Full spoilers ahead for The Suicide Squad!
In a film called The Suicide Squad, it’s a given that there would be a high body count, even among leading characters. After all, the James Gunn-directed film’s marketing tagline is “don’t get too attached.” So we were warned!
And as promised, The Suicide Squad kills off many but not all of the lower-tier DC supervillains and antiheroes — along with several other supporting characters — comprising Task Force X.
So, once again, we are about to get into full spoilers for James Gunn’s latest comic book movie …
Click through the slideshow above or read on for a full accounting of what happened to each Squad member (and their friends/enemies) during their attempt to disrupt Project Starfish.
Who Dies in The Suicide Squad?
- Polka-Dot Man
- The Detachable Kid
- Blackguard
- Captain Boomerang
- Starro the Conqueror
- Ratcatcher I
- Savant
- Mongal
- The Thinker
- Colonel Rick Flag
- Javelin
- Presidente General Silvio Luna & Mayor General Mateo Suarez
- Milton
Polka-Dot Man
Standing tall alongside the Squad in their heroic last stand against Starro the Conqueror, the mommy issues-laden Abner Krill (played by David Dastmalchian) proudly declares himself a superhero — and is then quickly squashed by one of Starro’s massive prehensile extremities. Abner’s journey from outcast to antihero, and his finding people to finally belong to, is one of the key emotional character arcs in James Gunn’s film.
The Detachable Kid
Early on in the film, Nathan Fillion’s T.D.K., aka The Detachable Kid, is called into action during Task Force X’s beachhead assault on Corto Maltese. As his name implies, The Detachable Kid’s powers are … strange and silly. He detaches his arms, which hover across the beach to slap around the rebel gunmen. Needless to say, slaps prove ineffective and the armless T.D.K. is summarily riddled with bullets and dies on the beach.
Blackguard
Task Force X already includes a member named Weasel but a case could be made that Pete Davidson’s Blackguard turned out to be the biggest weasel of them all. After selling out the team’s position to the Corto Maltese, Blackguard approaches the rebel gunmen on the beach declaring he’s the one they made the deal with. Instead of making it to safety, though, Blackguard gets his face shot off by the rebel troops instead.
Captain Boomerang
He survived the first film and a run-in with the Flash but Jai Courtney’s Aussie supervillain doesn’t make it out of Corto Maltese alive. During the opening beachfront assault, Boomer gets toasted in the explosion of a crashing helicopter, his boomerang-clutching severed arm left standing, almost defiantly, in the aftermath.
Starro the Conqueror
It took the combined efforts of a javelin-wielding Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Polka-Dot Man and King Shark to finally bring down the massive cosmic kaiju Starro as it laid waste to Corto Maltese and threatened to escape the island. Starro’s death is not without a degree of sympathy, though, as the creature bemoans that it was happy out among the stars before humans incarcerated it.
Ratcatcher I
Taika Waititi played the small but pivotal role of the father of Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher II. She recalls how her father taught her the value of these overlooked animals, deemed vermin and outcasts by most of society. Ratcatcher I, though, was a drug addict and he died in the streets of Portugal of an overdose, leaving his daughter alone, save for her beloved rats.
Savant
The Suicide Squad opens by following Michael Rooker’s long-haired supervillain from recruitment to deployment on Corto Maltese. But after seeing how outmatched his team is, Savant panics and flees from the beach and back into the ocean. Despite repeated warnings from Amanda Waller to return to the fight, Savant keeps wading out into the water — at which point Waller has the explosive implanted in Savant’s neck detonated. His decapitated corpse floats in the bloodied water, a bird landing atop it in a darkly humorous wink to the bird Savant killed with a ball back in prison.
Mongal
The desk jockeys at Belle Reve wondered aloud whether Mongal (played by Mayling Ng) was an animal or an alien. They never get their answer because she only lasted mere moments in the film, perishing in the early beach battle. Mongal grabs onto the landing skids of a military helicopter, causing it to crash and burn, killing her and more in the process.
The Thinker
After decades of experimenting on Starro the Conqueror, the giant cosmic kaiju breaks free from his confinement in the Jotunheim lab and gets his revenge on his longtime tormenter, Peter Capaldi’s Thinker, by tearing him to bloody, chunky pieces.
Colonel Rick Flag
Task Force X’s field commander, once again played by the first film’s Joel Kinnaman, is slain by Peacemaker (John Cena) during a brawl in Jotunheim. Flag wanted to expose the nefarious, US government-backed goings-on at Jotunheim, while Peacemaker vowed to adhere to Amanda Waller’s instructions to keep the matter secret. A fight ensues between the two men as Jotunheim begins to fall apart, with Peacemaker finally getting the upper hand and stabbing Flag in the heart.
