The 3 S's of The Suicide Squad: What We Know... And What We Don't

Suicide Squad is setting itself up to be one of the most highly anticipated superhero films of the year, as well as a movie that could make or break DC's vision for the future of their extended universe depending also on the success of Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice. The Suicide Squad has been a part of DC's animated universe through Justice League Unlimited and Batman: Assault on Arkham. We've also seen the Squad on the small screen in both Smallville and Arrow. Yet, this is their first major cinematic appearance even thought they debuted in the comics in 1959 within The Brave and the Bold, and then re-imagined in 1987's Legends #3. Take a look at the first trailer, if you haven't seen it already.

The Suicide Squad is a strike force of sorts, comprised of incarcerated, death row supervillains. The team becomes a deniable, covert (sometimes) force at the beck and call of the United States government at the direction of Amanda Waller. They are the definition of what it means to be an antihero as they ultimately work for the 'good' but they wind up doing it in whatever way possible. The Suicide Squad is an incredibly unorthodox program, which is why we see many villains perpetually on the loose as the members of the Suicide Squad change based on the needs of the mission as well as the shifting popularity of the DC universe.

With all that in mind, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at what we know, and a few things that are still unknown.

Starring:

We know that Suicide Squad is filled to the brim with high-caliber actors considering that we're set to see:

• Harley Quinn - The former psychiatrist turned supervillainess after falling madly in love with The Joker. Margot Robbie (Wolf of Wall Street, Focus, The Legend of Tarzan) is set to portray the crazy, beautiful villain.

• Deadshot - An expert marksman and assassin with a cybernetic eye. Ironically Deadshot has a wish to die in a dramatic, spectacular manner. Will Smith (Hancock, Bad Boys, Focus) will bring Deadshot to life.

• The Joker - The psychopathic supervillain, also one of DC's most famous characters, The Joker enjoys playing psychological games. Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Requiem for a Dream) is set to put his own unique spin on the famous character.

• Boomerang - A stereotypical, unrefined villain who takes pride in being rough around the edges. Utilizing (you guessed it) customized Australian boomerangs to become an assassin for hire. Jai Courtney (Terminator: Genisys, A Good Day to Die Hard, Divergent) will portray the Aussie supervillain.

• Rick Flagg - The military trained, black ops soldier who is tasked with leading this villainous task force. He has a love/hate relationship with the team as he refuses to admit he bears any similarity to Deadshot. Originally a role for Tom Hardy, the job now belongs to Joel Kinneman (RoboCop, The Killing, Run All Night).

• Killer Croc - A cannibalistic villain with rage issues seems like the perfect choice for a suicide squad. Due to a birth defect, he was 'gifted' with nearly impenetrable skin, super strength, and a reptilian healing ability. Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Lost, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra & Oz) will bring this larger than life character to, well, life.

• Enchantress - Transformed by a powerful being named Dzamor, Enchantress has a wide array of magical powers including controlling the elements, telepathy flight and teleportation. Cara Delevigne (Anna Karenina, Pan, Paper Towns) will continue her transition to acting and bring Enchantress to the Suicide Squad.

• Katana - She became a criminal after her family was slaughtered. She took up martial arts as a way to cope and to eventually avenge her family. She is a master at hand-to-hand combatant and sword fighting. Karen Fukuhara will portray Katana, and it will also be her first feature role as an actress.

• El Diablo - A basic criminal named Chato Santana before crossing paths with the original El Diablo, Chato was transferred the powers of pyrokinesis which allows him to create and control fire with his mind. Jay Hernandez (The Rookie, Quarantine, The Expanse) will show us the power of El Diablo.

• Slipknot - A fairly minor character in the history of DC Comics, Slipknot developed a formula that turns ropes into metal and chose to turn to a life of crime as a skilled assassin. Adam Beach (Flags of our Fathers, Law & Order: SVU, Diablo) will bring Slipknot to life in Suicide Squad.

Story:

Although we don't officially know the specific plot, we are set to see the premise from the comic books to translate pretty accurately to the movie. The Suicide Squad, officially labeled Task Force X, will be employed by the government to undertake some incredibly dangerous and high-risk missions. In exchange for their success, they'll receive some amnesty in the hopes that their sentence will be commuted. They will be equipped with a remote explosive device to deter any thoughts of escaping without completing their mission. These concepts may be tweaked slightly, but it should follow pretty closely to what we already know about their story.

Suspicions:

Is The Joker actually the main villain?

With all the focus on the Joker, it leads us to wonder if he truly is the main villain of the movie. We can all assume that the Joker will play an integral part in how the movie unfolds, but the question remains: is there something lying just beneath the surface? If the movie follows the comics even slightly, we could potentially see the shift in Rick Flagg's mental stability as he learns the truth about what he's involved in. We could also see the inclusion of Project Cadmus, seeing as throughout the animated and comic stories, Amanda Waller (who is leading Task Force X) has always had a bigger goal in mind — mainly stopping the Justice League as she sees them as a threat to the country that she loves.

Who is Scott Eastwood playing?

This is one of the more intriguing questions that's been popping up recently. Scott Eastwood's character has been a secret thus far. We've seen him in the trailer, but haven't been able to deduce anything about him yet. The current guesses are:

Nightwing (Dick Grayson)

This fan-favorite character has been rumored for a while, as we all want him to appear in the DC Universe somehow, somewhere and Suicide Squad could be that entry point for Nightwing. Warner Brothers and DC have been leery about producing a standalone film staring the character, but this could be the transition piece to prove himself in the film universe. The thought behind the possibility of the character is that, he was placed within the unit by Batman to infiltrate the Suicide Squad and eventually reach Amanda Waller and uncover her true intentions. Plausible, with a lot of potential for the DC Extended Universe.

Deathstroke (Slade Wilson)

Another fan-favorite character who deserves to be on the big screen. This could be a big step for the studio if Scott is going to bring to life one of the deadliest villains to ever grace the pages of DC Comics. Yet, it comes with a big risk at the same time because Scott is quite a bit younger than any incarnation of Deathstroke over the years, he's also got a different build than what we'd expect to see from Slade Wilson. Deathstroke's addition to the movie could ultimately turn into a realization that there's a much larger story unfolding, as the Suicide Squad will learn rather quickly.

Generic military character

Ultimately, we really don't know much about Scott Eastwood's character. There have been countless 'findings' on set, but nothing has been claimed as true. Scott could actually just be a generic military character tasked with accompanying the Squad on their mission as protection of sorts to the general public, as the Suicide Squad has a tendency to fly off the handle from time to time.