In this feature we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that. Here is an archive of all the When We First Met features so far! Check 'em out!

With the official cast for the Suicide Squad now set, I thought it'd be nice to spotlight the debuts of the comic book versions of the characters from the film.

This one seems a bit silly to do, but what the hey, here is the first appearance of the Joker from 1940's Batman #1, by Bill Finger, Bob Kane and Jerry Robinson...







It will never not be funny to me that Bruce essentially tells Dick to hold off until the Joker kills some more people. "The time isn't ripe, Dick! He hasn't killed enough people yet!"

Harley Quinn made her debut in Batman: The Animated Series in the 1992 episode "Joker's Favor,"



She made her comic book debut in 1993's Batman Adventures #12 by Kelley Puckett, Mike Parobeck and Rich Burchett (which features Puckett's take on Batgirl's debut)...









Harley made her debut in the "real" DC Comics continuity in 1999's Batman: Harley Quinn, which was a one-shot special that came out during the No Man's Land crossover series, by her creator, Paul Dini and artists Yvel Guichet and Araron Sowd...









On the next page, meet the rest of the Squad!

Deadshot made his debut in 1950's Batman #59 (by David Vern Reed, Bob Kane, Lew Schwartz and Charles Paris), masquerading as a good guy...





Batman and Robin figure out his plan...



but Deadshot vows to shoot Batman. Check out how Batman defeats him...





That's a pretty damned risky plan, no?

Over twenty-five years later, in 1977's Detective Comics #474, Steve Englehart, Marshall Rogers and Terry Austin depict Deadshot's escape from prison, where we see Rogers' famous re-design of Deadshot's costume...







Digger Harkness, Captain Boomerang, first showed up in Flash #117 by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson, where a toy company decides to make boomerangs the next big "thing" in the United States, but they need someone to publicize them...







In 1966's Strange Adventures #187, Bob Haney, Howard Purcell and Sheldon Moldoff introduced us to the "Witcheroo Switcheroo," the Enchantress...











On the final page, we meet the heads of the Suicide Squad...

Amanda Waller debuted in 1986's Legends #1, by Len Wein, John Ostrander, John Byrne and Karl Kesel...





You might see have noticed who she was talking to in those two pages.

Rick Flag debuted in 1959's The Brave and the Bold #25 by Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, as the head of Task Force X, the Suicide Squad...









The other members of the Suicide Squad ALSO survived near death experiences, like Karin...





and Jess and Dr. Evans...



So fast-forward to 1986's Legends #2, where Flag meets the NEW Task Force X, the Suicide Squad...







And you might wonder how he looks pretty spry for a World War II guy. Obviously, Crisis alone could have explained it, but John Ostrander went one step further in Secret Origins #14 in 1987 by Ostrander, Luke McDonnell and Dave Hunt, where he revealed that the Rick Flag from the original Suicide Squad was the FATHER of the Rick Flag from the modern Suicide Squad...



Karin, Jess and Dr. Evans were all de-aged, though, so that they were part of an earlier version of Task Force X from when Rick Flag Jr. was in charge of prior to the super-villain version.

So that's the cast of Suicide Squad (not counting Lex Luthor, who has not been confirmed yet to be in the film)!