.
Suicide Squad (vol. 2)
Biography
Sgt. Rock's Suicide Squad
Multiple missions
One mission
52
In the weekly comicbook series 52, Amanda Waller approaches Atom Smasher about building a new Suicide Squad to go against Black Adam.
Membership
One Year Later
In the pages of Checkmate (vol. 2) #6, Bronze Tiger rescues Rick Flag from a secret Quraci prison, where Flag had been imprisoned for four years. Afterwards, Amanda Waller enlists the aid of both men in tracking down a rogue Suicide Squad team led by the Mirror Master. The team is eventually revealed as having been under Waller's control all along, and now being led by the newly returned Rick Flag.
Membership
The Suicide Squad has largely remained behind the scenes, although a largely unseen version of the Squad was seen active in Santa Prisca during an attempt to falsify the elections. During this two-part storyline, Colonel Computron defected from the team and attempted to contact Checkmate in an attempt to play the two organizations against each other. He was unaware of the connections between Suicide Squad and Checkmate, and was assassinated by Amanda Waller's agents shortly afterwards.
In Checkmate it was revealed that Amanda Waller was using the Squad, in conjunction with her Checkmate resources, in a campaign against Earth's supervillains. After the events of World War Three, depicted in 52, the US government had concluded that superhumans were too dangerous to leave unchecked. Waller and the Squad were secretly tracking down supervillains and capturing them. If the villains agreed to work with the Suicide Squad then they would be recruited. If not, they would be sent through a boom tube to an unknown location. The other leaders of Checkmate suspected Waller's ties to the disappearing supervillains, but ousted her for other reasons before they could delve further into her scheme. As of the latest writing the Squad was still capturing and exiling supervillains, although some of the dialogue in Checkmate, and elsewhere, indicates that most known supervillains have already been disposed of.
Salvation Run
This limited series, by Bill Willingham and Sean Chen is Salvation Run, reveals the ultimate destination of the villains who the Squad had been exiling. Willingham stated that the Countdown plot thread in which the Rogues are chased by the Suicide Squad is part of the build up towards this limited series.
In Countdown #39 (July 2007), the Pied Piper and Trickster are shown escaping capture by Deadshot and Multiplex by leaping out of an aeroplane. The fugitives seek sanctuary with "reformed" Gotham City villain the Penguin, the new Suicide Squad is sent to capture them. In All-Flash #1, the group as well as Checkmate member Count Vertigo are shown capturing various other Rogues involved in the murder of Bart Allen. Checkmate #18: "The Fall of the Wall, Part 1", features the Suicide Squad's attempts to capture more villains discovered by the Royals who seek to confront Amanda Waller about her use of the Squad. The Squad themselves explain to Scandal Savage that if she does not want to be deported far, far away, then she should join their ranks. Simultaneously, in Green Arrow/Black Canary Wedding Special #1, many DC supervillains are captured by the Squad after they crash the wedding. Batman assembles a new team of Outsiders to infiltrate the criminal underworld as the disappearances of villains becomes more and more worrying.
Membership
Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag
Ostrander returned to the Suicide Squad for an eight-issue mini-series in November of 2007. Many of the regular characters appear in the series. The series seems to take place roughly between the Squad's appearance in Checkmate and the events of Salvation Run. Waller has already been ousted from her position at Checkmate, but Deadshot is still with the Squad and not exiled. The main plot of the series has revolved around Rick Flag's return to active duty with the Squad. He is shown to have survived his apparent death in Bialya by being transported to the world of Skartaris along with his enemy Rustam. Surviving there he finally kills Rustam and finds his way back home where he ends up in a Quraci prison and is eventually rescued by the Squad. Flag is welcomed back to the Squad but is greeted with two pieces of shocking news. The first is that his former employer and nemesis General Wade Eiling is a captive of the Squad, having had his mind transferred into the body of the villain Shaggy Man. The second is that Flag is in fact not Rick Flag Jr and never has been. Eiling had implanted the false identity of Rick Flag into his mind upon recruitment. Eiling also reveals that he had planted a post-hypnotic suggestion in Flag's mind which makes him ultimately loyal to Eiling. With the help of Cliff Carmichael, Eiling has been secretly co-opting other members of the Squad, with the intent of killing Waller and seizing control for himself. When the Squad is sent against a corporation which developed a dangerous bioweapon, Eiling offers to destroy the Squad for them if they meet his financial demands. As the attack begins, Eiling makes his move.
Membership
Portrayal in other media
Considered Suicide Squad TV series
At the height of the success of Ostrander's SS run, there were some meetings with TV writers and producers to discuss the possibility of a show. According to Ostrander himself, the ideas were pretty bad and, eventually, nothing came out of it.
Justice League Unlimited
The Squad appears in Justice League Unlimited 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. In an earlier episode, "Ultimatum", Task Force X is referred to by Amanda Waller as the "Squad", but due to censor restrictions on the use of the word "suicide", Task Force X was used as the group name instead.
- 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 Watchtower. As an added insurance, members of the team are unknowingly fed food laced with explosive nanites that will destroy them if they abandon a mission. Each member has to work for five years to earn suspended sentences.
- Deadshot appeared in costume in two previous episode, and Captain Boomerang appeared in costume both in a commercial for a candy bar endorsed by The Flash (although this Boomerang was really an actor) and the later (season Three) episode "Flash and Substance" (where it was the actual Captain Boomerang). The Clock King previously appeared in-costume in Batman: The Animated Series.
Membership
Smallville
Bette Sans Souci a.k.a (Plastique) cameo appears in "Odyssey" and fully appears in "Plastique", the first two episodes of Smallville's eight season.
Towards the end of her second episode appearance, she is recruited by Tess Mercer to be part of a special team
of sorts, as Mercer puts it. This special team might be a reference to the Suicide Squad,
suggesting a potential future appearance by the team.
Film
Warner Bros. is also in development on a Suicide Squad movie. Dan Lin is producing it and Justin Marks is writing it.
Squiddy Awards
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.
Collected editions
Trade paperbacks include:
- Suicide Squad: From the Ashes (by John Ostrander and Javier Pina, collects the mini-series, 192 pages, August 2008, ISBN 1-4012-1866-0)
See also
External links
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