By Kelsey Dickerson
It has happened to all of us while watching a good action film. One second we’re totally immersed in its awesomeness and enjoying its brilliance when all of a sudden we realize we’re rooting for the wrong side of good and evil.
While for some this may cause an existential crisis, for those in the comic world it’s perfectly natural. We have all rooted for the bad guy at least once, even when we know we shouldn’t… But why? This answer varies for everyone, but thanks to the release of Suicide Squad, we finally have some justification to cheer for and unite behind the “villain.”
A popular DC comic book title for decades, in the years since the team’s debut, everybody’s favorite team of incarcerated psychopaths has been brought to life in the animated feature Batman: Assault on Arkham as well as the WB series Arrow. With the team’s most popular roster consisting of members including Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, and Killer Croc, one explanation as to why the team is so likeable is that it reminds us that even the evilest of villains have the chance to turn a new page and redeem themselves. Although the team may be motivated in large part by the bombs installed into their bodies by head honcho Amanda Waller, the themes of decision-making and atonement are still prevalent throughout.
Going beyond the holistic idea of redemption is the idea of wanting to punish others more harshly for the same or lesser mistakes we ourselves have made. Although it’s human nature to feel this way from time to time, stories like that of the Suicide Squad help remind us of how one might change their tune after gaining an affinity towards a character and sympathizing with their troubled past. As much as it may be in our nature to be harsher judges of character from a distance, it is also in our nature to forgive. After all, who’s to say how we ourselves might act if put in Quinn’s heels or Croc’s scales.
The Suicide Squad allows us to be encased in our lust for crazy and cloaked in our affection to be bad. Through the struggle of the characters to do what they are told while battling what comes natural to them, our own internal compass is also torn with what True North is in our moral scope.
Filled with characters of all backgrounds and varying levels of criminal history, Suicide Squad gives release to all that is both simultaneously “good” and “bad” in the human psyche. It puts into perspective what can concurrently be seen as an act of heroism from one person to an act of terrorism for another. As a release for all that we are not supposed to be and for all that we sometimes wish we could, the Suicide Squad is an outlet for all parts of what makes us human; even the ones we’re not quite proud of.
Leave A Comment