10 Movies That Salvaged Terrible Characters

Away from absolutely luxuriating in a more vibrant and deliciously violent playground this time around, James Gunn's quasi-sequel to David Ayer's limp Suicide Squad's most inspired decision was to largely just forget the feature that came before it.

Though the likes of Harley Quinn and Amanda Waller were retained for this second-coming of Task Force X, Gunn ultimately opted to flesh out these personalities in a way he saw fit. And in the case of one returning character in particular, this resulted in some much needed TLC.

The Rick Flag who popped up in the drab 2016 squad is pretty much unrecognisable when held up to his 2021 counterpart. Instead of the vanilla, overly serious special ops colonel that quickly left most people's minds upon finishing that dreary flick, Flag is given a new comedic and light-hearted lease on life in The Suicide Squad. Joel Kinnaman has even gone on record to admit that this version of Flag is much more "idealistic" and "less cynical".

All of these elements help inform his character's deeply engrossing arc in the critically acclaimed DC film, and allowed audiences to finally invest in one of the faces they once couldn't have cared less about.