The Top 10 Fan Theories That Link Amazing Films

This article turned out overly long, so I’ve divided it into two parts. 10-6 are below, and 5-1 will be posted later this week. Enjoy!

Saban

What if your favourite films actually took place at the same time, or in the same universe? It’s the kind of thinking that fan fiction is made of. The crew of the USS Enterprise join forces with the Rebel Alliance to fight the Empire. The Avengers take on Skynet. Elsa enrolls at the Xavier Institute. In fact, it seems as though every book, movie, or television show with a devoted fanbase has at least one theory that links it to other franchises. And, shockingly, some of these theories actually hold water.

The evidence to support these theories can vary wildly in their nature. Often there will be one character that seemingly links two films together with a shared name, similar personality, or simply being played by the same actor. Other times, it might be a scrap of dialogue, or even a repeated motif that fans use to connect one film with another. Or it could be a cheeky Easter Egg, like a prop from another franchise that catches the fans’ attention and leads to wild speculation. Before you know it, fans are creating all sorts of theories, linking one film to another until they form a vast web of interconnected titles.

But enough preamble. Let’s get started with Number Ten on our list…

10. The 2001: Star Wars Paradox

Lucasfilm

Films Linked: 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars Episode I

The final scenes of 2001: A Space Odyssey have gone down in history as one of the trippiest sequences in film history. And that’s saying something when compared with some of the other films released in the late 60s. First, Holman’s EVA pod is pulled into a vortex of colored light. There are glimpses of alien landscapes and distant galaxies before Holman finds himself in a lavish bedroom. The perspective then shifts rapidly as Holman is confronted by progressively older versions of himself. The EVA pod vanishes, another black monolith appears, and Bowman is transformed into an intergalactic foetus.

But what happened to the EVA pod? The answer was finally revealed in 1999’s The Phantom Menace. As Qui-Gon and Watto negotiate the purchase of a new hyperdrive they walk right past Bowman’s EVA Pods from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It was unbelievable enough that a minor dealer like Watto would have the exact piece of equipment that Qui-Gon needed in the first place. But how did he get his hands on something that came from the distant future and a galaxy far, far away?

The answer lies in those pesky monoliths. The closing sequence saw Holman not only rapidly aging, but also travelling vast differences in a short space of time. The fate of Holman’s EVA pod is never explained in 2001; one moment it’s there, the next it’s gone. So it’s entirely possible that the unseen monolith-builders have the ability to travel in time, and simply dumped the Pod somewhere out of the way when they no longer needed it.

9. The Burton Progression

Warner Bros/ Buena Vista/ Disney

Films Linked: Corpse Bride, Frankenweenie, The Nightmare Before Christmas

All of Tim Burton’s Films follow the same set of characters, who are linked together in a prolonged cycle of reincarnation as they search for true love.

First we have Corpse Bride, which is set in the Victorian era and the earliest film chronologically. Victor marries Victoria at the end of the film, but remains unhappy because he still has feelings for the Bride. Victor and Victoria eventually die of old age, and the entire cast is reincarnated in the mid-20th Century world of Frankenweenie. Here, the now teenage Victor interacts with both girls, but is unable to choose between them. The characters live out their separate lives before dying for a second time.

In the afterlife, Victor becomes Jack Skeleton, and meets and falls in love with Sally. The film makes it clear from the start that Sally is a patchwork character; towards the end of the film we see her replacement being sown together from spare parts. Sally is, in reality, an amalgamation of both Victoria and the Corpse Bride that have been seen in the previous films. Sally and Jack fall in love, thus resolving the love triangle that has spilled across the different films.

The thing that ties all this together? Besides the visual and behavioral similarities between the male protagonists, take a look at their pets. Almost every film features a dog which is virtually identical in size, shape, and personality to the other films.

8. The Zordon-Thanos Imperative

Saban/ Marvel

Films Linked: The Avengers, Daredevil, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

We all know that Daredevil gained his abilities when he was blinded by a canister of radioactive chemicals that fell from the back of a truck. An identical scene plays out in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1. After hitting the young Daredevil in the face, the radioactive canister falls into a sewer and starts mutating a group of turtles. The creators of the Ninja Turtles have gone on record as big fans of Daredevil, so the similarities are not only obvious, but intentional.

This much is established fact. As Daredevil is a Marvel character, this means TMNT exist in the same universe as the Avengers. But TMNT have also crossed over with a variety of other properties, including Power Rangers In Space. This particular version of Power Rangers established that the various villains attacking Earth in the first six seasons of Power Rangers were the agents of a villain called Dark Specter.

Going through the established connection between the different universes, it’s clear Dark Specter is really Thanos in disguise. Like Loki, Gamora, and Nebula, the different Power Rangers villains are minions of Thanos sent to retrieve the Infinity Gems. They are attacking Angel Grove because the Morphing Grid is actually one of the Gems in a different form.

