SPOILERS: SUICIDE SQUAD - 10 Awesome Easter Eggs You May Have Missed
The cast of Suicide Squad keep saying that it was a movie made by a fan for the fans, and based on the awesome Easter Eggs included in there, they may very well be right! Here are the ten biggest and best.
The cast of Suicide Squad was left in a very awkward position earlier this week when they had to attend the London premiere of the movie just a day after a wave of negative reviews for the movie hit the web. While some were a little more upset about them than others, they all pointed out that Suicide Squad was made for fans, and while some like it more than others, it feels like there's truth in that.
It's become clear that Suicide Squad had some behind the scenes issues (many of which can be blamed on decisions made in the post production/editing process), but David Ayer is quite clearly a fan.
As a result, the movie is packed full of cool Easter Eggs aimed directly at comic book readers, with plenty of cool nods to classic moments, storylines, and iconic images. Some tease the future of these characters and the DC Films Universe as a whole, while others are just fun nods only a small percentage of the audience will understand, but they're all awesome, and surprisingly easy to miss...
10. The Joker And Harley Quinn Share A Dance
Before the release of Suicide Squad, eagle eyed fans spotted Harley Quinn's original jester outfit from theanimated series and comic books lying around in the scene where the members of Task Force X are given their gear back. However, one of the most surprising (and brilliant) moments in the movie comes when we actually get to see Margot Robbie in that costume as she and The Joker share a dance.
This should be instantly familiar to fans as it obviously recreates the cover of Paul Dini's Batman: Harley Quinn. That was illustrated by legendary artist Alex Ross, and seeing it in live-action - no matter how brief - proves to be a real treat. Regardless of your feelings on Suicide Squad, the fact that David Ayer found a way to include this is perfect fan service and should make a lot of fans very happy indeed.
9. Angelo Mirti
During one of the flashbacks which introduces us to Deadshot, we see the villain telling the person who's hired him - identified only as Angelo - that he won't work until he's paid. Twice. The assassin gets his way and performs the hit after netting a cool $2 million, but who exactly is the mobster with some pretty serious sounding connections in Gotham City?
Well, looking at the comic books, chances are that this is Angelo Mirti, a member of the Falcone Crime Family who is most often seen serving as a bodyguard for Sofia Gigante, the daughter of the sinister Carmine Falcone. Interestingly, the actor who voices the character is Robin Atkin Downes, and if that name is familiar, it's because he's voiced everyone from Detective Bullock to Doomsday in various animated, computer, and live-action projects over the years.
8. A Nod To John Ostrander
John Ostrander didn't create the Suicide Squad as such, but in the same way we have Stan Lee to thank for the Captain America we have today, so too does this comic book writer deserve an awful lot of credit. As well as inspiring a number of key moments in the movie (one of which we'll get to in the next slide), Ostrander is the man who took this team of monster hunters and made them the criminal task force they're now famous for being.
He also co-created Amanda Waller and completely overhauled Deadshot, so it makes sense that David Ayer would find a way to pay tribute to him. The filmmaker does so with a hard to miss building in Midway City which has been named the "John F. Ostrander Federal Building." It's there that Task Force X end up unwittingly go in to save Waller.
7. Slipknot's Demise
Around the time he was hired to take the helm of Suicide Squad, David Ayer got fans excited by Tweeting out photos of stacks of comic books he had been reading to prepare for the movie. Among them must have been 1989's Suicide Squad #9 as he recreates a key moment with Captain Boomerang and Slipknot on the big screen almost verbatim.
In the aforementioned comic book, Boomerang convinces Slipknot to do a runner in order to find out whether or not the explosives the team has been implanted with are real, and he ends up losing his hand (rather than his head) as a result. The movie version of Boomer isn't quite as sharp as his comic book counterpart and attempts to escape with Slipknot before luckily being stopped by Katana, but this is still a cool nod to the source material.
6. Between The Sheets
One of the most peculiar moments in Suicide Squad comes when Enchantress shows the members of Task Force X their heart's desire, and Harley Quinn ends up seeing herself and a very normal looking Joker living a happy life with their two children. However, rather than referencing that in the movie's final scene (which was clearly a result of reshoots), the villain can be seen sitting in her cell reading a trashy erotic romance novel called Between the Sheets.
