A new member of the Suicide Squad, Abner Krill the Polka-Dot Man is widely considered one of DC's silliest supervillains, but the character has a sad history in the comics that ends in pain. While writing the script of 2021's The Suicide Squad, director James Gunn searched for "...the dumbest DC character of all time" and his search led him straight to Polka-Dot Man, one of a slew of silly villains from the Silver Age of Comics. But Polka-Dot Man is far from a punchline - his story is a spotted cautionary tale that, in hindsight, could only lead to a tragic end.
Batman's rogues gallery is one of the best-known in comics (even among non-comics readers), containing such notable villains as the Joker, Catwoman, and Two-Face. For every well-known enemy though, there are ten or more villains who are quickly forgotten: Humpty-Dumpty, Corrosive Man, Amygdala, Crazy Quilt and of course Polka-Dot Man. Going by Mister Polka-Dot in his first appearance, Abner Krill was a ringleader of a small-time gang of thieves drawn to anything spot-related; Robin infamously tracked Abner down with a leopard. He was so ineffectual, he was captured off-panel in his own debut issue...and his life only got worse from there.
Polka-Dot Man sought to rise to the top of the underworld, but more powerful villains like the Joker and Penguin made his goal unattainable, and he suffered from terribly low self-esteem as a result. Unemployed and desperately needing money, he began a very short-lived crime spree that ended when Gotham City Police Department detective Harvey Bullock beat him savagely in front of dozens of witnesses. Abner was sent to the hospital; his injuries were so severe that he lodged a formal complaint against the GCPD which led to Bullock undergoing psychiatric evaluation. This made him even more of a laughingstock in the underworld - the fact that Polka-Dot Man's greatest success was through an official complaint earned him no friends among villains (and certainly none at the GCPD).
While he eventually recovered from Bullock's assault, Krill received no compensation and became an alcoholic. In Batgirl: Year One #5, he can even be seen in his costume drunkenly berating the bartender, only for the bartender to knock him out with a baseball bat (and to add insult to injury, this entire exchange occurs in the background). Finally, after years of being seen as a joke, Krill eagerly joined several C-list villains as allies of General Immortus in Final Crisis Aftermath: Run, who outfitted his minions with advanced technology. It wasn't enough; during a battle, a manhole cover landed on Krill's head, bringing the career of the Polka-Dot Man to an ignominious and gruesome end.
Something about Polka-Dot Man struck a chord with Batman writers; his ridiculous costume and gimmick led them to use poor Abner Krill again and again whenever someone needed to get hurt - physically or otherwise. Comics are populated with dozens of one-and-done villains, but somehow Polka-Dot Man was chosen as the DC Universe's punching bag right up until the moment he died. Who mourns for the anti-Adonais? Perhaps in The Suicide Squad, comic fans will get an answer, but for now, Polka-Dot Man remains dead and all but forgotten.