7. The Jigsaw Continuation

Fox/ Lions Gate

Films Linked: Home Alone, Saw

Formulated by Jason Concepcion, this theory states that Kevin from Home Alone is actually a young Jigsaw from the Saw films. Throughout the Home Alone films, Kevin displays a variety of worrying behaviour. First, there are the anger-control issues, as seen in his relationship with his siblings and parents. Then we have Kevin’s proclivity for violent fantasies, which start out relatively minor but become progressively violent as the films progress. Finally, Kevin shows a passion for recorded media that borders on a fetish.

From that point on, the similarities between the two just keep on mounting up. Both have the same blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. Both set traps that are almost always triggered by the actions of their victims. Both use fire. A lot.

The pair also use virtually identical traps, almost all of which are triggered by the victims. The basement furnace that terrifies Kevin reappears in the dungeon of Saw II. The same film sees Kevin coat the basement stairs with tar and nails, causing on burglar to impale his foot. In Saw II, Jigsaw uses and electrified staircase with slashing blades.

Home Alone initially appears to be an innocent- if mischievous- child’s justified defence of life and property. In reality, the films tell the story of a cold-blooded and repeated attempt at double homicide. In the end, it’s clear that Kevin’s borderline-insane defence mechanisms have evolved in the intervening years to become Jigsaw’s meticulously prepared traps.

6. The Disney Convergence

Disney

Films Linked: Frozen, Tangled, Little Mermaid

Many eagle-eyed viewers spotted Rapunzel and Flynn from Tangled arriving for Elsa’s coronation towards the start of Frozen. This in itself isn’t too hard to justify. The story of Rapunzel was originally a German fairy tale, while Frozen is based on Hans Christian Anderson’s The Snow Queen, which is set in Norway. A few years before the coronation, Elsa and Anna’s parents died in a shipwreck. Although not mentioned in the film, Frozen’s directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee have confirmed that the pair were on their way to a wedding. It makes sense that they were on their way to the wedding of Flynn and Rapunzel.

But this shipwreck would have taken place somewhere off the coast of Denmark, the setting of another Christian Anderson-based Disney film, The Little Mermaid. Going on the costumes worn by characters in Frozen and the Little Mermaid, it looks as though the two films take place at about the same period. And Little Mermaid even features a sunken ship where Ariel keeps her treasures. The ship is still in fairly good condition, so it’s safe to assume that it only sank a few years earlier. This is actually the same ship that Elsa and Anna’s parents were on when they died. Tangled, Frozen, and the Little Mermaid thus not only happen in the same universe, but must have occurred at roughly the same time.

Cross-over, anyone?

Check back here tomorrow for the top Five, including the Pixar Unification and the Cthulu Evolution

10 Times Famous Characters Flipped Gender

…And he’s back! Some of the more regular readers will have noticed that I’ve been absent for the last few weeks. It’s partially because I’ve been running around doing lots of other things. It looks like I might not be around that much for the forseable future. So many rods, so many fires, yadda yadda yadda. Anyway, here’s a little article I threw together for a website. They didn’t like it, so here you go.

Monolith

From novels and comics to television and films, flipping the gender of a character is becoming an increasingly common way to breathe fresh life into an old idea or bring in a new audience. Characters are increasingly considered to be gender neutral in the early stages of planning a show or film, and it’s rare for a character’s story to be tied to their gender. In most cases, the gender of a character isn’t that important to who they are as a person, so altering it doesn’t affect them to any great extent.

Many well-known characters have changed gender several times before they reach their intended audience, most commonly on the jump from page to screen. It may be that the creators of a show, film, or book are looking to diversify their cast in order to appeal to a wider audience. Other times, the change can happen mid-production as a result of an actor becoming suddenly unavailable or a last minute change on the writer’s behalf.

While many people don’t like their favourite characters being messed with unnecessarily, altering a character’s gender often opens up new possibilities for writers and fans alike. It forces you to look at the character in a different light, to re-asses their roles and their relationships. Here are ten examples of famous characters that have had their genders altered, for better or for worse, at some point in their history. Some of them are well-known, while in other cases you may not realise that there was ever a change at all.

10. Loki

Marvel Comics

In the original Norse myths, Loki is known for his shapeshifting abilities. Among other things, he has become a salmon, a seal, a fly, and a woman during his time as an ally and enemy of the gods. At only point he even gave birth to an eight-legged horse while he was disguised as a mare. Yeah, myths are weird.

Marvel Comics picked up this aspect of the character and ran with it in their comic books. In 2008 the original Loki died and was reincarnated in the body of Sif, the lover of Thor. As you can imagine, being trapped in the body of your brother’s wife caused issues all around. Loki spent several years in this form, often acting as Marvel comics’ only major female villain, before eventually returning to his original male body.

