Suicide Squad's Joel Kinnaman Stands By One Controversial Death Scene

It's pretty safe to say that unless an actor hates the project they're working on, the last thing they want to happen is to have their character killed off in a movie or TV series, especially if they're portraying a fan-favorite.

Even so, Joel Kinnaman — who played Colonel Rick Flag in two DC "Suicide Squad" movies — stands by director James Gunn's decision to kill off his character in 2021's "The Suicide Squad." Flag's demise comes in a fight to the death with teammate Peacemaker (John Cena), likely eliminating his potential to appear as the character in future DC projects, "Suicide Squad"-related or otherwise. "I love that scene, though; it was such a good way to go," Kinnaman told @PostCredPod in a video clip posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. "But, for sure, maybe I'll come back and play some nasty villain in a couple of years."

Kinnaman previously reflected on how pleased he was with the scene in a 2021 interview with The Hollywood Reporter. "In those final moments, it was very much a battle for life and death. There was a very strong and intimate connection right at that moment," he told THR. "It's always sad to go, but I thought it was pretty brilliant of James because it just raises the stakes while being very surprising. So it serves as a poignant and weighty moment for this film."

While Kinnaman appeared at peace with how his character exited "The Suicide Squad," fans had varying reactions to Flag's death.

In a Reddit thread dedicated solely to the impact of Rick Flag's death in "The Suicide Squad," u/TheOtherDaleT praised how the plot move had meaning, as it continued to play out in director James Gunn's "Peacemaker" spinoff show on Max. "Definitely worked and what I liked best was that it wasn't just a shock death and then forgotten. It played a big part in [Peacemaker's] growth as a character in his series."

Somewhat echoing u/TheOtherDaleT's sentiments, u/AgDA22 posted, "It was the only impactful death from the whole DC universe IMO." Also commenting on the effect of Flag's demise, u/SunkenEight wrote how Flag was a character audiences could connect with and as such, it was the best death scene in the DC Extended Universe of films. In addition, they wrote that the showdown between Flag and Peacemaker was one of the best fight scenes in the DCEU. 

Other Redditors like u/Rdambx praised the impact Flag's final line had before his death, posting, "'Peacemaker. What a joke' is easily one of the best lines of the old DCEU." While Flag's death was meaningful to many fans, some like u/kyp-the-laughing-man said his loss was the worst one to take.

As for his future in the new DC Universe, Joel Kinnaman's idea of returning as a nasty villain could very well happen considering James Gunn is now leading the revamped DCU. The filmmaker after all, has been known to cast actors he's worked with before in his films, which is part of the reason why every Gunn movie looks so familiar.