The Suicide Squad director James Gunn said from the start that his take on Task Force X would be heavy on casualties, and we now know the filmmaker wasn't kidding!
The movie arrives in U.S. theaters and on HBO Max in just a few short hours, though it's been playing internationally for the past week or so. That means we're ready to take a spoiler-heavy dive into what happens in this reboot/sequel, starting with a ranking of the most brutal, unforgettably violent, and downright shocking deaths.
Gunn doesn't hold back on dispatching the villains forced to join Amanda Waller's "Suicide Squad," and with an R-Rating, he's able to kill these guys off in increasingly disturbing and graphic ways.
There are a lot of deaths in The Suicide Squad, but these are, without a doubt, the ones that will surprise you most in terms of both violence and sheer unexpectedness. Whether you've seen the movie or just want to know what to expect, we have you guys covered...
10. TDK
A new take on Arm-Fall-Off-Boy, TDK is The Detachable Kid and his powers...well, they suck.
When Task Force X arrives in Corto Maltese, Rick Flag's team is met with an ambush that TDK thinks he can combat by sending his two arms into action. They prove to be little more than a nuisance to the soldiers who eventually start to riddle them with bullets.
This causes TDK immense pain as he writhes around the beach screaming, and he's eventually finished off with another hail of bullets...he was, however, disarmed (get it?).
It's not a nice way to go, but being shot certainly isn't the most brutal way of dying in this film.
9. Polka-Dot Man
Polka-Dot Man goes on quite the journey in The Suicide Squad, and it's clear he's not had an easy time of it. His mother was a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist who experimented on him and his siblings with alien technology, leaving him forced to expel his polka dots on a regular basis or face certain death.
As the film progresses, he appears to find some measure of happiness as part of Task Force X, but it doesn't last.
During the final battle against Starro, Polka-Dot Man helps turn the tide against the alien (after Bloodsport tells him to imagine the giant starfish as his mother). Before he can celebrate, he's squashed by Starro, and there's no coming back from that!
This was a quick death, but still an undeniably horrible way to go.
8. Javelin
Javelin never actually gets to use his javelin because the hapless villain is shot dead within a matter of moments. Like TDK, he's killed on the beach during the film's opening, but he doesn't go quietly.
After taking bullets to the chest, he dies in terrible agony, coughing up blood while knowing his fate is sealed.
He does get to bid farewell to Harley Quinn (who seemed to take a liking to the villain on their helicopter ride to the mission), but never gets to finish his dying words. That means Harley has no idea who he wants her to wield the javelin on behalf of, making his demise that little bit more tragic.
On the plus side, it proves to be a pivotal part of helping to defeat Starro!
7. Rick Flag
This is without a doubt The Suicide Squad's most tragic death, as we really didn't want to have to say goodbye to Rick Flag.
Upon realising that the U.S. Government was involved with the heinous experiments on innocent people that were done in an effort to better understand (and control) Starro's powers, Flag decides he's going to expose their role in Corto Maltese. Amanda Waller prepared for that, though, and tasked Peacemaker with retrieving the drive with that information by any means necessary.
A brutal battle between the two men follows, but it's Peacemaker who ultimately walks away with the win after driving a piece of shrapnel directly into the hero's heart.
Flag gets the last laugh to some extent, though, pointing out that Peacemaker's mission is a joke.
6. Blackguard
We don't get to spend a huge amount of time with Blackguard, but we do quickly learn that he's an asshole.
When Flag's Task Force X team arrives on that beach in Corto Maltese, it's revealed that Blackguard betrayed his teammates and contacted the military in advance in order to make a deal. They don't seem to care, though, and this brutal sequence kicks off with the villain's head quite literally being caved in by a series of shots to the face.
It's shockingly violent, and while Blackguard definitely gets what he deserves, it doesn't make for easy viewing!
We have to believe Amanda Waller probably knew what Blackguard had done (and may have even orchestrated it), making this particular death that little bit nastier.
5. Savant
Michael Rooker has become a frequent collaborator of Gunn's over the years, so none of us were surprised to see he'd landed a role in The Suicide Squad.
The film even kicks off with him as we're reintroduced to the concept of this team of villains, making it all the more surprising what happens to him on that beach. After attempting to rescue Weasel (who drowns and is pronounced dead before waking up later on), Savant clearly becomes overwhelmed by the sheer amount of gore and horror he's seeing.
With that, he flees into the ocean despite Amanda Waller's repeated warnings.
He doesn't listen, so the bomb in his neck is detonated and the back of his head is promptly blown off. Later, we see his body floating in the ocean as a bird tucks into his exposed brain.
4. Mongal
Considering Mongal is someone who has clashed with Superman on countless occasions, we definitely expected to see a little more from her than this.
That shock factor might be what Gunn was going for, though, and when she leaps into the air to take down one of the military's helicopters, the villain soon finds herself spinning out of control before crashing into the beach in a fiery explosion. However, the alien's demise doesn't quite end there.
Instead, she's burned alive, and we watch as Monal screams in agony while pinned under the wreckage.
Was this one villain who deserved better? Perhaps, but as goofy as the circumstances leading to her death might have been, there's no denying its sheer brutality.
3. Captain Boomerang
Honestly, we're still a little bit mad at James Gunn about this.
Captain Boomerang was a standout character in 2016's Suicide Squad, but he only gets a few lines in this film. After being reunited with Harley Quinn, the villain makes good use of his boomerangs on the beach and it starts looking like he might actually make it out of this scrap alive.
Unfortunately, when that helicopter spins through the nearby trees, Boomer is impaled with shrapnel and seems to know exactly what's coming, sharing one last exchange with Harley before getting torn apart by the crashing chopper.
Later, we get confirmation he didn't survive when his charred arm is shown sticking out of the wreckage with a boomerang held in the air. *Sobs*
2. Starro
Okay, our next two entries aren't for official Task Force X members, but they're still the film's most brutal deaths!
While the remaining members of the team are completely overwhelmed by the giant alien, they come together to stop "The Destroyer" from conquering Corto Maltese and killing countless innocents. Polka-Dot Man burns away part of Starro's body, leaving Ratcatcher 2 to send an untold number of rats to scurry up and into him.
Harley, meanwhile, pierces Starro's eye with that javelin and the rats are able to eat him from the inside out.
It's a violent, horrible death, and one that's actually quite tragic given it was humans who took Starro from his home and imprisoned him for decades.
1. The Thinker
The Suicide Squad's version of The Thinker is an evil b*stard, and he's spent a long time in Corto Maltese experimenting on Starro and innocent people.
He's literally torn some of them apart to see what they could survive after being put under Starro's control, so when the alien is freed, we're not remotely surprised that he delights in taking some revenge.
Picking The Thinker up from the floor, Starro tears his arms and legs off and then throws him with such force into a nearby wall that he's quite literally obliterated upon impact.
It's what he deserves, but that makes it no easier to watch!