The ongoing Loki: Agent Of Asgard series has kept up with Loki’s gender-changing practices, with the character appearing as a woman in several issues. The book also confirmed that the character was both bisexual and gender-fluid. While Marvel isn’t known for sticking religiously to source material (Loki was originally the blood brother of Odin, not his adopted son), the shift in what was previously a heterosexual male character has been praised by most readers.

So far Loki hasn’t used these skills in the films, but more than a few fans would like to see Lady Loki putting in an appearance.

9. Dr Watson

CBS

One of the key elements of the Sherlock Holmes mythos is the friendship between Sherlock and Dr. Watson. For NBC’s Elementary Watson was transformed into a female character. The most obvious reason was simply to set the show apart from the other adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories, particularly BBC’s Sherlock series.

Another reason for the change, however, was to disrupt the usual relationship between Sherlock and Watson. While many fans view the original relationship as a friendship which borders of the homoerotic, introducing a female companion for the detective was meant to bring Sherlock out of his comfort zone. The original stories, and subsequent adaptations, have always been pretty light on female characters, and there has always been a sense that the detective wasn’t terribly comfortable around women.

In spite of many fan’s fears, the show managed to sidestep any romantic connection between the two, posing them in a friendly professional relationship

8. M

Coumbia

For as long as there has been a James Bond, there has been an M telling him what to do. The original M was based on Ian Flemming’s commander in World War II, and appearances in the novels established him as an old-fashioned gentleman spy. In many ways, M an older and more experienced version of 007.

M’s role in the novels is so large that he has also been featured in the majority of the James Bond films. Like Bond, M’s character has remained a constant despite the changes to the actors playing him. While the first four incarnations of the character were men, staying true to the novel, GoldenEye cast Judi Dench in the role.

Dench’s M was introduced as an antithesis to the previously male-dominated secret service, and is thought to be based on Stella Rimington, the real-life head of MI6 between 1992 and 1996. The female M was initially cold and blunt, with a distinct dislike for Bond and the old ways he represented. The character mellowed over the next few films, developing a more maternal relationship with Bond. As a result, Dench was able to redefine the role of M several times over, introducing new facets to what had previously been a largely stagnant character.

Following her death at the end of Skyfall, a new M, once again male, took over MI6, establishing the title as an inherited one.

7. Ghostbusters

Twitter

The third Ghostbusters film has endured a long and difficult development process, with a series of rumours, speculation, and announcements that basically went nowhere. The film was left in limbo for years largely because of the difficulty in securing the original cast. Oddly enough, the death of director Harold Ramis, rather than hampering production, actually seems to have kicked things back into action.

Paul Feig signed on to direct the film in 2014, and the project then became a reboot starring an all-female cast. The announcement that the Ghostbusters would be recreated as women caused a stir among fans to say the least. While many welcomed it as a shift away from the normally white-male dominated action-comedy, others saw the change as pandering.

As the film is still in its early stages, and has been announced as a reboot rather than a direct sequel, nobody knows how far the new gang will be based on the original cast.

6. Ripley

FOX

Ellen Ripley was one of the first female sci-fi protagonists to be treated as a hero in her own right rather than a secondary character or a love-interest. The lead in the Alien franchise, Ripley continues to be the benchmark against which other strong women, such as Furiosa and Buffy, are measured. However, the woman that most people see as the first female sci-fi hero was originally written as a man.

Early drafts of the project, originally titled Star Beast, focused on the Alien itself rather than the human characters. As a result, the crew were given largely unisex names and identified using male pronouns. Subsequent notes attached to the earliest scripts made it clear that they could be cast as either men or women depending on the strengths of the actor. As a result, Ripley had no first name and was referred to as male until Sigourney Weaver was cast in the role in the latter stages of pre-production.

5. The Doctor

BBC

The Doctor’s gender has been a constant source of debate since Dr Who returned in 2005. In particular, the question most often rears its head when a new incarnation is due to be announced. Fans have long theorised that the Time Lord could regenerate into a female body despite the fact that he has always been played by male actors. The Doctor’s Wife introduced an unseen character called the Corsair. A fellow Time Lord and friend of the Doctor, the Corsair is said to have switched genders over the course of several incarnations. Most recently, the latest incarnation of the Master was renamed as Missy, short for Mistress, because the original title no longer suited her new female form.

However, new viewers may be surprised to discover that the Doctor has already had a female incarnation in The Curse of Fatal Death, a 1999 Comic Relief parody. Over the course of the special, the Doctor managed to get through all of his remaining regenerations in the space of a few minutes before finally dying in the arms of his fiancé. Moments later, against all known laws of Time Lord science, he regenerate a thirteenth time. While the previous Doctors (played by actors including Rowan Attkinson, Richard E. Grant and Hugh Grant) were all men, the new Doctor was a woman played by Joanna Lumley.

