WARNING: The following article contains minor spoilers for Suicide Squad #1, by Tom Taylor, Bruno Redondo, Adriano Lucas and Wes Abbott, on sale now.
When a book is called Suicide Squad, you expect at least a few characters to die, and the first issue of Tom Taylor and Bruno Redondo's run features some pretty major deaths that are likely to really affect the title team going forward. The cover for Suicide Squad #1 teases the deaths of half the team, and that proves pretty accurate, but a number of new characters also die.
The team at the start of the book consists of Deadshot, Magpie, Zebra-Man, Harley Quinn, The Shark and Cavalier. Although they believe at first they're being led by Amanda Waller, the mysterious Lok has actually taken control of Task Force X and plans to use them against the Revolutionaries, who we'll talk about in just a minute. Both Harley and Deadshot seem unhappy with the assembled team, with the latter calling it "about the worst Suicide Squad ever assembled." The two single out Magpie and Cavalier as particularly odd choices in a piece of foreshadowing as to what will happen by the book's end.
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The team is called together to take on the Revolutionaries -- a group of self-proclaimed freedom fighters who steal a submarine and nuclear weapon from the Australian government. Led by Osita, the Revolutionaries are Wink, a teleporter; the Aerie, who can fly and talk to birds; Thylacine, an Aboriginal Australian hunter with "heightened senses;" Jog, a French speedster who can only use his ability for a short time; Deadly Six, who is able to draw on the power of the "six deadly sins:" Chaos Kitten, described only as a "fighter;" the explosive T.N. Teen/Javier; and the Atlantean brothers Scale and Fin, who possess telepathy.
A lot of characters die during the Revolutionaries' attack on the Australian military. However, those characters aren't particularly noteworthy, as most remain unnamed. Just how many die isn't clear, but it's a lot, as T.N. Teen blows up an entire submarine using his powers. The first named character to die during the pitched battle between Task Force X and the Revolutionaries is Scale, who gets caught in Shark's powerful jaws and ripped into two pieces as his brother watches.
Scale's death is followed by Magpie's. The thief only went on the mission because Lok threatened to add another year to her sentence if she didn't. Magpie is tasked with sinking the sub from the bridge, but on the way she encounters Thylacine. Although her death isn't shown on-page, Lok and Waller confirm Magpie's demise based on her heart rate monitor.
After this, Task Force X and the Revolutionaries battle. Jog scores a great blow against Shark, knocking him from the ship, but that's not enough to actually take him out of the game for good, but that doesn't mean Task Force X stops losing people. Chaos Kitten faces off against Cavalier, with the former easily getting the upper hand and breaking the latter's nose. While he remarks on the injury, Osita brutally punches him, completely obliterating his head.
Following that death, Lok orders Deadshot to shoot the Revolutionaries with a bomb/transmitter, effectively ending the battle. Lok then lands on the sub to conscript the Revolutionaries. Osita attempts to refuse, which results in Lok exploding T.N. Teen's head using the bomb shot inside him earlier. With T.N. Teen dead, Osita vows to kill Lok, which he brushes off, saying, "I've been on the wrong side of worse than you. I'm still here." By the end of the book, the Revolutionaries are brought into the Suicide Squad, though there's a palpable amount of tension between members as the bloodbath resulted in both sides losing allies.
Suicide Squad #1 is certainly a bloody issue, with Task Force X's Magpie and Cavalier dying alongside new characters Scale and T.N. Teen. That's in addition to a lot of unnamed characters in the Australian military. The first issue sets the tone for the rest of the series, and that's one in which both new and well-established characters can die without warning. Considering the tension between the Revolutionaries and Task Force X's old guard following the pitched battle, the bodies are only going to start piling up from here.
Suicide Squad #2 releases January 29, 2020.