Serving on Task Force X has always been a bloody job. The group deserves its more commonly known nickname: Suicide Squad. The carnage has been depicted in films twice already, with the 2016 Suicide Squad and 2021's The Suicide Squad. Both of them contain shocking character deaths.

Related: 10 Ways The Suicide Squad Is The Best DCEU Movie Of 2021

But what of the original comics? They are also full of surprising deaths. Not just every run of Suicide Squad but every appearance of the team would include death. And quite a few of them are show-stopping fatalities with quite a legacy to them. It's a feat that so many of these characters deaths manage to be shocking despite the premise of the series.

Blockbuster

Blockbuster and the Suicide Squad in DC Comics

Blockbuster is a D-list Batman villain. At the time of his death, he was the closest thing that DC had to the Hulk, a niche that has since been filled by Doomsday. Blockbuster is often regarded among some of the worst Batman villains. In retrospect, these factors would make Blockbuster seem like an obvious death, so why was it so surprising?

Blockbuster is the first death in the first appearance of the Suicide Squad. His death in Legends #3 signaled that the nickname of Task Force X wasn't for show. The largest member of the team dying was shocking. It established an "anyone can die" mentality right off the bat that has become a hallmark of the series since.

The Atom

Adam Cray lunging into battle in DC Comics

At this time in comics, Ray Palmer was dead, so it was surprising when The Atom, who has lots of comic history, appeared in Suicide Squad Vol. 1. This was played a mystery for a good portion of the run, but it ended in the character's death. Heroic characters rarely appear on the squad, and even more rarely die, so it was shocking.

But perhaps it was less surprising in retrospect after it was revealed that the character was not Ray Palmer, but in fact a new character named Adam Cray. Cray was a special forces plant on the team by Waller. So perhaps his role as substitute makes his death posthumously more obvious. But readers had grown to like Cray, so his death at the hands of a villain who believed he was Ray Palmer was still tragic.

Punch

The masked villain Punch talking in DC Comics

Punch and Jewlee were two married criminals in the mold of the traditional Punch and Judy puppet characters. Their relationship was in many ways a precursor to the relationship between Joker and Harley Quinn, though more committed to each other. They fought Captain Atom and eventually found themselves on the Suicide Squad, where they would serve as comic relief in the first runs.

Related: 10 Strangest Members Of The Suicide Squad

In the second volume of Checkmate, Punch is killed. Furthermore, he is killed in a touching bit of self-sacrifice saving his wife Jewlee. Given that the characters had been comical in their previous appearances, this was certainly a turn. The touching sacrifice really contrasted everything readers knew about Punch and really made his death notable.

The Writer

The Writer with his arms and legs crossed in DC Comics

This character's death was unexpected entirely because of who it was. It wasn't a major character like Harley Quinn. They weren't even one of the staff of Belle-Reeve prison, working to keep the Squad going. The Writer was actually the self-insert of comic book writer Grant Morrison.

When Morrison was writing Animal Man, they wrote themselves into it. In the context of the bizarre and meta Animal Man, it was fun. But one of the writers of Suicide Squad soon realized that Morrison was now a DC character. So they decided to have fun with it, and gave Morrison a fun cameo where they die of writer's block. Very unexpected and surprising, but very cool.

Briscoe

Briscoe having a conversation with a blonde woman in DC Comics

This is the first of many deaths that happen on the Squad's disastrous outing on planet Apokolips. Darkseid's realm had nothing but tragedy awaiting the Squad. The kills were Briscoe, Doctor Light, Duchess, and one other. Briscoe's death was still unexpected even among these.

The reason being that Briscoe was one of the rare non-supervillain members of the squad. He was the squad's helicopter pilot. His helicopter, the Sheba, exploding was a major loss for the team. His death and the loss of troop transport translated to a major omen for the mission.

Flo Crawley

Split image showing Flo Crawley with her arms crossed and talking on the phone

Flo has not appeared in many adaptations, mainly just in The Suicide Squad as a member of Waller's staff that could have been anyone. Despite that, she's probably one of the most important characters in the original run. She was a staff member at Belle-Reeve prison and Waller's cousin.

She was the final Apokolips death. She had wanted to be in on the action for a long time, but this proved to be her undoing. Her death was extremely sad, as she served as Waller's conscience. This kept fans on edge, full of anxiety wondering how the character who would develop after this.

Amanda Waller

Amanda Waller looking shocked after being shot in DC Comics

Despite being the Squad's handler for years and thoroughly reprehensible, Waller has usually managed to avoid death. This is cinematic irony, of course. She is so cavalier about sending others to death but is never in danger herself. Even when she is in danger there's a sense that she's untouchable. This is part of the core conceit of her character.

Related: 10 Best Comic Issues Featuring Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller

And so it was finally jarring to see the character die a death as part of Task Force X's operations in issue 11 of the 2016 run of Suicide Squad. Fans weren't convinced, but her death was confirmed in the very next issue. This was shocking, but should fans believe it? The answer is no; Waller was revealed to have faked her death issues later. Waller has had many deaths, even currently having one in the Peacemaker series, but her character's deceptions make it hard to ever feel like it's going to stick.

Captain Boomerang

Captain Boomerang smiles in a panel from DC Comics.

Captain Boomerang is one of Flash's premiere villains, and also was one of the most iconic characters on the squad. His accuracy with his weapon of choice and his Australian accent really kept him on the team. But that's just it; he was always on the team because he would never die. Captain Boomerang has history with Suicide Squad because he was a bastard who would never die.

In the first issue of Suicide Squad Vol. 5 Boomerang is fried by General Zodd. This is exactly the kind of big move to start a new run. Boomerang had survived so long on the team because he was frankly, a monster. He was responsible for the deaths of several other team members. But here, he finally got what he deserved.

Deadshot

Harlet holding Deadshot's bloody mask in DC Comics

Deadshot was perhaps the most iconic member of the team before Harley Quinn joined in the New 52 run. Floyd Lawton was an expert shot and the perfect kind of C-list character to headline the team again and again. Deadshot's a Suicide Squad member with depth. He actually hadn't died until the New 52 series.

The death of the squad's headliner took readers by surprise established the New 52 as a kind of baseline for adaptations of the squad. Unfortunately, it didn't stick. Deadshot has come back and died several times after that. This unfortunately reduces the sting of his very well executed and surprising death in Vol 4. issue 13. As of writing, he's still dead, but who knows if it'll stick.

Rick Flag

Rick Flag leading the Suicide Squad in a DC comic.

This is the gold standard of Suicide Squad comic deaths. Deadshot might be the most iconic member, but Rick Flagg Junior is the closest thing the series has to a main character. Working on Task Force X in all incarnations of the team, the military man is actually a very compelling character. And his tragic death is perhaps the series' first real one with consequence.

Flag dies in issue #26 of the first run of the comic. Fans of The Suicide Squad may notice how similar the comic death is to Flag's death in that film. Both deaths involve Flag going down in a blaze of glory in a base called Jotunheim. Flag's death came as a shock because it was the first death of a character who wasn't a known entity before the Squad comics. This further cemented the Squad tradition that anyone can die. And of course, that tradition continued further on from that point.

Next: 10 Things Only Comic Book Fans Know About The Suicide Squad's Rick Flag