The Doctor’s companion (and fiancé) was understandably rather disturbed and disappointed by this change. The Master, on the other hand, was rather keen on this new version of his nemesis.

4. Mr Spock

NBC

Everyone knows Mr. Spock as the second in command of the USS Enterprise, serving under James Kirk in the original Star Trek series. To this day, the character remains one of the most popular in the franchise, remembered for his emotionless, logic-driven mindset, his fighting prowess, and his trademark Vulcan salute.

The original Spock, featured in the unaired pilot of the show, was a very different character. Here, Spock featured as the youthful, and much more emotional, science officer of the Enterprise. In his place, the role of second officer was filled by a female character called Number One. Like Spock, Number One was a cold, logical, and efficient woman played by Gene Roddenberry’s second wife Majel Barrett-Roddenberry.

However, at that point the pair were dating despite the fact that Roddenberry was still married to his first wife. The NBC executives were, understandably, a little concerned that personal issues would get in the way of Majel’s role. They also didn’t seem to like the idea that the secondary protagonist of the show would be a woman. Mr. Spock was installed as the second officer of the Enterprise, keeping many of the mannerisms and backstory of Number One. Barrett, meanwhile, was given a smaller role as Nurse Chapel. Footage of Number One can still be seen in the episode The Menagerie, which re-purposed much of the footage from the unaired pilot.

3. Rafiki

Wikipedia.org

One of the most memorable characters introduced in the Lion King was Rafiki. While the eccentric healer/priest/prophet only appeared in a few scenes, his role was vital to the story as he guided Simba towards his destiny. Oh yeah, and he was a brilliantly crazy baboon. When Julie Taymor adapted the film for Broadway, she felt that the story lacked a strong, prominent female character. Because the large cast of strong female lions that do all of the hunting weren’t enough. It was decided that Rafiki’s character would be the easiest to change without having to drastically alter the plot.

As a result, Taymor switched Rafiki’s gender to female, transforming him into a wise, crone-like figure. The Rafiki seen on stage still provides guidance and is still bat crap crazy, but actually takes on a slightly more prominent role onstage, singing The Circle of Life at the film’s opening. Because the film version has the song performed in voice-over rather than by a character, giving it to Rafiki, who has an important role to play in the opening scene, actually makes a lot of sense.

2. The Ancient One

Marvel

A principal character in the Dr Strange comic books, the Ancient One was born in Tibet roughly 500 years ago. The character spent years amassing a wealth of magical knowledge in order to become the Sorcerer Supreme, the most powerful magic user in the world. The Ancient One accepted Dr Strange as his apprentice after Strange seeks his assistance to cure the nerve damage in his hands. Once Strange’s training is complete, the Ancient One leaves him as the protector of magic, transcending the mortal realm to become one with the universe.

At least, that’s what happened in the comics. The Marvel cinematic universe caused a stir earlier this year when they announced that the role of the Ancient One would be played by Tilda Swinton. This isn’t the first time that Swinton has played with gender in a role. She portrayed the angel Gabriel, presented as an asexual character, in Constantine. She was also the leading model for menswear brand Pringle of Scotland a few years ago. Very little is known so far about the version of the Ancient One that Swinton will be playing in the upcoming film. Presumably, the idea will be that the character is so old that s/he has reached an asexual state.

There’s been no official word yet if Swinton will have a beard for the film.

1. Prospera

Disney

Julie Taymor struck again in her 2008 adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

Any actress will tell you that Shakespeare didn’t write good female parts. The most interesting roles invariably go to the male leads, such as Hamlet or Othello. So Julie Taymor decided to shake things up by casting Helen Miram as the lead role when she came to adapt one of his best-known plays, The Tempest, for film.

The original play focused on Prospero, a sorcerer and the exiled Duke of Milan. Prior to the start of the play Prospero loses control of the city and is ousted by his brother because he is more interested in his studies than ruling. In Taymor’s version, Prospera is accused her of killing her husband with witchcraft and banished because the patriarchal society couldn’t accept a female ruler. The rest of the cast, and the plot, remained unchanged.

The initial decision to make Prospero a woman was put down to Taymor simply not being interested by the male actors who auditioned for the role. A closer examination of the script revealed that changing the character was mostly a simple matter of altering the pronouns. This allowed Taymor to recreate Prospero as the female victim of a male-dominated society, adding an entirely new dimension to a centuries-old play.

As a result, the decision to change Prospero’s gender has been a godsend to Literature students the world over.

What were your favourite gender swapping incidents? Let us know in the comment section.

