The Suicide Squad is one of the most popular DC teams. Many fans love them because it's not the average superhero team, and its members aren't even there voluntarily, for the most part anyway. Instead, Suicide Squad members are forced to team up by Amanda Waller and in return, they get shortened sentences or other perks. Since they're not superheroes, the team can do missions that wouldn't be right for the Justice League or other teams. Suicide Squad appeared both in the DCEU and in the DCAU, but which version of the team was better?
10 DCAU: The Animation Style
The quality of animation plays a very important part of any animated film, twice more so in superhero films since this subgenre is bound to include epic fights and if it looks bad, the audience won't enjoy the film as much as it otherwise could. Luckily, the DCAU film has no problem when it comes to animation. It's easy to watch and understand what's going on even when the characters are no longer just talking and instead they're doing the best to beat each other or the enemies.
9 DCEU: Margot Robbie
The live-action Suicide Squad introduced a version of Harley Quinn played by Australian actress Margot Robbie. Her portrayal was one of the strongest elements of the film. Her Harley was the liveliest member of the team and created a good contrast to more serious villains who also belonged to the team, such as Deadshot and Katana. Harley had a lot of hilarious moments and quips which gave her the chance to shine. Plus, the fans got to see a bit of her origin story as well.
8 DCAU: Voice Cast
Another important factor in an animated film is its voice cast. And the actors who gave their voices to some of the most iconic DC villains are doing an amazing job. There's not a weak link among them, unlike the live-action Suicide Squad where some characters missed the mark. Christian Slater voiced Deadshot, Vanessa Williams is Amanda Waller, Tara Strong gave her voice to everyone's favorite Harley Quinn, and the list goes on.
7 DCEU: The Rest Of The Cast (Most Of It, Anyway)
Put together a lot of villains with different personalities and styles of fighting and you're usually in for a lot of fun, or at least a few interesting moments in which they butt heads since each of them has a different opinion on how things should be done and they can't find common ground.
Margot Robbie may have dominated the film with her performance as Harley Quinn but that doesn't mean that the rest of the cast didn't do a decent enough job. Some were better in their roles, but that was mostly caused by the fact that they were simply given more space or better lines to work with.
6 DCAU: New Heroes
The main characters of the DCAU Suicide Squad film are far from heroic but when it comes to choosing between two evils, it's always a better idea to go for the lesser evil, even if it means teaming up with a crazy clown and a former psychiatrist in one person. The live-action Suicide Squad featured a lot of villains as members of the team, but once the introductions were done, only Harley Quinn and Deadshot got enough shine. The animated film not only gives enough space to everyone but it also introduced some new characters, such as Killer Frost or Silver Banshee.
5 DCEU: The 'Kiss'
The fact that Harley has a soft spot for the caped crusader won't come as a surprise to any comic book fans. Harley is attracted both to Batman and to Bruce Wayne without realizing that these two are the same person. She even named her hyena Bruce in the movie Birds of Prey. In a brief Suicide Squad scene, Batman saves Harley from underwater and he knocks her out when she attacks him. As he's giving her CPR, she briefly kisses him. Many fans didn't like this moment but it actually refers to the comics and Harley's ever-complex relationship with Batman. Plus, she probably did it just to mess with him, and that's very much like her.
4 DCAU: Better Villains
Sometimes the only choice of how to take down evil is with another evil, and that's when the Suicide Squad comes in. If the 2016 live-action Suicide Squad lacked in one area, it was the portrayal of its villains. Honestly, can anyone even remember who the Suicide Squad had to fight?
A lot of fans won't since the villains just didn't hit the mark. The animated film gives enough space to its villains, which include Vandal Savage (the immortal bad guy) and Flash's archnemesis Reverse-Flash. both of whom are a genuine threat.
3 DCEU: Introducing The Villains
If someone who knows the comic books watched Suicide Squad, chances are they might have been deterred by the long introduction in which the audience got a recap of every Suicide Squad member's life, or at least the events that caused them to join the Suicide Squad. While comic book fans might have already known all this stuff, superhero films aren't made just for them but also for the general audience and it was a good idea to introduce the characters properly since not all of them are as known to the average moviegoer as some other DC characters might be, such as Batman or Superman.
2 DCAU: More Story In Shorter Time
Every form of media requires a different approach to storytelling but there are differences even when it comes to animated superhero films and live-action ones. After all, the DCEU films are generally rather long, lasting for two hours or more, while the DCAU films are usually about an hour and a half long. That makes it both easier and more challenging to tell a coherent story. Easier, because there's no time for long introductions that would disrupt the film's flow, and harder because the creators have only a limited space to say everything they want to. In this case, they managed it perfectly and the film is easier to watch than the live-action version of the infamous team.
1 DCEU: Introducing Humor Into The DCEU
Suicide Squad may not have been perfect but it brought something new into the DCEU which enriched the universe and made it more complex. Not only did it provide a film focused almost entirely on villainous characters, which was still rather unusual at the time since the emphasis was often put on the good guys... but it also introduced humor into the DCEU. Both Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman was very dark and while this approach worked for some fans, others wanted more humor... and they got it. Suicide Squad paved the way for even more humorous movies such as Shazam!