The Suicide Squad is a 2021 American superhero film based on the DC Comics team Suicide Squad. Written and directed by James Gunn, it is a sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) and the tenth film in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU). The film stars an ensemble cast including Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Sylvester Stallone, and Viola Davis. In the film, a group of convicts join a task force known as the "Suicide Squad" in exchange for lighter sentences. They are sent to the South American island nation of Corto Maltese to destroy all traces of the giant alien starfish Starro the Conqueror before it falls into the local government's control.

Warner Bros. Pictures originally hired Gavin O'Connor to direct. However, O'Connor left due to creative differences, and Gunn was hired to write and direct the film after being temporarily fired by Disney and Marvel Studios as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023). He drew inspiration from war films and John Ostrander's 1980s Suicide Squad comics. Filming took place from September 2019 to February 2020, primarily in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as in Colón, Panama, and Porto, Portugal. The film had the biggest sets ever built for a Warner Bros. production.

The Suicide Squad premiered theatrically in the United Kingdom on July 30, 2021, and was released in the United States on August 5, simultaneously in theaters and on the streaming service HBO Max. Unlike its predecessor, the film received positive reviews from critics and became the second most-streamed DCEU film on HBO Max. The Suicide Squad grossed $169million against a $185million production budget. Its box office performance was attributed to factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the film's availability on HBO Max, and its relationship to the first Suicide Squad. It was followed by a spin-off television series, Peacemaker, in 2022, and an animated series, Creature Commandos, in 2024. A further television series, Waller, is in development.

Plot Intelligence officer Amanda Waller assembles two Task Force X teams, colloquially known as the "Suicide Squad", which consists of Belle Reve penitentiary inmates who agree to carry out missions in exchange for commuted sentences. The teams are sent to the South American island nation of Corto Maltese after an anti-American regime overthrows its government and are tasked with destroying the Nazi-era laboratory Jötunheim, which houses the secret experiment "Project Starfish".

Upon making landfall, most of the first team is slaughtered by the Corto Maltese military, who capture Harley Quinn while team leader Rick Flag Jr. escapes. Elsewhere, the second teamled by assassin Bloodsport, whom Waller blackmailed in exchange for not sending his estranged daughter Tyla to prison, and consisting of Peacemaker, King Shark, Polka-Dot Man, Ratcatcher 2, and her pet rat Sebastianenters the country undetected, revealing that the other team was a deliberate decoy. Waller orders the squad to find Flag, who is being held at a rebel base. The team massacres the rebel soldiers, only to learn that rebellion leader Sol Soria had saved Flag. Despite the group's actions, Soria agrees to help them infiltrate the capital, where they capture Project Starfish's lead scientist, the Thinker. Harley is taken to Corto Maltese's new dictator, Silvio Luna, who wishes to marry her. Harley is initially enchanted by this proposition, but after learning of Luna's plans to use Project Starfish on political dissidents, she kills him and escapes. She joins the others, who use the Thinker to break into Jötunheim, in exchange for sparing his life, and begin rigging it with explosives.

Flag and Ratcatcher 2 enter the Thinker's laboratory and find Starro the Conqueror, a giant starfish-like alien that creates smaller versions of itself to kill people and control their bodies. The Thinker explains that Starro was brought to Earth by American astronauts, that the U.S. government has secretly funded experiments on it for decades using Corto Maltesean citizens and political enemies of the prior dictatorship as test subjects, that said regime used Project Starfish to strengthen its rule, and that Waller sent them to cover up American ties to the project. An enraged Flag decides to leak a hard drive containing evidence of this, but is killed by Peacemaker, who is under orders from Waller to ensure the coverup. Meanwhile, a skirmish between the rest of the team and the military leads to Polka-Dot Man accidentally setting off the explosives prematurely. As Jötunheim crumbles, the drive falls into Ratcatcher 2's possession. Peacemaker attempts to kill her before she can escape with it, but Bloodsport shoots him and takes it.

Starro escapes the destroyed Jötunheim, kills the Thinker and much of the military, and begins taking control of the island's population. Waller tells the squad that their mission is complete and orders them to leave, but Bloodsport leads the team in fighting Starro. Waller, wanting to keep the squad's secrecy from the public, attempts to execute them for this, but her subordinates knock her out. Polka-Dot Man weakens Starro, but is killed. Harley pierces a hole in Starro's eye, allowing Ratcatcher 2 to summon the city's rats to chew it to death from the inside. With the military diverted, Soria takes control of the government, promising democratic elections. Bloodsport blackmails Waller into releasing him and the surviving squad members and dropping Tyla's charges in exchange for keeping the contents of the drive confidential. Waller reluctantly agrees and the remaining squad members are airlifted out of Corto Maltese; Harley proposes she and Bloodsport become friends with each other, in honor of their fallen common friend Flag.

In a mid-credits scene, it is revealed that Weasel, a member of the first team, has survived and runs off into the jungle. In a post-credits scene, Waller punishes two of her subordinates, Emilia Harcourt and John Economos, by assigning them to a new mission with Peacemaker, who is still alive and recovering in a hospital.

Cast

Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn:A crazed criminal and former psychiatrist. Robbie said the film would show a new side of the character compared to her previous DC Extended Universe (DCEU) appearances due to her being in a new place and surrounded by new characters. Despite inheriting this version of Harley from previous films, writer/director James Gunn loved the character and felt very comfortable writing for her. He wanted her to be "the most Harley of all Harleys" depicted on film, including making "healthy" choices, following her toxic relationship with the Joker, that other people would find insane. He likened Harley's relationship with Bloodsport to the comedy duo Abbott and Costello, with Harley being Costello. Idris Elba as Robert DuBois / Bloodsport:A mercenary with a technologically advanced suit that he can use to create different gadgets and transforming weaponry (an adaptation of the comic book character's ability to manifest weapons). After being convicted of shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet, Bloodsport shortens his prison sentence by joining Task Force X so he can help his daughter Tyla. Gunn said each member of the Suicide Squad in the film was inspired by a different film genre, and described Bloodsport as an unsentimental portrayal of a 1960s action hero like Steve McQueen, without their "moral repercussions". The character's story in the film takes him from a "toxic asshole to a true leader". John Cena as Christopher Smith / Peacemaker:A ruthless, jingoistic killer who believes in achieving peace at any cost. Gunn told Cena not to read any Peacemaker comics before filming, and Cena originally approached the role with an "angular, drill sergeant, Full Metal Jacket (1987)–esque personality" before Gunn told him to act like a "douchey, bro-y Captain America" who could have appeared in a 1970s television series like Wonder Woman. The character does not get as much exploration or development as the other members of the Suicide Squad, which is one of the reasons that Gunn decided to create the spin-off television series Peacemaker despite him originally intending for the character's apparent death in the film to be permanent. Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag Jr.:The field leader of the Suicide Squad. Gunn said Flag was the character that changed the most compared to the first Suicide Squad (2016), with Kinnaman describing this version as sillier, less jaded, more naive, and funnier. Gunn said Kinnaman was not used to comedic acting but "quickly showed a talent and an affinity" for it. Flag begins the film on the Suicide Squad team that Amanda Waller sends as a decoy, and a deleted scene would have explained that she did this because he made fun of an ugly shirt she was wearing. Gunn said Flag has grown sick of being taken advantage of and doing bad things, which leads to him disobeying Waller and being killed by Peacemaker. Sylvester Stallone as the voice of Nanaue / King Shark:A man-eating shark-human hybrid, created with visual effects. Steve Agee, a longtime friend of Gunn's, developed King Shark's portrayal on set. He was chosen partly because he is , and wore a wireframe version of a shark head as well as a body suit to further approximate the character's size and shape. Gunn wanted the underlying story for King Shark to explore his loneliness as someone who wants to be part of the world and connect with other people, but is not able to due to his appearance. This is seen in moments where he pretends to read or looks longingly out a window at a couple who are together. Viola Davis as Amanda Waller:The director of A.R.G.U.S. who runs the Task Force X program. Gunn said Waller, along with the U.S. government, is the true villain of the film, which explores the different reactions that the Suicide Squad have to her asking them to cover up illegal experiments in Corto Maltese. He added that there was "no better Amanda Waller" than Davis, and said she was "incredibly intimidating" when portraying the character. David Dastmalchian as Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man:An "experiment gone wrong" in a suit covered with polka dots. Gunn described Polka-Dot Man as "the dumbest DC character of all time" whom he hoped to turn into a tragic character, with the film's version being infected with an interdimensional virus by his mother in an attempt to turn him into a superhero. The virus develops into colorful balls of acid under Polka-Dot Man's skin that cause him pain unless he expels them as polka-dot weapons or vomits them up. Due to experimentation from his mother, Polka-Dot Man sees everyone as his mother. Unbeknownst to Gunn, Dastmalchian felt a personal connection to the character because he has the skin condition vitiligo, for which he was bullied as a child and called "polka dots". Daniela Melchior as Cleo Cazo / Ratcatcher 2:A thief who inherited the mantle of "Ratcatcher" from her father, along with equipment that allows her to control rats and communicate with them. Gunn described her as the "heart of the film", and noted that she is different from the other characters because she had her father's love growing up where the other characters had problematic relationships with their parents. Gunn explained that the moment where Ratcatcher 2 covers Bloodsport to protect him from the rats at the end of the film signifies her being able to share her father's love with him, which is why the moment is intercut with a flashback of her sitting with her father. Michael Rooker as Brian Durlin / Savant: a hand-to-hand combat and weapons expert. He is killed in the opening scene when Waller detonates a bomb in his head for deserting the mission.