No Heroes: Suicide Squad Explained pt 3

Welcome back to part three in our series exploring the line-up for the upcoming Suicide Squad film. The movie may have only just started filming, but director Dvid Ayer has released a series of cast photos that have already caused a lot of noise online. Besides an ongoing debate over the Joker’s new look, most of it was focussed on the fact that the vast majority of these characters are completely unknown. To that end, we’ve put together a series of articles covering the line up as seen in the large cast photograph. Part One covered Slipknot, Captain Boomerang, and the Enchantress. Pat Two looked at Katana, Rick Flag and Harley Quinn. In Part Three, we’re covering Deadshot, Killer Croc, and El Diablo. 

Deadshot

 Another character who’s more antihero than full-on supervillain, Deadshot is a long time rival, and foe, to DC’s Batman. Often working as a hired assassin, Deadshot’s tagline is that he will ‘never miss’ a target. A highly capable marksman, Deadshot’s favourite weapons are a set of silenced, wrist-mounted guns. His prowess are enhanced by a cybernetic eye which enhances his accuracy and provides data on targets direct to his brain.

Deadshot has been a major player in the last two incarnations of the Suicide Squad, bringing both his skills as a marksman and his disregard for human life to the table. Well, when the team’s objectives revolve around taking out dangerous targets, a boomerang isn’t really going to cut it, right? One of Deadshot’s defining traits is his desire to die in a spectacular fashion. This desire is a key reason for his joining the team in the first place. With no reason to continue living, and an aversion to suicide, he simply does not care if he dies. Various reasons have been cited for this, but the most common thread in them is his parents’ abusive relationship.

Will Smith as Deadshot

Will Smith, cast to play Deadshot in Suicide Squad, is inarguably the biggest name on the cast list. The casting also strikes a chord for diversity, as the original comic book character is caucasian. The necessity of this change is questionable, considering that the team is already pretty diverse, including Katana (Japanese) and El Diablo (Mexican American) and double the number of female members of both Justice League and The Avengers. Of course, it worked for Marvel’s film franchise.

Deadshot should also not be confused with Deathstroke, another Batman villain and weapons master. Although both characters have their connections to the team, I personally question the idea of having characters with such similar names on the same team. It’s just confusing. He’s also entirely different from Marvel’s Deapool, who was created as a parody of Deathstroke. Yeah.

Killer Croc

Killer Croc, by Francesco Mattina

Another character drafted in from the Batman comic books, Waylon Jones was born with a form of atavism, leaving him with distinctive reptilian traits. Raised by an alcoholic aunt who hated his hideous appearance and brutal behavior, Waylon was the victim of physical anmd emotional abuse until he finally  killed his aunt and became a criminal. Like many of Batman’s villains, Killer Croc’s original motivation was to be the new kingpin of crime in Gotham. After killing his way through half of the city’s underworld, Killer Croc was finally defeated by Batman.

Aesthetcially, Croc’s appearance has varied wildly since his introduction. The character originally appeared as a powerfully-built man covered entirely in green scales, but with normal facial proportions and build. Various subsequent adaptations have featured tails, claws, elongated jawlines, and colour-schemes ranging from green to brown to grey. Since DC’s, line-wide reboot, The New 52, Killer Croc has been shown with an actual crocodile’s head, a change which has yet to be explained. Fortunately, the film appears to have given the character a much more toned-down appearance, with reptilian skin and no tail.

Killer Croc is another character who has nothing to do with the Suicide Squad in the DC comic books. However, his extreme violence and ruthlessness fits perfectly with the team’s goals and structure. It’s easy to see the serial-killer coerced into joining the team, if only to get out early from one of his many, many life sentences.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc

El Diablo

Like Rick Flag, there have been several incarnations of El Diablo in DC comics. The original was a bank teller named Lazarus Lane in the Wild West who was left in a coma after being struck by lightning. After being revived by a Native American shaman, Lane became possessed by a demon which would emerge whenever he fell asleep. Despite all this mystical stuff floating around, Lane actually had no superpowers other than increased stamina. However, he was proficient in the use of several weapons, notably his bullwhip, bolas, and guns.

Like the vast majority of characters, El Diablo was reinvented for DC’s New 52. The new El Diablo, and the only one to be a member of the Suicide Squad, is a Mexican criminal named Chato Santana who met Lazarus Lane after being hospitalised by the police. Santana is given the powers of a minor vengeance demon by Lane, who was in a living coma and died after the transfer. Unlike Lane, Santana combines his weapons mastery with various forms of heat control and fire manipulation.

As the film’s incarnation is portrayed by Jay Hernandez, an actor of Mexican American descent, and because the Santana version of the character is the only one to be a member of the team in the books, this is the most likely iteration of the character to appear in the film.