Written by Molly O'Keefe, it tells the story of a bad boy type who ends up leading his new neighbour down a dark path by getting her to give up her job as a teacher and embrace his sort of lifestyle. This is clearly a parallel to Harleen's transformation into Harley, and the fact that The Joker breaks her out points to him continuing to influence her in a negative way.
5. The Joker's Golden Gun
When The Joker goes to rescue Harley Quinn, he guns down the A.R.G.U.S. soldiers with a gold plated machine gun featuring some pretty cool looking ivory detailing. It's the kind of weapon you'd expect a version of the Clown Prince of Crime like this to have, especially as he's the most "gangsta" take on the iconic villain to date.
However, it seems like this choice of gun could be a callback to a previous David Ayer movie as Michael Pena's character in End of Watch discovers one which looks almost identical during a traffic stop there. That too is gold with the same white detailing, and it's entirely possible that they're one and the same. Other than using a few actors who appeared in his previous movies, this is the biggest nod to Ayer past work and a nice Easter Egg for fans of his back catalogue.
4. Incubus
The brother Enchantress is not only a horrible CGI character, but also one of the worst comic book movie villains ever. He's never actually named in Suicide Squad (possibly because he was a last minute addition in reshoots), but looking to the source material, chances are that he's Incubus.
In "The Nightshade Odyssey", he attempts to reunite with Enchantress' Succubus spirit so they can have sex and create a new host for their father, but David Ayer borrows none of that, instead leaving their relationship relatively normal and giving the duo a fairly vague plan to build a machine for humans to worship which will then wipe them out. Adding some incest here would have at least made the brother and sister a little more interesting, but perhaps that was just too dark for PG-13.
3. Harley Quinn's New 52 Origin
Harley Quinn's origin story has been heavily edited down in Suicide Squad, more than likely as a way of making her relationship with The Joker less abusive. We see very little of the Clown Prince of Crime using electroconductive therapy to break her mind, while a scene where she chases him down on a motorbike only to be slapped across the face (which featured heavily in set photos) has completely vanished.
However, Harley taking a dip in that vat in A.C.E. Chemicals is very similar to her origin story in The New 52 Universe despite The Joker actually forcibly throws her into that in the comic books to complete Dr. Harleen Quinzel's transformation. It's a pretty cool scene, albeit one which again would have been better had it not been edited down to make it much briefer than the version Ayer probably shot.
2. The Fastest Man Alive
In a blink and you'll miss it moment, The Flash makes an appearance to take down Captain Boomerang during a diamond heist. The villain has literally just stabbed his accomplice in the back (with a boomerang, obviously), and the Scarlet Speedster shows up in full costume to point out that there's clearly no honour among thieves before taking down a bemused Boomer in electrifying fashion.
It's a cool little cameo, though many people unfamiliar with The Flash may very well have no realised that it was him here as it all happens so quickly. The most interesting thing about this scene though is the fact that it was directed by Zack Snyder. Rather than Ayer travelling to London or Ezra Miller heading to Los Angeles to shoot it, the Justice League director did it while on the set of that movie. Funnily enough, Jai Courtney didn't even know The Flash was in Suicide Squad until he saw it!
1. Batman vs. Amanda Waller
Suicide Squad #10 features one of the most memorable moments from that series when Batman comes face to face with The Wall. Thinking he has the upper hand on Amanda Waller, the Caped Crusader threatens to expose Task Force X unless she shuts it down, but the villain quickly turns the table when she reveals that she knows Batman's secret identity and will expose it if he doesn't back down.
We actually get to see a scene almost identical to this play out in the Suicide Squad movie, though some Justice League set up is added as Bruce Wayne obtains files on Barry Allen and Arthur Curry in exchange for helping to cover up Waller's role in the Midway City disaster. It almost feels like could be setting up some sort of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad encounter somewhere down the line...
Which of these Easter Eggs was your favourite? As always, be sure to let us know that and any we may have missed in the comments section below.