Small Details You Missed In The Suicide Squad Trailer

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The red-band trailer James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is finally here, and everyone's freaking out. Dropped on Friday, March 26, the footage gives the world the best look yet at this ambitious and fun film from the "horribly beautiful mind" of the Guardians of the Galaxy director.

With Suicide Squad characters like Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), George "Digger" Harkness (Jai Courtney), and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) reprising their roles alongside a ton of newcomers, the film — which will hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6 — looks like a total blast. But beyond the obvious frenetic joy that radiates from the upcoming movie are some deep-cut references and hidden details hardcore DC fans will want to unpack.

From very specific clothing choices to the significance of the trailer's tune to a super-villainous trailer who pops up, here's everything you probably missed in the trailer for The Suicide Squad.

At various points in the trailer, we see scenes set somewhere with palm trees and a weapon-toting military. What is this place? It's a fictional island nation in Latin America that we know from previous reports is called Corto Maltese (via Syfy). The Suicide Squad producer Peter Safran previously explained the significance of the island, and why the Suicide Squad is going there in the first place. "There, they have to destroy a Nazi-era prison and laboratory named Jotunheim," he said. "[It's a place] where political prisoners were held and experimentations took place."

Corto Maltese's military has more than its fair share of encounters with the Squad, and by the looks of it, they're being led by Major General Mateo Suárez, who's played by Joaquín Cosío of Narcos fame. He appears at the 1:53 mark in the trailer.

As Gunn revealed in a post he shared in Twitter in September 2020, he wrote the role specifically for Cosío — but Major General Mateo Suárez doesn't appear to have any counterpart in the page of DC Comics, as there's no character in all of DC lore with that name. Interestingly enough, there is a person by the name of Martin Suarez, which is pretty close to Mateo Suárez, and he goes on to become President of the United States.

This character in The Suicide Squad is unlikely to have any sort of connection to the comics, though, seeing as how he's a general Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto), the leader of Corto Maltese who's also an original character created for the film.

It's no secret that Gunn has a phenomenal taste in music. There's a reason the soundtracks to both Guardians of the Galaxy movies have gained a cult following, and Gunn's ability to find the perfect song for the perfect moment is on, well, perfect display in this fresh trailer.

The footage uses Steely Dan's "Dirty Work" to underscore the impossible task the Squad is faced with. On government orders, they must destroy the base of Jotunheim, and there will be major consequences if they don't put themselves in danger and complete the mission. To put it in Steely Dan's terms, the members of Task Force X are "fools" to do this "dirty work."

Additionally, the film's two main taglines are "They're dying to save the world," seen in both the trailer and in promotional posters, and "Don't get too attached," stamped on newly released character one-sheets for the movie. These could both be hints that a member — or several members — of Task Force X won't make it out alive.

Gunn is a filmmaker who uses music to make a point whenever he can, so if we really consider his use of "Dirty Work" in the trailer for The Suicide Squad, it means somebody in the Suicide Squad will almost definitely end up a "fool."

The field commander of Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad, is Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), who's seen in the trailer rescuing Harley and teaching the new recruits the ropes. All the while, he's wearing a bright yellow shirt featuring a cartoon rabbit. The critter is wearing a red cape and a shirt that has the Warner Bros. "WB" logo on it, and holding a sign that reads "obstáculos son oportunidades" — "obstacles are opportunities" in Spanish. At first glance, it's just a cute costume choice, but there's actually a story behind it.

The rabbit might possibly be a reference to Bugs Bunny, Warner Bros.' famous cartoon character, while his cape could be a nod to another character Warner Bros. has the screen rights to: Superman. Together with the "obstacles are opportunities" sign, the shirt could read as a reference to James Gunn's "obstacle" of being fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 by Disney, only to then be hired by Warner Bros. to direct The Suicide Squad — the "opportunity."

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gunn was even offered a chance to work on an new Superman movie, but he chose the wacky ensemble instead (via SYFY WIRE). Following that, Disney decided to hire him right back for Guardians Vol. 3.

We've known for a while that King Shark would be a major player in The Suicide Squad, but there wasn't much conversation surrounding the character's casting apart from reports that Steve Agee was serving as the on-set stand-in. The lucky actor who would voice the character was a totally mystery ... until now.

After the release of the trailer, which features a shockingly-realistic looking King Shark, Gunn took to Twitter to let everyone know that it's none other than Sylvester Stallone who voices the aquatic baddie. Stallone also addressed his casting on Twitter, sharing a hilariously typo-ed post that reads, "OK shark coming your way! The new THE SUCIDE SQUAD Is thundering your way! August 8!"

The reveal that Stallone voices King Shark in The Suicide Squad was much-needed and much-appreciated, as many viewers probably didn't catch the Rocky actor's voice when watching the trailer the first time around, given he only said "nom-nom" and "hand."

This is the second time Stallone and Gunn have linked up, with the former taking on the role of Ravager Captain Stakar Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. He's not the only GOTG2 alum showing up in The Suicide Squad either: Youndu actor Michael Rooker portrays Savant here, and Gunn's brother Sean, who plays Kraglin in the Guardians movies, portrays Weasel in the upcoming movie.

Amongst the several members of the Squad featured in the trailer, there are a few faces obviously missing. However, if you have an eye for detail, you'll pick up on hints of them amongst the chaos.

