10 Facts About The Suicide Squad You Didn't Know
There's a lot more to DC Comics' Suicide Squad than you may realise.
Like so many comic book titles, the current version of The Suicide Squad that is so popular in the modern DC line up did not begin with the intriguing premise and compelling cast that it has today. Even now, when a Suicide Squad story is guaranteed to have likable supervillains doing morally questionable work for the US government, there is still a lot of interesting developments in a story designed to have a rotating cast.
Despite never feeling like the focal point of DC Comics, The Suicide Squad has carved out an impressive legacy and is responsible for bolstering some of the biggest names in DC, while still managing to make readers feel as if they are the scrappy underdogs in way over their head.
This initial lack of mainstream characters along with the unique premise allowed for The Suicide Squad to become popular enough to be the third movie released in the DCEU, with a sequel/reboot fast on its way.
Since the team's re-imagining as 'Task Force X' in 1987, the Suicide Squad has gone from a fringe team within the DC line-up to one of the publisher's most important elements. That's a lot for one property to go through, and so it should come as no surprise that there are plenty of fascinating facts you may not know about the team...
10. They're (Slightly) Older That The JLA
While few people would associate The Suicide Squad with heroism, the inception of the Suicide Squad was removed from the superhero genre altogether. Debuting in the Silver Age of Comics in a time when superhero comics were in decline, the original Suicide Squad had more in common with older pulp magazine teams that came before it, and the unmasked Fantastic Four team that would come shortly after.
The team's first appearance would be in The Brave and the Bold #25 and would span for three issues until #28, which would mark the emergence of the now iconic Justice League of America.
DC would gravitate toward superheroes once more with the success of the JLA's debut. But Stan Lee and his co-collaborator Jack Kirby would take the unmasked superhero approach into their first breakout success in The Fantastic Four.