There’s no doubt about it, DC is making a hard push to solidify itself as a cinema presence to rival that of comic competitor Marvel. With the release of exciting trailers for “Justice League” and “Wonder Woman” at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, DC’s impending and highly anticipated release of the bad guy ensemble flick, “Suicide Squad,” will act as the opening salvo. And for once, it’s heavy on the action.
The premise of “Suicide Squad” is fun, if familiar. A secret government agency recruits imprisoned supervillians to execute dangerous black ops missions in exchange for clemency. Of course, they end up working to save the world from an “unknown, but powerful threat,” which we can assume is the arrival of Darkseid, hinted at in “Batman v. Superman.” Basically it’s “The Dirty Dozen,” but with costumes and funky nicknames.
The film also marks the first time The Joker has been portrayed since the death of Heath Ledger, who played the maniacal clown in Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight.” “Suicide Squad” also marks the first big screen portrayal of a number of characters, including The Joker’s sidekick, Harley Quinn, played by Margot Robbie.
So let’s run through the cast, and see what they’re packing, the ones that need firearms, anyway:
Deadshot
The guy who gets to sling the most lead in Suicide Squad looks to be Will Smith, as the Floyd Lawton who goes by the name Deadshot when he’s working as a mercenary and assassin, though a reluctant one.
For a sidearm, Deadshot uses a heavily customized Glock 17 pistol with a compensator and red-dot sight.
In trailers, Lawton is also seen handling a stainless steel Smith & Wesson SW1911E-Series.
Lawton also gets some trigger time with the Daniel Defense DDM4 MK18 with a Troy PDW stock, canted back-up iron sights, and an EOTech XPS sight. Several soldiers in the trailers can also bee seen with DDM4 Mk18s.
Deadshot’s primary and signature firearm is his sleek, highly customized AR-15. The receiver is black, with a golden bolt, forward assist, trigger guard, and magazine release button. The rest of the rifle has a two-tone paintjob of scarlet with gold accents including a red Magpul CTR stock on a black buffer tube, and is fitted with a custom forend with the words”I am the light – the way” in script text on the right side and a gold full-length top rail. It’s also fitted with a custom muzzle brake. It’s topped with an ACOG sight with a gold finish, and a Trijicon RMR Sight mounted on top, along with a vertical grip.
The mags for the rifle are customized too. They’re Magpul PMAGs painted to match the red of the rifle, with gold-finished TTI Firepower magazine extensions, which replace the PMAG baseplates and increase the capacity to 35 rounds. The Glock mags visible on his gear also look to have gold magazine extensions installed.
Also in Deadshot’s arsenal are his signature wrist guns, mounted on both of his forearms. For the film, they were built out of Glock pistols, according to imfdb.com.
Harley Quinn
Margot Robbie gets to carry a highly decorated Chiappa Rhino 60DS revolver with white grips inlaid with a gold Joker emblem, gold decoration on the barrel shroud, and the cylinder is emblazoned, alternately, with the words “love” and “hate.” Remarkably, all that almost makes the Rhino pretty, but still extremely strange—perfect for Harley.
The reason the Rhino looks so strange is because it’s designed that way. The barrel actually aligns with the bottom chamber of the cylinder rather than the top, bringing the bore axis more in-line with the shooter’s hand and arm, for better pointing and superior recoil control.
The Joker
Played by Jared Leto, Batman’s nemesis, The Joker, carries a Colt Gold Cup Trophy 1911 pistol as his primary sidearm. It’s heavily customized, with a purple-finished slide and frame with all other parts done with gold-plating. There are also gold inlaid engravings on the sides of the frame and slide, with textured faux ivory grip slabs, sporting the same Joker emblem as Harley’s Rhino.
Above you see the mad clown laying in an intricately done arrangment of knives, pistols, and other weapons, with the Colt in his hand.
The Joker is also seen with another glitzed-out gun, a customized Norinco Type 56-1 with gold plating and more faux ivory furniture. I’m sensing a theme here. The Norinco is the Chinese-produced version of the AK-47 family of rifles, which are the most common ones seen in Hollywood productions.
Mr. Frost
We do get to see one more big gun, a really big gun, in the teaser footage. There’s a shot of Mr. Frost (Jim Parrack) behind a Dillon Aero M134 Minigun mounted as a door gun in a military helicopter. It looks to fitted with some kind of optic and an IR rangefinder and laser, though Frost isn’t wearing any optics.
That’s about all we see from the trailers, other than assorted soldiers, guards, and thugs carrying some Kel-Tec KSG shotguns, Heckler & Koch G36C submachine guns and M4A1 carbines.
For more, we all will just have to wait until August 5.