Suicide Squad is a name for a variety of organizations created for and owned by DC Comics. They first appeared in The Brave and the Bold #2 (1959), the second in Legends #1 (1986).
The first Suicide Squad was a minor backup series about a quartet of adventurers. The Squad consisted of Rick Flagg, his girlfriend Karin Grace, Dr. Hugh Evans, and Jess Bright. In the team's last mission, Evans died and Bright was captured by Soviets and transformed into the monstrous Koshchei; Grace and Flagg split up, though she secretly bore his child. Flagg eventually joined the Forgotten Heroes .
The second and better-known Suicide Squad was a covert black ops government strike team partially made up of imprisoned supervillains who had agreed to perform extremely dangerous missions, which were officially denied by the US Government using the prisoners' participation as rationale to claim that the incidents are merely attacks by criminals, in return for a full pardon for their actions. This Suicide Squad, code-named "Task Force X", was overseen by Amanda Waller; Rick Flagg Jr. was her second-in-command. (Karin Grace also joined this Squad, but was revealed as a double agent and died battling the alien Manhunters who had manipulated her.) This Squad had a lengthy run in their own series, going on to appear in several guest appearances in titles like Superboy (a Hawaii-based version, incorporating many of Superboy's enemies, as well as the Kid himself) and Chase after cancellation.
Inherent in the concept of the Suicide Squad is the possibility that, at any time, the government may choose to form a new Squad, with any number of new members.
Members of the Squads include:
Lex Luthor organized another Suicide Squad during his term as President of the United States of America; this team consisted of Chemo , Manchester Black , Mongul, Plasmus, Shrapnel and Steel (John Henry Irons), and they forcibly recruited Doomsday to battle the alien Imperiex; Mongul, Plasmus and Shrapnel were killed.
A revived Suicide Squad, consisting initially of the members of the former Justice League Antarctica team and led by a Sgt. Rock imposter appeared in the short-lived Suicide Squad volume 2.
Members of Sgt. Rock's Squad (not counting those active in previous incarnations of the Squad):
Other media depiction
The Squad appears in Justice League Unlimited, beginning in the episode "Task Force X". In that episode, the Squad appears as Task Force X which formed as a US Government force to respond to the Justice League.
Unlike the original, the Squad members have not yet appeared in their original supervillain costumes, considering their first mission is a stealth one.
Members include:
- Rick Flag
- Plastique
- Captain Boomerang
- Deadshot
- Clock King
