Warning! Spoilers to Suicide Squad #8 below!

The latest issue of the Suicide Squad saw DC Comics addressing the controversial Green Lantern "Women in Refrigerators" story through its villain. With the latest Suicide Squad literally sent to Hell, their battle with deceased members of Suicide Squads' past has Major Force make an appearance. Major Force's murder of Alexandra DeWitt and how he left her body for her boyfriend, Green Lantern Kyle Rayner, became a criticism of how female characters were being treated in comics. With his appearance here and in the Flash, it would appear that Major Force has become the symbol of these problems, leaving him open to physical and verbal criticism and retaliation from others.

With the latest incarnation of Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad no longer affiliated with the US government, its members deal with their own personal struggles and various levels of betrayal from their emotionless and manipulative chaperone. Having been teleported to Hell, the Suicide Squad meets the Hell Squad, former Task Force X members who seek revenge against Waller herself. The battle is interrupted by the appearance of Major Force, a known villain with powers similar to Captain Atom. He is infamously remembered for being hired by the Quorum Organization who wanted to capture and study Kyle Rayner's Power Ring. He arrived at the apartment of Alexandra "Alex" DeWitt in Green Lantern #54 where he beat and eventually murdered her when she refused to give him information on her boyfriend. The sole Green Lantern at the time returned to find Alex dead, her body parts stuffed in her refrigerator for him to find.

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In Suicide Squad #8 by Robbie Thompson, Eduardo Pansica, Dexter Soy and Julia Ferreira, Major Force arrives acting on Waller's orders. Although some of the Squad think he's an "absolute nightmare", Clifford Zmeck is successful at gruesomely putting down the Hell Squad's leader Mindwarp. They are soon joined by the Suicide Squad's latest member Ambush Bug, a teleporter with fourth-wall awareness who begrudgingly answers the questions from a man he considers a misogynist and a "living dumpster fire."

Ambush Bug's disgust is due to his signature meta-humor which allows him to narrate ongoing events and offer pop culture references and commentary, the infamous comics trope being the subject of the latter. "Women in Refrigerators" was coined by DC writer Gail Simone for a website that discussed comics, highlighting a trend where women characters were injured, abused, killed, or depowered simply to help move forward a male character's story instead of their individual stories. Ambush Bug is aware of this ongoing discussion but his criticism toward Major Force shows that the blame appears to be solely on the character instead of the writer or DC Comics as a whole. While some creators did admit the term helped them re-evaluate how they handled female characters, other creators were neutral or defended their story choices. The term "Dead Men Defrosting" was later created, arguing that while male characters could be killed or altered, the real difference was that male characters often returned to their previous status quo while female characters never seem to return to their original status.

Major Force's powers and reputation make him a formidable foe but one that is lately seen alongside other villains like in Flash #775, trying to make a claim to the mysterious Glaive. Wally West mocks Zmeck's efforts and uses him to take down other nearby supervillains before getting a Speed Force-powered blow himself. While he is more successful in helping the Suicide Squad, Major Force is clearly still taking heat for his association with the famous Green Lantern story, something that would have happened to any other DC character in his place as the discussion it inspired continues in the present day.

NEXT: Marvel's X-Men Just Called Out The 'Women in Refrigerators' Trope