Javelin
This ostentatiously garbed, javelin-wielding D-lister, played by Flula Borg, suffers mortal wounds in the beach assault on Corto Maltese. He dies lying next to Harley Quinn, bequeathing unto her his javelin — the meaning behind which is lost on Harley until the final battle against Starro.
Presidente General Silvio Luna & Mayor General Mateo Suarez
Having just made love to Harley Quinn, Luna (played by Juan Diego Botto), the newly installed dictator of Corto Maltese, has big, romantic dreams of how Harley could become his wife given the love his people have for her. But when Luna reveals his plans include the loss of innocent life, especially children, Harley shoots him dead in the chest. Even Harley, who was once madly in love with Joker, has a line she will not cross.
Luna’s top military officer, played by Joaquín Cosío, takes over after Harley kills Presidente Luna. Alas, Suarez’s reign proves even shorter than his predecessor’s. He is among the Corto Maltese citizens who become controlled by the spores Starro launches, turning into one of Starro’s possessed minions. Suarez and the others all perish when their host Starro is slain by the Squad.
Milton
Ah, Milton, we hardly knew ye. The team’s van driver (played by Julio Cesar Ruiz) just sort of tags along during the Squad’s final assault against Jotunheim, getting shot dead in the process. Sadly, no one else on the team even remembers him except for Polka-Dot Man.
Who Survives in The Suicide Squad?
- Harley Quinn
- Bloodsport
- Peacemaker
- King Shark
- Ratcatcher II
- Weasel
- Amanda Waller
- Tyla DuBois
- Sol Soria
- Waller’s Crew
Harley Quinn
Despite James Gunn’s proclamations that he had “carte blanche” to kill any character, Margot Robbie’s merch-moving maven of madness was indeed the safest bet on who would survive to the end credits. Despite Harley surviving, Robbie has said she needs a break from playing Harley Quinn for a while so it’s not certain when fans will see Harley again.
Bloodsport
Idris Elba’s master assassin, Robert DuBois, blackmails Amanda Waller into granting him his freedom and sparing his daughter Tyla from her devious machinations. DuBois gets his second shot at life but it remains to be seen if Elba’s time in the DCEU is one and done or if we will see Bloodsport again.
Peacemaker
Although it looked like Bloodsport had killed him during the final act on Jotunheim, stay through the end credits scene and you'll learn John Cena’s Peacemaker survived Bloodsport’s attack. But he is badly hurt. Peacemaker is hospitalized with multiple injuries but is expected to survive. After all, he has his own HBO Max series on the way which will once again see him working on Amanda Waller’s covert ops missions.
King Shark
“Haaaaand!” The simple-minded Nanaue (voiced by Sylvester Stallone) survives multiple thrashings from Starro and numerous gunshots. If or when King Shark will return to the DCEU, though, remains to be seen.
Ratcatcher II
Daniela Melchior’s character is the heart and soul of The Suicide Squad, the least violent and most compassionate of the outcasts populating Task Force X. Ratcatcher II — and her beloved rat Sebastian — survives the devastation of Corto Maltese and has a chance at a new life thanks to Bloodsport’s climactic blackmailing of Amanda Waller.
Weasel
Like Peacemaker, Weasel is another character whose fate didn’t turn out to be as fatal as it first seemed. After apparently drowning during the beach assault on Corto Maltese, the mid-credits scene reveals Weasel survived. The creature, played by Sean Gunn, wakes up spitting up water before scurrying off into the wild.
Amanda Waller
Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller is arguably never more imperious, frightening or flat-out villainous than she is in The Suicide Squad. But despite her own staff violently rebelling against her wishes to kill Task Force X and let Starro escape, Waller survives to scheme another day. It’s not known yet if or when Davis’ Waller will return to the DCEU.
Tyla DuBois
Bloodsport’s daughter (played by Storm Reid) was probably never at any true risk of dying but her future nevertheless seemed bleak until the end. Estranged from her dad Bloodsport and with prison time hanging over her head due to a recent offense, Tyla is ultimately spared thanks to her dad’s blackmailing of Amanda Waller, who threatened Tyla’s freedom just to get Bloodsport on her team.
Sol Soria
While the Corto Maltese freedom fighter (played by Alice Braga) lost many of her troops along the way, Sol Soria and her allies prevailed in the end in ousting the Luna administration and taking back their government.
Waller’s Crew
Amanda Waller’s aides John Economos (Steve Agee), Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland), and Flo Crawley (Tinashe Kajese) rose up against Amanda Waller and lived to tell about it. Economos and Harcourt are seen in the end credits scene and will also reprise their roles for the forthcoming HBO Max series Peacemaker.
Were you surprised by who lived and who died in The Suicide Squad? Sound off in the comments. And for more on the DC film,, be sure to check out our The Suicide Squad review and our end credits scenes breakdown.