Jay Hernandez as El Diablo

No Heroes: Suicide Squad Explained pt 2

Welcome back to our in-depth look at the up-coming Suicide Squad, where we take a look at the team’s roster and work out how in the name of Cthulu it makes sense in the context of the characters’ extensive backstories. With cast photos popping up all over the net, a lot of people who aren’t familiar with comic books in general, or the minutia of the DC universe in particular, are wondering where all of these characters are coming from. Part One looked at the team’s origins as a whole, as well as introducing Captain Boomerang, Slipknot, and the Enchantress. Today, we’ve got Katana, Rick Flag (or should that be ‘Flagg’?) and the indomitable Harley Quinn. 

 Katana

Because everybody loves a samurai.

Tatsu Yamashiro’s origin story is a classic of boy meets girl, boy loves girl, boy and girl get married, have children, then boy’s twin brother shows up and kills boy because he is also in love with girl. Oh, and her two children were also killed by a fire started by her brother-in-law. Of course. Driven mad by grief, Tatsu came to believe that her husband’s soul was now trapped in the sword used to kill him, a weapon known as the ‘Soultaker.’

Thus began a long and lustrious (ish) career as a crime-fighter and super-heroine. Katana’s main objective has always been to hunt down those responsible, or even just connected to, her husband’s death in order to avenge him. Besides her sword, which may or may not have the ability to absorb the souls of those it kills so that they can advise the wielder, Katana relies on an array of martial arts skills.

So how does a character like this end up on the Suicide Squad? Well, technically, she doesn’t. Katana was only ever

Karen Fukuhara as Katana

invited to take part in one mission with the Squad, a mission she turned down for various plot and character-related reasons. As she’s not a criminal, it’s not immediately obvious how Katana comes to be involved in the team. At the moment, there are two possibilities. The first is that, unlike the rest of the Squad, she is an outside agent asigned as a handler to help keep them under control. Alternatively, her possibly-haunted sword may have forced her to kill someone in a manner that resulted in her arrest and imprisonment. As Katana is driven by her need for revenge, it’s easy to see her subsequently joining the team so that she can be released from jail and get on with her manhunt.

Rick Flag

 Another tricky one to place as the DC universe features not one, not two, but three Rick Flags, each the son of the one before. The first two Flags were both members of the Suicide Squad at various times. However, as the first Rick Flag was a World War II veteran, it’s unlikely that he’ll feature in this film. Unless DC want to rip off Captain America completely, of course.

Rick Flag is another character who, on paper, doesn’t quite fit the Suicide Squad’s remit. In the books, he is the only character who isn’t some form of criminal. A covert agent tapped by US the government to lead the new Suicide Squad under the direction of Amanda Waller, Flag hated working with the criminals under his command, particularly the murderous Deadshot. Already reluctant to take on the role, Rick quickly began to show signs of mental instability. Which is what happens when you spend all day around someone who calls himself ‘Captain Boomerang,’ I guess.

Flag has no superpowers of his own, and luckily doesn’t have any gimmicky weapons, either. To be fair, with already got characters who favour boomerangs, ropes, and a Japanese sword, so it’s hard to imagine what else you could throw into the mix without becoming truly ridiculous. No, Flag is a good old-fashioned soldier, with the usual peak physical condition that comes as standard on all comic book characters. Oh, he’s also an expert  in military, Special Forces, and guerrilla tactics, strategy, and demolitions. Who isn’t, right? John Kinnaman as Rick Flag

Harley Quinn

 Harley is probably the most famous (or at least, infamous) character in Suicide Squad other than the Joker. The character stands out not only because she is one of the few female supervillains to have her own on-going title, but also because she started out as a tv character in Batman: The Annimated Series. Harley is also one of the youngest characters to appear in the film, making her debut in 1992. Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzell, was originally a psychiatrist at Arkham Asylum, where she fell in love with the Joker and becomes his accomplice and on-off sidekick. Honestly, the state of the medical profession these days. In the comics, Harley Quinn alternates between being a strong, independent villain in her own right and being the Joker’s girlfriend-cum-punching bag. In some versions, simply being around the Joker appears to have been enough to drive her dotty. In others, the Joker intentionally exposes her to the same insanity-inducing compound that bleached his skin and drove him mad. And my most recent first date was just dinner at a restaurant…

Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn

There was a minor uproar among friends when the character was redesigned as part of DC’s ‘New 52’ initiative, which saw a universal reboot of the DC universe. The ‘new’ Harley, which the movie version seems to be based on aesthetically, traded her original black and red harlequin outfit for something you’d find in a brothel designed by Elton John. This new incarnation is almost entirely independent of the Joker, striking out on a twisted path of antiheroism and villainy all of her own. In fact, the casual killing spree she goes on after the Joker breaks up with her is what leads to the character’s incarceration and eventual recruitment into the Suicide Squad in the first place. However, the fact that her movie counterpart wears a jacket with ‘Property of the Joker’ emblazoned on the back may call this into question.