Near the end of the trailer for The Suicide Squad, there's a quick glimpse at one the movie's brand-new characters: Sol Soria, played by I am Legend's Alice Braga. At about the 2:10 mark, she comes in guns a-blazing, but that's all we see of her. Sol Soria isn't a character from the DC comics, but rather a character made just for the film. That is, unless she's actually a female version of the Justice League-obsessed Juan Soria, who was rejected from joining the group and wound up in the Belle Reve Penitentiary before he joined the Suicide Squad.

Warner Bros. Pictures

Near the very beginning of the trailer, when Amanda Waller is looking at Harley Quinn's file, there's a second one beneath it that hints at one of The Suicide Squad's other newcomers: Mongal. While the file is mostly cut off, the details in it include things like "alien" and "orange," which are pretty apt descriptions of the super-strong extraterrestrial character. Mongal herself appears at the 1:05 mark, and she's played by martial artist Mayling Ng, who did stunts for Wonder Woman. With "mass homicide" and "war crimes" listed in Mongal's file, she definitely fits in among the other criminals of Task Force X.

Fun's fun and all, but at the end of the day, a long-term relationship with a clown is nobody's proudest achievement. It's the sort of thing you carry for a while, and you might take out your frustrations on the people around you, either with harsh rhetoric or a giant wooden mallet. Harley Quinn has historically gone with a little of column A and a little of column B, so it shouldn't be surprising that she displays a variety of possible coping mechanisms in The Suicide Squad's trailer.

Though Harley is very much her own person in a post-Joker world, that doesn't mean she doesn't hold a grudge. In what might be a particularly sly dig on her former beau, she tells the Thinker (Peter Capaldi), "If we find out you have personalized license plates, you die." Characteristically zany and macabre? For sure, but it has added meaning when you remember that Joker had vanity license plates on his car in the first Suicide Squad. Somehow, he held out on snatching up a "HAHAHA" vanity plate until 2017, which is a testament to his 80-odd years of self control.

And not for nothing, but Harley's also rocking some new ink these days. In the film's trailer, she sports a tattoo that reads "Property of No One." Her Puddin' days are clearly behind her.

There's a familiar face hidden in The Suicide Squad's trailer if you look close enough — one with ties to less universally recognized IPs than even Task Force X would recruit. At the 2:04 mark, you'll notice an older gentleman desperately clinging to a young woman on the dance floor. That man is none other than Lloyd Kaufman, the co-founder of Troma Entertainment. You may know him as the co-director and co-writer of the 1984 cult classic The Toxic Avenger, or the multitalented mind behind many other Troma productions.

Gunn actually got his start at Troma Entertainment when he wrote 1995's Tromeo and Juliet with Kaufman, who working alongside the younger Gunn in a mentorship role. Since then, Gunn has been plugging Kaufman into cameo appearances with astonishing regularity. Kaufman appeared in Gunn's 2006 horror flick Slither, his 2010 dark superhero deconstruction Super, and even as a prisoner in 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy.

Coincidentally, Kaufman used to collaborate regularly with John G. Avildsen, the director of Rocky, and had cameo appearances in both Rocky and Rocky V, making The Suicide Squad another notch in his tally of Sylvester Stallone team-ups as well.

John Ostrander has left a significant mark on the superhero landscape — he's written stories for the X-Men, Batman, Star Wars, the Punisher, and others across a nearly 40-year career in the comic book industry. Maybe his most famous contribution to the medium, though, came in DC's Legends no. 1, which introduced a fresh reimagining of Task Force X and their never-before-seen handler, Amanda Waller, a character he created.

It wouldn't be overstating things to say that Ostrander is largely responsible for the Suicide Squad we're all familiar with today, so it's appropriate that James Gunn found a spot for him in the upcoming film. At the new trailer's 53-second mark, viewers see Micahel Rooker's Savant at the receiving end of a needle full of remote controlled explosives. The doctor administering the injection — in keeping with the Hippocratic oath of "first, do only remote detonated harm" — is played by none other than Ostrander himself. The cameo was even confirmed by Gunn in a Twitter post, where he stated that "It only makes sense that the actual creator of #TheSuicideSquad is the one to put the bombs in their heads." Talk about meeting your maker.

When a group of villains get together to take down one big, bad villain, things tend to get crazy quickly. Last time around, the titular squad was sent on a mission to defeat Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), but in the latest adventure, the major threat appears to be far more alien in nature. After some intense speculation from fans, it looks like James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is finally going to give Starro its moment in the sun.

After amounting to nothing more than just quick a Easter egg in Zack Snyder's Justice League, Starro gets placed front and center in the trailer for The Suicide Squad after it breaks out of some heavily-guarded compound, prompting John Economos (Steve Agee) to exclaim, "We've got a freaking kaiju up in this s***!" If you look at the monitor behind Economos when he shouts, you can see Starro in all of its starfish-y glory.

Starro's had various powers over the years, but the most noteworthy is its mind control abilities. Seeing as how it's apparently been kept hidden on Corto Maltese, it's possible the villains there have been trying to figure out a way to harness its powers to control the masses. It's also worth paying attention to the fact that there's a scene in the trailer where the Squad is in some cold climate, and cold tends to be one of Starro's main weaknesses (via The Mary Sue). Perhaps the group needs to find some cold-based weapon to take Starro down? Granted, Starro has also been defeated by lawncare products, but we're thinking that probably won't come up in The Suicide Squad.