Who could Taika Waititi be playing in The Suicide Squad? These showbiz types never can stick to one profession, but few actor/directors balance their dual careers quite as successfully as Taika Waititi. Sitting behind the camera for blockbuster smashes such as Thor: Ragnarok, cult hits like What We Do In The Shadows, and award favorite Jojo Rabbit, Waititi is one of the most diverse and inventive directors currently active. Equally, Waititi's acting credits comprise an impressive collection of memorable cameos and quirky starring roles, and he'll be best known as either the lovable, stony-faced revolutionary Korg, or Adolf Hitler, depending on your taste.
Waititi is set to cross the superhero franchise divide in The Suicide Squad. Releasing on HBO Max in August 2021, The Suicide Squad loosely follows the maligned 2016 original, but has recruited a mostly new cast of comic book cannon fodder. Among those joining Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag are Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker and Peter Capaldi as Thinker. Based on trailer footage, The Suicide Squad will be a rip-roaring foray into DC's B-list roster, but Waititi is conspicuous by his absence, with he and Gunn both keeping tight-lipped about the mystery role.
Many suspected Waititi would be lending his voice to King Shark, but that job now officially belongs to Sylvester Stallone. Fortunately, King Shark isn't the only The Suicide Squad antihero Taika Waititi would be perfect for. Here are the five most popular alternatives doing the rounds online.
Ratcatcher (Otis Flannegan)
A relative newcomer to mainstream audiences, Daniela Melchior is set to play Ratcatcher 2 in The Suicide Squad. But as Melchior's character is deliberately specified as the second of her name, the original surely isn't far behind. A Batman comic book villain from the 1980s, Ratcatcher's abilities are exactly as the name implies - mastery over rats, communicating with and commanding rodents to abet a life of crime, and in Gotham City, there's no shortage of four-legged ammunition. But "Ratcatcher 2" isn't to be found in DC comic books, and if The Suicide Squad were introducing a simple gender-flip, the actress would just be credited as "Ratcatcher." Melchior is most probably playing some kind of successor to the first Ratcatcher, Otis Flannegan, and Otis himself could appear briefly as part of a flashback sequence.
The outright weirdness of a supervillain using rats to put the world to rights is exactly the kind of offbeat role Taika Waititi can usually be found occupying. The actor/director would also add some star power to Ratcatcher 2's origin, since little is known about either the character or the actress playing her heading into The Suicide Squad.
Starro
Eagle-eyed DC fans had long suspected Starro would be The Suicide Squad's villain after spotting purple and blue remnants in the background of official images, and the trailer confirmed that speculation, revealing DC's giant kaiju starfish in all its slimy glory. We don't actually hear Starro speak in The Suicide Squad's trailer, but the creature has quite a personality in the comic book world, communicating his tyrannical desires via the medium of telepathy. Since the villain is traditionally very intelligent, it would be unfortunate if The Suicide Squad turned Starro into a lumbering CGI target with no real character, so someone will likely be providing the alien's voice, if not Waititi.
Recording lines for a giant evil starfish intent on galactic conquest sounds exactly like something Taika Waititi would do, but James Gunn recently debunked the reports. Of course, Gunn's denials could just be part of the back-and-forth fun, and Starro is still the odds-on favorite for Taika Waititi's mystery The Suicide Squad character. Given Starro's inherent ridiculousness, The Suicide Squad probably isn't going to play the villain straight, meaning a comedic actor would be better suited to provide its dastardly voice. And after doing such a stellar job in the MCU with Korg, Taika Waititi can bring the same glint to Starro's eye.
Mongul
The Suicide Squad is introducing many fans to minor DC characters they'd never heard of previously, and Mayling Ng's Mongal sits firmly in that category. Hailing from the planet Debstam IV, Mongal made her official DC comics debut in 2001, facing off against the Man of Steel, but her situation is similar to Ratcatcher 2's - both are successors to more established supervillains. Mongal's father, Mongul the Elder, was an infamous alien warlord and a familiar opponent of Superman. Some might say a poor man's Darkseid. Launching an attack on Earth, Mongul was defeated by Justice League superheroes and confined, only to be killed later by a demon. It was her father's defeat that brought Mongal to Earth, and since Ng's character is already in American custody when The Suicide Squad begins, Mongul must've already tried and failed to invade at some point in the DCEU's past.
Introducing Mongal to a largely unfamiliar audience, The Suicide Squad could flash back to her father's attack, showing how the alien came to be imprisoned and coerced into Task Force X. An intergalactic invader arriving on Earth harboring grand ambitions, only to be beaten swiftly without fanfare, would be hilarious in itself, but even more amusing with Taika Waititi playing the overconfident villain. Perhaps he can even channel some of his madcap Jojo Rabbit performance.
Weasel
Before The Suicide Squad's trailer dropped, King Shark was the firm favorite for Taika Waititi's mystery character, but we now know otherwise. Thankfully, there's another CG member of Task Force X Waititi might be even better suited to. Weasel is seen licking the window of his cell like a dripping ice cream, before lining up alongside his doomed teammates in front of the American flag. As with Starro, The Suicide Squad's trailer doesn't reveal whether Weasel will talk or communicate through expressions alone, but should the creature be capable of speech, it's a role Waititi could excel in.
James Gunn has previous for making audiences feel empathy toward CGI characters, successfully turning Rocket Raccoon and Groot into household names. That success is due in part to the inspired castings of Bradley Cooper and Vin Diesel, respectively. Weasel can possess the vocabulary of a professor, or only utter his own name, but with the wit, humor and charm he's known for, Taika Waititi could take Weasel straight to our hearts - even if he isn't quite as cute as Guardians of the Galaxy's digital duo. Playing Weasel would also mirror Waititi's role as Korg in the MCU - two strange-looking oddballs who endear themselves to viewers through personality alone.
Bat-Mite
A rank outsider for The Suicide Squad is Bat-Mite. Based on little more than an off-hand Instagram comment from James Gunn about how much he loves the Bat-Mite character, rumors suggest the miniature Caped Crusader could make some kind of gag appearance in The Suicide Squad, similar to Howard the Duck in the Guardians of the Galaxy's post-credits. A magic user from the same dimension as the Superman villain Mr. Mxyzptlk, Bat-Mite is a well-meaning Batman fan who occasionally tries (and fails) to help the various heroes of the Bat Family. One of DC's best loved comedy characters, Bat-Mite was exiled from his own dimension for interfering with Earth, then quickly un-exiled when he proved even more problematic in Batman's world.
Even if Bat-Mite does turn up in The Suicide Squad, it won't be anything more than a fleeting cameo (though what if he came to get revenge on Harley Quinn for killing Robin?) and Warner Bros. might not want another Dark Knight on the big screen, no matter how tiny. But if Bat-Mite were to feature, Taika Waititi is one of the few actors who could make such a goofy comic character work in live-action.
