The Fan-Favorite Character Who Was Originally Supposed To Die In The Suicide Squad
There's no doubt that "The Suicide Squad" lives up to its billing.
Task Force X's mission to the South American island nation of Corto Maltese does indeed prove to be a suicide mission for the vast majority of the underpowered and underappreciated villains who undertake it. Some of these deaths are no surprise; some of them still manage to shock despite the fact that both audiences and characters know what they're signing up for.
And some of them weren't supposed to happen, at least not originally. The film's writer and director, James Gunn, admitted to Variety that despite the name on the tin, there were a few characters he never considered killing, chief among them Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Bloodsport (Idris Elba). But others were lucky to escape with their lives as his script moved from first to final draft. "The original ending that I pitched," Gunn said in that interview, "one main character died and one main character did not die."
No, Gunn wasn't thinking of saving Blackguard (Pete Davidson). Instead, the writer-director implies that the ultimate sacrifice switcheroo in the act three was going to be the death of the film's breakout character, Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior) instead of Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian).
Why James Gunn couldn't kill Ratcatcher 2
Gunn hasn't explained exactly how Ratcatcher 2 was going to meet her end in the original script, but he did tell Variety why he changed it. "She was so sweet, I just felt like it was just too dark. Not that we don't love Polka-Dot Man. We do. I just couldn't [kill Ratcatcher 2]. So I relented."
Or, as he phrased it to the Script Apart podcast, "I'm not that cynical." Which, sure, easy for the man who (kind of) offed Groot in "Guardians of the Galaxy" to say. But he determined it worked better for the characters and the story for the final death to belong to Polka-Dot Man instead. He told Script Apart about how the character spoke to him as this wacky outsider who's a victim not just of his abusive mother, but of how the world sees him and his powers. "Who is this guy who calls himself Polka-Dot Man? ... When he first looks in the mirror and he's like 'I finally got it together. Boy, people are going to love this.' That character speaks to me."
In the moments before his death, as he uses his powers to attack and damage Starro and delivers his final, triumphant, "I'm a superhero," line, Polka-Dot Man has completed his character arc. The character's ambitions and his self-perception finally meet up with his actions. His story is over. Ratcatcher 2's, which is more tied into helping the rest of the team grow and evolve, might just be beginning.