Dumb Things In Suicide Squad That Everyone Just Ignored
A lot of people found Suicide Squad to be dumb fun, but it leaned a bit too heavy on the dumb.
The latest DC Expanded Universe (DCEU) film boasted a bunch of A-listers as a gaggle of mid-tier comic baddies, and with Will Smith and Margot Robbie on the roster, you'd think it'd be hard to get it wrong. The end result admittedly has its fun moments—and it was a big, fat hit for the studio—but from the over-the-top soundtrack to the quirky team dynamic, it often felt a little like a third-rate Guardians of the Galaxy.
The biggest problem is certainly the plot itself. Yes, there are some entertaining things to find between the margins—and we fault no one who really enjoyed Suicide Squad!—but there are still a whole lot of plain ol' dumb things that made it from script to screen. Here's a look at all the things that left us scratching our heads after Amanda Waller's gang took on the Enchantress and (mostly) lived to talk about it.
What exactly did the Enchantress' big machine do?
For the most part, the Enchantress exists so the Suicide Squad can go up against a generic villain with a generic plan. Her big evil idea? Build some mysterious "machine" to end mankind. Yeah, that's pretty much it. The device, apparently controlled and powered by Enchantress' sweet dance moves, never really gets a solid introduction or explanation. She just says she's going to create this machine to get back at humanity, then it opens up the classic "hole in the sky" that has become a trope unto itself in superhero and sci-fi movies. This thing purely exists to serve as a MacGuffin of CGI silliness. Perhaps it was explained in a previous version of the script? Regardless, those details are all glossed over in the movie.
Wait, who shot down their helicopter? And how did they all survive unscathed?
This is one of those scenes that makes virtually no sense once you think about it. The team comes flying into the city in a helicopter, then it's shot down and they crash. But who shot it down, exactly? When the squad faces off with the (literally) faceless baddies, they don't really seem to have projectile weapons, per se. If you look closely, there are some laser beam-esque shots bouncing around, but it's hard to pin down if that's a specific weapon or just pretty effects work because we all like bright and shiny things—and it still doesn't explain how the chopper comes down. That scene is framed like a war zone, with the helicopter shredded by something akin to heavy-duty machine gun fire. It seems like this was done solely because someone thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if the chopper crashed?" Even worse: they all magically survive completely unscathed. Helicopter crashes aren't gentle, and the idea that no one would even have a broken bone is just beyond the realm of reality (which is saying a lot for a movie featuring a man-crocodile).
Why didn't they just get another bomb?
Once they all decide to head on over to Enchantress' disco subway station, much of the Squad's plan is predicated on using a bomb left over from the previous mission that went haywire. To the point that Killer Croc has to swim down and retrieve the bomb, bring it back up, and they have to throw it and shoot it due to timer issues. ARGUS sent the Suicide Squad and a whole bunch of soldiers in to rescue Amanda Waller, but they end up trying to stop Enchantress, too. So you're telling us there was no other bomb available in any of that equipment? Or they couldn't have had another bomb brought in? Or heck, couldn't they just shoot a missile at Enchantress' crazy machine before all this insanity? If all it took was a well-placed explosion, there are drones that can handle that. No boomerang-throwing bank robbers or soul-capturing swords required.
June Moone is pretty much the worst archeologist ever
When June Moone discovers Enchantress, she's out in the jungle, alone, where she falls into a cave. She discovers a terrifying room filled with skulls, then picks up a freaky looking talisman ... and immediately breaks its head off, releasing the Enchantress. Yes, we can faintly hear the Enchantress calling to her, so maybe she was in a trance when she released this ancient evil? Though if Enchantress had that ability while locked away, why hadn't she lured a host there a few hundred years ago and made her great escape? But seriously—June Moone comes off as the most negligent archeologist in history.
Not everybody got a flashy introduction
The editing shenanigans behind the scenes of Suicide Squad have been well documented, and that's only made all the more obvious by the opening scene. Much of the marketing campaign, and the opening of the film itself, is framed around Amanda Waller's meeting with a group of generals, where she breaks down dossiers on most—but not all—of the members. Yes, Waller recaps the heavy hitters like Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Enchantress, and Rick Flag. But then the action kicks off, and Slipknot just randomly shows up to join the team ... and is immediately killed. Then Katana strolls up as part of Flag's team, and gets a mini-flashback in the middle of the film for some reason. What? The info card intros are a fun trick, but why not use them for everyone? Like most things in this film, it just feels so haphazard.
Where was the Justice League? Who was supposed to deal with Enchantress?
This is a glaring problem with the entire crux of the film: If the Suicide Squad was sent in to rescue Amanda Waller, then who the heck was supposed to deal with the Enchantress terrorizing the city (and possibly taking over the world)? The squad wasn't sent in to deal with her, though before the third act they decide to go on and try to take her out anyway. Having the squad on a side mission within this bigger situation was a fresh approach for a big superhero/supervillain type of story, though it inevitably evolves into the typical superhero tropes. But we already know the Flash, Batman and Wonder Woman are out there, so why didn't the Justice League (or at least a few of its future members) show up in Midway City to try and stop this giant, potentially world-ending threat? Also, if the squad was sent in to save Waller, then what was the new plan to deal with the Enchantress' attack?