Many action films contain romantic subplots, which often feel shoehorned in so that the film will appeal to the girlfiends of the guys who ‘actually’ want to see it. Yeah. However, because Joker and Harley are both such bat crap crazy lunatics, this could be a romantic dynamic worth watching out for. Will the characters be in love? Will the Joker be abusive? Will Harley snap and smash him in the face with her giant, phallic hammer? We can only hope.

Wait. That came out wrong…

In part three, we’ll be looking at the remaining cast, including Killer Croc, El Diablo, and the difference between Deathstroke and Deadshot!

No Heroes: Suicide Squad Explained pt 1

 With the announcement of The Suicide Squad, and the release of a number of set photographs of the team, a lot of people have been asking who, exactly, these people are. Over the next couple of posts, I’ll be running through the recently published Cast photos from the film, identifying the characters, and giving the history of the team.

Who are the Suicide Squad?

Task Force X, or The Suicide Squad as it is informally known, is a team of incarcerated supervillains-turned-anitheros who act as deniable assets for the American government. Most of the team carries out high-risk black ops missions in exchange for commuted prison sentences, whether this be a decreased number of years in jail, or an indefintely postponed death sentence. The group are run by Dr Amanda Walker, and operates out of Belle Reve Penitentiary. The team’s existence also gives a handy explanation for the apparent inability of any prison to hold a convicted villain in custody for any amount of time.

The main cast of the Suicide Squad. Left to right: Slipknot, Captain Boomerang, Enchantress, Katana (kneeling) Rick Flagg, Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Killer Croc, and El Diablo (not pictured: the Joker, Deathstroke, Dr Walker)

Generally, The Suicide Squad go out on missions that are considered too dangerous or morally questionable for other groups. To keep the team a secret, members are implanted with explosive devices. If they try to escape custody during a mission or attempt to reveal the team’s existence to outsiders, the bombs are detonated, and the character dies. Typical Suicide Squad missions involve the elimination or retrieval of high-value targets, such as the recovery of a newborn baby who carries the cure to a deadly virus.

Identifying the team’s members is, in some cases, quite difficult. There is, of course, the problem of translation decay, by which characters and stories gain or lose extra elements as they cross over from book to screen and back. There’s also the problem that there have been no less than five different comic book series titled Suicide Squad, and the fact that the team, by its very nature, had a large revloving cast which changed as characters died, escaped, or were exhonerated. But here’s the low-down on three of the characters in the cast photo: Slipknot, Captain Boomerang, and Enchantress.

Slipknot

There’s really not that much to say about Slipknot. The character is basically an assassin who specialises in using ropes. The character was only in one mission for Suicide Squad in the original comic book series way back in 1988. Faced with an invading army of alien robots, he realised that his treasured ropes were useless against the enemy. He bottled it after convincing himself that the bomb implanted in his arm by the Suicide Squad’s handlers to keep him under control was a fake.Slipknot ended up lost in a swamp, weak and bleeding from the hole where his arm used to be.

I think Suicide Squad has found its Hawkeye.

Captain Boomerang

Ugh. What is it with C-list comic book characters and their gimicky weapons?

There are actually two Captain Boomerangs in DC comics, because clearly one wasn’t enough. I’m going to assume the character in the film is the first one, Digger Harkness. The illegitimate son of an American soldier and an Australian woman, Harkness grew up making boomerangs and  using them as weapons. As a young adult, he was hired as a performer and boomerang promoter by a toy company.When the audiences started to ridicule him, he turned to a life of crime, using his beloved boomerangs as his weapon of choice and developing the Captain Boomerang persona to hide his identity. As you do.

Captain Boomerang in The Flash (January 2011), by Scott Kolins

Captain Boomerang became a recurring villain in The Flash comic books. Which makes about as much sense as anything else, I suppose. The character joined the Suicide Squad, like most of its members, in exchange for being pardoned for his crimes. Captain Boomerang’s grating personality and blatant racism caused ongoing friction among his teammates, and he was considered to be a dangerous, vicious, cowardly and undependable member of the team. The character was basically the class clown of the team. But, you know, an incredibly racist, psychotic class clown. How far Boomerang will fill this role in the new team, where he’ll be competing with both Harley Quinn and the Joker, remains to be seen.

There are still a lot of questions about the character as he appears in the film. Is the character actually Digger Harkness, or his son, Owen, who also appeared in the Suicide Squad? Will he still be horribly racist? Will he use ordinary boomerangs, or special ones? Exploding boomerangs? Wait, is it still a boomerang is it explodes before coming back to you?

