Originally published May 5, 2015. Updated March 1, 2020.
Late on Sunday, Suicide Squad director David Ayer tweeted out the first image of Task Force X in full costume, giving us our first look at Deadshot, Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, Slipknot, Rick Flagg, Enchantress, Katana and, of course Harley Quinn.
While the photo itself has received a predictable mixed reaction, fans have been happy about Margot Robbie’s look as Harley. But, what does the character’s co-creator, Bruce Timm, think of her? io9 decided to find out.
Timm – who introduced the character in Batman: The Animated Series with the help of Paul Dini – saw the pic at the same time we did, and gives it his stamp of approval:
“I just saw the pic like a couple of hours ago. It was interesting. I was frankly a little nervous about what Harley would look like, but I thought she looked really cool. So I’m optimistic, we’ll see.”
As far as how the character needs to be brought to life in ways other than costume design, Timm suggests she come complete with the sense of fun that made her so popular in the first place:
“It’s funny, because she started off as just like a one joke idea and she’s gained all these different dimensions from all the stories we did, and the stuff that happens in the comics. I think bottom line the most important thing about her is that she’s funny. One way or the other regardless of what her backstory is, or whether she’s in an abusive relationship with the Joker, or if she’s off on her own, or hanging out with Poison Ivy, or whether she’s a villain or a hero. I think bottomline her stories always have to be fun, if not flat out hilarious (but that would be even better). That’s one of the things I like about the current comic. They understand that, they’re not treating her as another angsty bizarre superhero type character. She’s really weird and funny and kind of chaotic.”
David Ayer got the look down; now let’s hope he gets the characterization right as well. We’ll see when Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 5th, 2016.
The film features a cast that includes Will Smith (Focus) as Deadshot, Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club) as The Joker, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney (Terminator Genisys) as Captain Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman (RoboCop) as Rick Flagg, Viola Davis (How to get Away with Murder) as Amanda Waller, Cara Delevingne (Paper Towns) as Enchantress, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World) as Killer Croc, Ray Olubowale (Resident Evil: Afterlife) as King Shark, Jay Hernandez (Hostel) as El Diablo, Adam Beach (Flags of our Fathers) as Slipknot, Jim Parrack (Fury) as Johnny Frost, Ike Barinholtz (The Mindy Project) as Hugo Strange, newcomer Karen Fukuhara as Katana, and Common (Selma) and Scott Eastwood (The Longest Ride) and in as-yet-unconfirmed roles.
https://youtu.be/pnc360pUDRI?list=PL18yMRIfoszFLSgML6ddazw180SXMvMz5
