Who's Who In The 'Suicide Squad'

Rolling in to a soundtrack of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," the new trailer for DC Comics' upcoming Suicide Squad film premiered Tuesday, and it reveals a whole cast of new antiheroes making the jump from comic book to screen. Viola Davis' character Amanda Waller states in its opening moments, "I want to assemble a task force of the most dangerous people on the planet," and by all appearances, the Suicide Squad delivers. If you thought Marvel's Deadpool, in which the superhero is only questionably the good guy, was going to be the comic-book-adaptation for those who don't really enjoy the superhero shtick, Suicide Squad takes it a step further and composes a cast out of actual supervillains. These nine supervillains that make up the who's who of the Suicide Squad are already slated for appearances in the film, with rumors that Jesse Eisenberg might reprise his Batman vs. Superman role as Lex Luthor.

But if the supervillains are our dubious protagonists, you might wonder (I certainly did), who are our antagonists? It's not entirely clear, but it's likely a face-off between supervillains — there are theories that Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) will be the baddie in Suicide Squad , and that Amanda Waller has created this task force to prevent her from destroying the planet. The members of the Suicide Squad — so named because there's a high probability no one will survive this mission — have come together in exchange for commuted sentences. (The trailer opens with each member of the squad in his or her prison cell, before things start getting explosive.) So though it's not yet clear which supervillain is the most villainous, these are the members of the Suicide Squad that will be showing up on screen in August.

1. Harley Quinn

Played by Margot Robbie, Harley Quinn is a psychiatrist-turned-psycho — she worked at an asylum where she met the Joker and became romantically involved with him. She's a later, but welcomed, addition to the DC Universe: A powerful if unstable supervillain, a rare portrayal of a woman as the antagonist in superhero comics.

2. Joker

Jared Leto follows the late Heath Ledger playing the Joker, the famed Batman antagonist. (No one has played the Joker since Ledger's death, according to the Telegraph.) He's Batman's perennial nemesis, but in Suicide Squad he seems to be on the side of questionable-good, working with Harley Quinn and the other members of Amanda Waller's team.

3. Boomerang

Australian superhero Boomerang is aptly named, given that he collects boomerangs that he employs in his work as an assassin. Cinema Blend reported last year that Jai Courtney's character will be "very hard-rock influenced," a departure from his portrayal on the television series Arrow.

4. Killer Croc

When we're introduced to Killer Croc in the trailer — a demonic crocodile-man — he's locked in a sewer-looking cell. "He's a crocodile, and he eats people," Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman) explains. And, like the Joker, he's another Batman archnemesis.

5. Katana

Katana is the outlier among the members of the Suicide Squad members — she's actually one of the good guys. A trained martial artist and skilled with a blade, Katana is also a member of the Justice League and the Outsiders (it's not yet clear whether she'll appear alongside Superman and Wonder Woman in the Justice League film out next year). Plus, she's got one of the coolest superpowers in the game: Her blade "captures the souls of its victims," and she can communicate with them, according to Cinema Blend.

6. El Diablo

The Telegraph reported in the same story that El Diablo might just briefly appear on screen, but he's still worth a bit of backstory. According to Slash Film, this villain has pyrotechnic abilities — he once burned down a building, chasing a debt, only to find that he killed a number of families trapped inside in the process. He then turned himself in to police custody, and that's where Viola Davis's character finds him at the outset of Suicide Squad.

7. Slipknot

The supervillain, not the band: Slipknot might be one of the lesser-known characters of Suicide Squad, but his skill with a rope is sure to earn him some fans. He's (spoiler alert!) best known in the comics for getting his arm blown off when he runs away from a Suicide Squad mission.

8. Deadshot

Played by Will Smith, Deadshot is aptly named — he's an expert marksman who almost never misses, thanks in part to the cybernetic lens over his right eye. In the trailer, Rick Flagg explains: "He... shoots people." Probably an understatement.

9. Enchantress

Like Katana, Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) has played the role of both superhero and supervillain. In the trailer, Rick Flagg explains, "She's possessed by a witch." There are rumors that she'll be the archnemesis of the Suicide Squad in the upcoming movie, which could be fitting since she's traditionally portrayed as unable to control her powers.

Aside from the core members of the squad, there's also Amanda Waller calling the shots, and Rick Flagg keeping an eye on the villains as they carry out their mission. Flagg is a trained marksman himself, albeit one without any superpowers. Still, anyone demented enough to take on babysitting a group of supervillains has got to be a pretty good fit among that group.

DC Comics has kept a pretty tight lid on the Suicide Squad plot, right down to who the squad will be tackling as their enemy. (Everyone?) But what's even more exciting, and a deviation from the traditional superhero formula, is that Suicide Squad really reveals the shades of evil among these characters, and explores whether bad people can be turned to good. Whether or not they succeed, though, won't be revealed till August.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures