As part of DC's epic FanDome event - which offered fans a peak behind the scenes of DC's various ongoing projects - the roster of 2021's The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn, was revealed and features even more outlandish characters than the first film. Besides returning characters like Viola Davis' Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnerman's Rick Flag and Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, viewers were treated to glimpses of new characters like Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Pete Davidson's Blackguard, and Peter Capaldi's The Thinker. But perhaps the most ridiculous inductee to the team of all is the often overlooked Batman rogue The Polka Dot Man, who will make his live action debut courtesy of actor David Dastmalchian.
But who is the Polka Dot Man - real name Abner Krill - and what are his abilities? To find those answers, comic fans will need to travel decades back to his first appearance in 1962's Detective Comics #300. Polka Dot Man (sometimes called Mr. Polka Dot) makes his debut in an appropriately polka-dotted leotard as he leads a gang to rob the Spot Service Cleaning Co.
The dots on his ridiculous looking suit weren't just for aesthetics. He could remove them all and transform them into weapons, vehicles, and basically whatever else the plot called for. Need a buzz saw? Polka-Dot Man has your back. A flying saucer? Polka Dot Man's Suit has it covered. One of his dots, the "Hole Dot," served as a sort of transportation portal. Another dot also apparently could be used as a sun-bright orb to blind his foes, because his was one of the most Swiss Army Knife leotards ever made. In his first appearance, Polka-Dot goes on an oddly specific crime spree, targeting dot and spot-based victims and companies.
Polka-Dot Man's first crime spree ends with him being tracked down by Robin and a leopard (because spots), at which point Polka-Dot Man captures the Boy Wonder. Mr. Polka-Dot insists Robin write a letter to Batman pleading for rescue, and in a twist that is equal parts ironic and absurd, Robin includes a secret code made of Braille dots to warn Batman of the danger and the day is saved.
The character would pop up sporadically after his premiere but this will be the first time fans will see him in live action. Movie fans will see a familiar face in Mr. Polka-Dot, as David Dastmalchian has also popped up as one of Scott Lang's crew in the Ant-Man movies, as well as a minor role in The Dark Knight. The actor has shown he's been doing his due diligence to play the character correctly, tweeting out a photo last year of himself reading up on Silver-Age Suicide Squad books.
With someone like Gunn behind the camera, it's impossible to know whether The Polka-Dot Man will be grounded in reality, or (more likely), be as cartoonish and over the top as the characters in Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy films. But since a leopard never changes its spots (pun intended), the smart money is probably on the the latter option. The Suicide Squad is currently set for an August, 2021 release date.