Here's Why They're The 'Suicide Squad'

Hands down, my favorite comic book/superhero/super-villain of all time is Harley Quinn. I could recite her entire bio to you from memory and I have more than a few pieces of Harley memorabilia. My biggest regret in life is not being blonde so that I could have the chance to play Harley Quinn. Luckily for me, however, my beloved Harley is in excellent hands with Margot Robbie who stars as Harley Quinn in the upcoming (and eagerly anticipated) Suicide Squad movie. The name of the film might seem odd to those less familiar with the characters involved, but it actually makes a lot of sense. Why they're called the Suicide Squad is all about the reason behind the team's existence in the first place.

The answer to why is actually pretty simple. They're called the Suicide Squad because they're sent on intense, hard, and dangerous missions. Suicidal missions — hence, the Suicide Squad. The team forms during a period of time where the members of the Justice League retire after some annoying accusations (mostly during the McCarthy era, go figure), so, in order to keep the monsters and villains and horrible things at bay, a new group of fighters is created At first, the Suicide Squad is just another team set out to fight crime and bad guys, but quickly, they become something else.

Darkseid (a big baddie) tried to turn Earth against its superheroes so Amanda Waller (played by the incomparable Viola Davis) assigns Rick Flag Jr. (a member of the original non-villain team) leadership of a new team. This group, unlike the first one, will be made up of all supervillains in an attempt to combat Darkseid and his evil plan.

Now, the Suicide Squad has had a lot of different members and adventures and iterations over the years but the one constant is this: they're made up of evil, imprisoned villains who, in exchange for shortened sentences, work for the government to fight the worst of the worst. In some versions, the government implants chips into the members of the team, a failsafe that basically tells them if they disobey the government, they'll blow your head off. Basically, if they don't do what they're told they're essentially committing their own kind of suicide. Intense, right?

Okay, now that you've got a bit of the history, the answer to why they're called the Suicide Squad makes a bit more sense. The Suicide Squad is blackmailed and sent on missions that no one wants to see Batman or Wonder Woman take on, because of how dangerous they are. The missions are basically guaranteed death, but because the teammates are smart and dangerous in their own ways, they usually end up stopping the bad thing from happening.

Now, the upcoming film features the following supervillains as members of the team: Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Boomerang, El Diablo, Slipknot, and Killer Croc. The group is led by Katana (who is a complete badass) and Rick Flag Jr, and in the film, they all go up against Enchantress. Oh, and then there's the Joker, who is not a member of the squad in the film but has, in the past, been associated with the team.

So even if you're unlike me and don't know too much about superheroes or the world of DC Comics, one thing is certain: Suicide Squad is going to be something you won't want to miss.

Images: Warner Bros; Giphy