The Enchantress

Not to be confused with Amora The Enchantress, a long-running foe-sometimes-ally of Marvel’s Thor. June Moon stands out from the crowd because of her habit of switching from hero to villain and back with very little warning. The Enchatnress received her powers from an unknown magical entity while attending a fancy dress party so that she could fight a mystical threat to a castle in a DC story from the 60s, which says something about the level of thought going into character creation at the time. An often neglected character, the Enchantress is described as an extremely powerful magic user, which generally means that she gets new powers as the plot demands purely in order to get the writers out of a corner.

In many ways, The Enchatnress is kind of like Marvel’s The Increadible Hulk, but with magic. Both have split personalities and are pretty much ambiguous in terms of motivation and alliance. They also have transformative powers; June Moon is a blond white woman who’s appearance becomes dark and vaguely ethnic when she uses her powers. Sometimes her evil half is just June on a bad day. Sometimes its a completely separate demonic entity that’s possessing her. Different writers. Different character. The film’s version looks like patricularly wild, more like a Hatian Voodoo priestess than the original ‘Dwitcheroo-Witcheroo’ (yes, that’s really what the character was called in her first appearance in the 60s). As she’s appearing in Suicide Squad, it’s fairly safe to assume that this Enchantress is a villain, although how far DC will develop her powers, particularly her dual personalities and power level.

That’s all for now. I don’t want this article getting too big, so next time I’ll cover Katana, Rick Flagg, and Harley Quinn.

Suicide Squad’s All-New, All-Different Joker

When Warner Bros., cast Jared Leto as the Joker in the upcoming Suicide Squad film, there was a lot of concern. Heath Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker is universally beloved. No one really thought that another actor could reprise the role and do it justice. But earlier today, director David Ayer posted the first photo of Leto in costume.

One of the biggest causes of concern among fans was that Heath Ledger is generally accepted as the ultimate Joker. Thematically, his costume was toned down, with sludgy green hair and a burnt purple suit. His voice was little more than a growl. His quiet, withdrawn demeanor was just what the franchise needed at the time, and perfectly opposed to the widespread, graphic violence he wrought on Gotham.

And so it makes sense that the new Joker, as portrayed by Jared Leto, You can practically feel the nervous energy coming off him. While Ledger’s Joker was a subtle, psychotic genius, Leto’s looks set to be the kind of high-energy, ultra-violent, manic character that a film like Suicide Squad calls for.

Many fans, particularly those who only really know the Joker from the Dark Night and other Batman-based films and television shows, don’t realise just how physically violent the character is. Ledger’s version of the Joker, despite carrying the odd knife, was much more prone to get others to do the heavy lifting for him. Yes, he planted a couple of bombs and shot a few people, but he was never that involved in physical combat. Contrast that with some of his appearances in the comic books, and you get a better idea of where Suicide Squad is taking that character. After all, this is the man who shot Barbara Gordon, the original batgirl, just to torture her father, Commissioner Gordon. This is the man who beat Jason Todd, the second Robin, to death just because. And this, I think, is the version of the Joker that we’ll see in the upcoming film.

This? Oh, this is just the Joker casually beating a teenage hero to death with a crowbar. No big deal.

Ledger’s Joker was darker than dark, subtle, withdrawn. Although very little of the actual costume has been revealed, but what we’ve seen already tells us a lot. Point one is the surgical glove. The number of tattoos, the capped teeth, the chunky rings all speak of a more physically-active character. However, there is always the possibility that this, in fact, is the Joker’s costume. Or, at least, the upper half. A more physically active Joker may well go without a shirt. Despite the fact that Leto is well known as a method actor, the idea of covering him in tattoos that no-one will ever see seems a little too far, even for a big-budget film.

Batman is, was, and has always been a straight-laced hero. Yes, he’s violent. Yes, he’s scheming. But his worldview is, ultimately, black and white. There’s no room for grey when you’re Batman. The Joker is the perfect archenemy for Batman, not because he’s totally chaotic. Batman wears dark, monochrome colours. The Joker is in the most lurid colours imaginable in green and purple (in terms of colours, the Joker also opposes the majority of comic book heroes, who wear primary colours). The Joker and Batman are perfect opposites as the extroverted Joker, in his colourful clothing represents chaos, while the introverted, monochromatic Batman embodies order and discipline.

It should be remembered, as well, that neither Ledger nor Leto exactly conform to the original comic book portrayal of the Joker. They’re both uniquely damaged in their own way. The original Joker is a basic templete. It’s up to the acotrs, the writers, and directors to decide which direction they want to take it in. So while Ledger’s Joker challenged his Batman simply by being chaotic, Leto’s looks set to be just that bit more active, largely due to the fact that Batman won’t appear in Suicicde Squad. Without having Batman to challenge him, there’s no telling how Joker’s madness could manifest itself.