Why did Bruce Wayne need Waller's intel? He already knows about the other heroes, right?
DC tried to toss in a cool after-credit type of scene by having Bruce Wayne meet up with Amanda Waller to swap intel, which is meant to set up Wayne's Justice League mission to seek out other heroes like the Flash and Aquaman. But the dynamic of this clandestine dinner makes no sense. Waller asks Bruce for his "protection," as if Batman has some type of political sway? Then, she hands over some files on the potential Justice League members—you know, the folks Bruce already knows about thanks to the video footage he stole from Lex Luthor's server. So why does he need Waller's intel at all? Obviously, Warner Bros. wanted to use Suicide Squad as a way to drop a few breadcrumbs for Justice League, buy why not frame this scene in a way that makes more sense?
The Suicide Squad needs a better admissions policy
Amanda Waller's entire plan for assembling the Suicide Squad was to have her own group of super-people she can control, but how exactly did they land on this roster (aside from the fact that a good number of them are on the team in the comics)? Killer Croc, Diablo, Enchantress and Deadshot make sense. They have obvious abilities that can come in handy. But what about people like Captain Boomerang and Harley Quinn? Captain Boomerang is introduced as a bank robber with the ability to throw boomerangs. Harley Quinn is typically a clever tactician in the comics, but we don't really see any of that in the movie. As it's presented, they just put a crazy woman (who is admittedly one heck of a fighter) and a drunk guy who throws boomerangs on the team for no obvious reason.
Wait, why did Captain Boomerang come back?
When the team has its near breakup toward the middle of the film, the gang eventually decides to get back together and go face off with Enchantress. It's fairly well established why everyone decides to stick around for the big fight (as well as you can really explain why a bunch of villains would risk their lives for the greater good), but then Captain Boomerang just randomly jumps back in with them as they do their heroic walk off into the sunset to do battle. Why? Unlike most of the others, Boomerang never really showed any interest in being a team player. So why does he join back up? Probably because the plot demands it. Yeah, we're going with that.
Literally everything is Amanda Waller's fault
It's not an uncommon theme for a hero's greatest foe to be of their own making. For example, many villains, such as the Joker, rise up because of Batman's presence in the comics canon. Suicide Squad follows a similar formula: pretty much everything that happens falls on Amanda Waller's shoulders. Enchantress goes rogue because Waller is holding her prisoner, then the Suicide Squad's entire mission is framed around a fool's errand to rescue Waller when Midway City falls. She's at the heart of pretty much everything that happens, and the only real lesson to learn from this movie is that the DCEU would be a lot better off without Waller in it.
Where does Captain Boomerang keep getting those beers?
Seriously, they should call this guy Captain Beer instead of Captain Boomerang. On numerous occasions, he's seen pulling out cans of beer and sipping away throughout the mission. Where do these come from? How does he have room for all these beers when he already has a pink stuffed animal and all those boomerangs on him? Director David Ayer seems to just play it for a gag, but it ends up looking like the character's real superpower is to make beer continually appear from nowhere—which is actually substantially cooler than anything you can do with a boomerang.
Why does the Suicide Squad exist at all?
The Suicide Squad is founded so ARGUS and the U.S. government have control of their own meta-humans, and they even reference the fact that countermeasures could be necessary in case the next Superman doesn't share the values of truth and justice. But why immediately start your list with the worst of the worst in the DC universe? Why not approach heroes like the Flash, or Wonder Woman, or Aquaman (we saw in the after-credit scene that she already has intel on these characters) to build a team of people to protect the world? You trust people who use their abilities for evil over people who use their abilities for good? That makes no sense whatsoever. The concept makes more sense in the DC Comics world because it's a much bigger and messier universe, but it makes little to no sense in this context.
Why didn't Captain Boomerang throw the bomb? Throwing stuff is literally his shtick
The gang's big faceoff with Enchantress ends when the squad throws a bomb at her and explodes it to take her out. Which is fine—there have been much sillier movie endings. But you have a team with varied and unique abilities, and they don't even capitalize on them at the perfect moment. Killer Croc throws the bomb at Enchantress and her machine, and Deadshot (who is a really good shot!) shoots it to cause it to explode. But why not let Captain Boomerang throw it? His whole skill set revolves around throwing things with pinpoint accuracy. It was a perfect opportunity to have Boomerang actually do something useful—the only thing he really contributed was a throwaway scene showing him using a boomerang drone.
The Joker has no reason to be in this movie
When Jared Leto signed on to play the new Joker, fans immediately speculated he was the reason the Suicide Squad is assembled, and that ARGUS would be sending the team to stop one of his schemes. But it turns out Enchantress was the big bad—and the Joker is just kind of...there. He pops up to try and "rescue" Harley a few times, and we see him being crazy and weird in a few scenes. That's pretty much it. Take the Joker out of this movie, and it doesn't really change anything. At all. It's a glorified cameo at best, and a distraction at worst. It's obvious DC was hoping to set up Leto's Joker to return and face off with Ben Affleck's Batman in the future, but he proved so goofy and useless here, it'll be something of a surprise if we ever see the Joker again in the DCEU. Which is a shame, because it's pretty hard to get one of DC Comics' greatest villains so epically wrong.