Warning: Spoilers for Suicide Squad #3
In the latest incarnation of DC Comics’ Suicide Squad, teleporters are doomed to the same tragic fate as the drummers in the infamous—but fictional—British heavy metal band: Spinal Tap. Under Peacemaker’s uncompromising leadership no one is really safe from meeting a gruesome end in the line of duty. Unfortunately, just as drummers are essential players in a rock band, so too have teleporters been vital to the Suicide Squad’s recent missions.
Director Rob Reiner’s 1984 musical-mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap, follows a band of British rockers long passed their heyday and on a downward trajectory towards cultural irrelevancy. The genre-defining film featured a running gag which was that all of the band’s drummers perished under mysterious circumstances. The first died in a bizarre gardening accident, the second choked on someone else’s vomit, the third and fourth spontaneously combusted on stage mid-performance leaving only a “small green globule” behind. Suicide Squad (2021) creative team Robbie Thompson and Eduardo Pansica are embracing this darkly farcical comedic tradition in their run on the popular anti-hero super-team.
Three issues into the new series, and the Suicide Squad have lost as many teleporters. In the first issue, the lightening-powered teleporter Bolt gets his neck sliced open by Talon—ironically, the target they’ve been sent to rescue from Arkham Asylum. In the second issue, when the cavalry arrives, portal-maker Exit succumbs to deadly Joker gas. The trend is so blatant that in issue #3, Peacemaker references the movie when introduced to the newest teleporter joining the team: Keymaster. Peacemaker asks him, “Have you ever seen Spinal Tap?” When Keymaster responds in the negative, Peacemaker—wisely—decides to keep the reason for his inquiry to himself. Moments into the mission, Keymaster is blown to bits when the explosive device implanted in his neck detonates. If it wasn’t obvious before, this pop culture wink to the audience perfectly sets up teleporters as—to borrow a term from Star Trek fan lore—the Suicide Squad’s “Red Shirts”, i.e. predictably expendable—and hilariously so—assets.
What’s more, it also marks a change in the overall tone of the comic book series. This direct reference to This Is Spinal Tap is a prime example of how pop culture gags have become a prime ingredient in the book’s humor. An appropriate choice considering that part of this relaunch’s objective is to set up James Gunn’s upcoming feature film adaptation of the comic book property titled The Suicide Squad. If the trailers are anything to go by, the highly-anticipated sequel is also—unsurprisingly—embracing a more lighthearted—though darkly twisted—spirit that is in keeping with Gunn’s well-known pop-culture-laden sensibility. Tonal discrepancies, reportedly due in large part to studio-meddling, was a widely agreed upon shortcoming of writer/director David Ayer’s 2016 take Suicide Squad. Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn and Jai Courtney’s Captain Boomerang did their best to lighten the more sinister and earnest feel of the movie, however the end result was a colourful, but dour experience. Past comic book runs of Suicide Squad, such as Rob Williams and Jim Lee’s, notably had a more serious and restrained interpretation of the characters and stories. To each their own.
References to thirty-seven-year-old comedies like This Is Spinal Tap aside, it’s safe to say that fans of Gunn’s brand of storytelling will appreciate the latest Suicide Squad series. What’s more, longtime readers will delight in the fact that the team is so brazenly living up to its name. With that being said, how long can DC Comics keep the gag going before they run out of teleporters?