The Suicide Squad is one of the most bizarre and interesting teams in comic book history. The group of supervillains forced to go on dangerous missions has been around for a long time and has had a seemingly endless number of members over the years. As the team name implies, there tends to be a lot of turnover in the Suicide Squad.
With the penchant for killing off its members, the comics have had a lot of fun reintroducing some of the universe’s stranger villains as the newest (and often doomed) recruits, something that James Gunn seems to be doing with the reboot. Check out a few of the weirdest members of the Suicide Squad.
10 10. Slipknot
It’s not unusual for a hero or villain in the comic book world to operate in a bit of a niche area. They find something they are good at and base their entire character around that. However, picking an ability that so many other super-powered people can do, like in Slipknot’s case being able to climb really well, sort of makes you pretty useless most of the time.
Slipknot actually managed to sneak his way onto the big screen appearing in 2016’s Suicide Squad where he proceeded to thoroughly underwhelm audiences everywhere. Even that movie seemed to realize the lack of potential he and his powers had as he was quickly killed off and never spoken of again.
9 9. Clock King
There have been two prominent characters dubbed Clock King in the comics. One of them has the ability to see a few seconds into the future. The other has the much stranger ability of simply having a good sense of time.
The latter Clock King is a bit of a sympathetic character in the comics as he entered a life of crime to take care of his sick sister. But once a villain, he really leaned into his time-themed persona, carrying out clock-inspired crimes and sporting a ridiculous cock-inspired costume. A life of crime seems like a pretty big stretch for someone who is just really punctual.
8 8. Chemo
The Suicide Squad has always been very welcoming to the big, monster-like characters of the DC universe, like Killer Croc and King Shark. Chemo seems to fit that creature type, but he would stand out even among those freaks.
Chemo is a vessel for keeping hazardous chemicals in which is brought to life after the chemical mixture has an unexpected reaction. So he’s basically a jar filled with deadly chemicals and his intelligence-level is about what you would expect from a walking jar.
7 7. Weasel
There are plenty of animal-themed characters in the comics that vary in their effectiveness. Picking the right animal is essential for establishing your persona as a dangerous and intimidating individual. A weasel is just not going to cut it.
If you thought Weasel was just a name that hinted at a more subtle ability, you’d be wrong. This is actually a man who chooses to dress up and commit crimes as a weasel, largely known for being annoying critters. With so many available options for his animal persona, to land on Weasel, you have to wonder if he’s taking this career as a criminal seriously.
6 6. Count Vertigo
Speaking of villains who base their persona on being slightly annoying to people, here comes Count Vertigo. You’ve probably already figured it out, but just to confirm, this is a character whose signature ability is to make people very dizzy. Sure, dizziness can be a real nuisance, but it’s not exactly scary. And the “Count” in his title isn’t fooling anyone.
What’s more bizarre is that Count Vertigo is a capable thief with a slew of gadgets that give him more impressive abilities. And yet he still decides to emphasize the vertigo abilities as his big selling point.
5 5. Major Disaster
Most supervillains are looking to cause horrific world-ending events. Major Disaster is unusual for only slightly altering them. He is imbued with the power of slightly manipulate probability to create disasters. He is able to see different probable outcomes and then manipulates them to his own desires.
More so than any other character on this list, Major Disaster’s abilities are actually pretty useful. What makes him so strange is how he takes a pretty uninvolved approach to his evil deeds. Being able to make small changes which result in an earthquake is very impressive, it just seems a little lazy.
4 4. Mister 103
Mister 103 wins the contest for having the worst supervillain name. While there are a few of these characters who really need to think about adopting a new moniker, Mister 104 just falls flat. And the reasoning behind the name makes it all the more embarrassing.
Mister 103 has thee ability to transform his body into any element of the periodic table. That seems well and good until you realize that turning yourself in protactinium doesn’t do much. And the trouble with naming yourself Mister 103 after the number of elements on the periodic table is that fifteen new elements have been added since then. He goes by Atomic Man now.
3 3. Tattooed Man
Tattooed Man is another of those supervillains whose abilities seem pretty cool on the surface, but when you start to really think about it, you realize just how weird they are.
Tattooed Man’s skin has the ability to bring to life anything that is tattooed on it. For any tattoo enthusiasts out there, you can imagine the possibilities with such a power. Of course, then you have to consider the time commitment involved. He would need to sit for hours on end, maybe even multiple sessions, before a tattoo is done. Hopefully he was a lot of forethought with the crimes he commits.
2 2. The Writer
Grant Morrison is one of the most prolific DC comic book writers around, most well-known for his work with Batman. However, you may not know that Morrison is actually a comic book character himself and one of the most “out there” additions to the Suicide Squad roster.
Morrison appeared as a villain appropriately known as The Writer whose ability was that we could simply change reality through his writing. It was a fun and risky bit of meta-humor that paid off even better when The Writer joined the Suicide Squad and was quickly killed off.
1 1. Sportsmaster
Gimmicks are fine for supervillains, but some of these baddies just seem to be trying to make themselves look ridiculous. Sportsmaster is the kind of character you would assume to be a parody of the one-note comic book villains of yesteryear. But here he is, a full-blown DC character with one bizarre infatuation.
Sportsmaster is just a really big fan of sports and tries to parlay that love into becoming a criminal. Using footballs, basketball, frisbees and whatever else he can find, Sportsmaster seems closer to an enthusiastic gym teacher than a threatening criminal.