DC’s Rebirth has been a soaring success for the famed comic publisher, offering fresh takes on some old characters while simultaneously bringing others back to their roots. Rob Williams’s Suicide Squad Rebirth series is no exception to this, as he grounds the characters in their familiar dynamic while giving new readers the perfect starting point for this not-so merry band of misfits.
Featuring core members like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and the ever intimidating Amanda Waller, fans also get to explore the mythos of Katana, newcomer Hack, and, of course, everyone’s favorite “Quinnpin of Crime” Harley Quinn.
Together, this motley crew does everything from play Pokémon Go in space to dying and resurrecting, and they’re only twenty two issues in. They’ve faced big name foes like Lobo, Zod, and even the Justice League, without so much as breaking a sweat. Of course, a couple of them die, but more on that later.
However, if all of this isn’t enough to convince you to pick up this series, let’s take a look at some of the specific times this run has proved it’s worth. While there are plenty of jaw-dropping moments to choose from, here’s a list of the 15 Best Harley Quinn And The Suicide Squad Moments (So Far).
15. The Squad took down a super powered army of hundreds
This series kicks off with Suicide Squad: Rebirth, where we are reintroduced to the Rick Flag/Amanda Waller dynamic, as Waller recruits Flag to lead Task Force X. Their first mission together is to rescue a scientist from an army of super powered criminals.
After Doctor Mark Ljungberg gets kidnapped and forced to temporarily turn the Dogra War into a gang of superhumans, about half of the Suicide Squad are sent in to stop his research from ending up in the wrong hands.
Quite literally, in fact, since Captain Boomerang cuts Ljungberg hands off with a– you guessed it– boomerang. Deadshot then proceeds to assassinate the good doctor, as Harley Quinn sets off a device that de-powers every superhuman in the city.
Mind you, it’s still just four against hundreds of hardened criminals. We don’t see the actual confrontation, but we can assume that it was epic.
14. Harley Quinn played Pokémon Go in space
Yes, you read that right– Harley Quinn plays Pokémon Go in space. The Squad are crammed into a spaceship hovering over their target, so Harley decides to hunt Pokémon to pass the time. Among Deadshot falling asleep, Captain Boomerang finding a way to stream soccer onto a small nearby screen, and Killer Croc almost drowning in his own vomit, Harley’s single panel pocket monster conquest is guaranteed to garner at least a slight chuckle.
The fact that she was able to find a Pokémon in space at all is cause enough for applause, not to mention the fact that the total lack of gravity didn’t negatively affect her ability to toss her Pokéball on target. For legal purposes, of course, she actually refers to the creature she catches on her app as a “Pokécutey” and never says the word “go.” However, you aren’t fooling us, Williams.
13. Captain Boomerang uses a rocket as a boomerang underwater
All seemed to be lost. Compromised compression suits in Arctic waters, drowning teammates, and a cosmic item in the hands of the enemy, all while the team attempt to ride a wayward rocket to the facility they were supposed to land atop of. However, the rocket they rode has yet to build up enough momentum to breach the facility’s walls.
What’s Captain Boomerang’s suggestion? Let the rocket veer off to the right, so that it takes a singular circular lap and crashes into their target, leaving a hole big enough for the Squad to enter through. Miraculously, this works, much to Rick and Deadshot’s amazement.
While Captain Boomerang often gets written off as a one-trick pony, we might not mind it so much if the trick is this awesome.
12. “Kneel before Zod!”
One of the benefits of the 2016 Suicide Squad film is that the team enjoys much more mainstream fame than they have in previous years. With this comes an array of mainstream villains that the team is able to take on.
While this is good for the fans, it may not be so great for the team– as made apparent by Zod’s arrival in Suicide Squad #2.
Zod’s first order of business was to completely vaporize Captain Boomerang before brutally assaulting the rest of the team. Make no mistake, this isn’t Richard Donner’s Zod. Not only is he driven insane by his prolonged captivity, but Zod is almost twice the size he normally is because, frankly, who wouldn’t want to see a team of felons take on a giant evil version of Superman?
11. Harley faces her inner demons in the form of the Joker
The first few issues of this series includes individual stories that are connected to larger arcs. These arcs are then followed by more character-centric stories, which serve to flesh out each individual team member.
One such story takes place in issue 4, where Rick takes Harley and a few soldiers on a mission in order to test Harley’s loyalty to her country. What they find is an old Joker boobytrap, which leads to the entire party being doused in laughing gas.
Due to Harley’s tolerance, she only suffers a visual hallucination of her abusive ex-lover: the Joker. This results in the manifestation of Harley’s inner struggle between her homicidal past and her current heroic endeavors.
Harley eventually defeats the Joker in her vision, insisting that she is not who she once was and that he no longer has control over her. This triumphant moment mirrors a similar revelation Harley has in the Injustice 2 video game.
10. Harley subdued a room full of insane inmates (including Deadshot and El Diablo)
When you think of Harley Quinn, you think of a few characteristics, one of which is her raging insanity. So, when Captain Boomerang is turned into a biological computer virus and turns everyone in Belle Reve into murderous psychopaths (stay with us, we’ll get there), it ends up having the opposite effect on Harley, temporarily returning her to Dr. Harleen Quinzel. As the only sane person in the building, it is up to her to restore order.
However, she has to fight her way through an unknown number of assailants first, including a few of her own teammates. The brilliant Dr. Quinzel tricks El Diablo into setting off the sprinkler system.
This leaves her with a big puddle, which she touches a taser to, shocking her enemies into submission. While her plan works, she still has to be just a little insane to even think of it in the first place.
9. June Moone uses her power of the Enchantress on her own
Appearing as the main villain in the film, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that the Enchantress would be getting more exposure on the pages of the Suicide Squad comics. In her individualized story, we see Amanda Waller call the Enchantress in to release a politician who has been possessed by a demon.
This demon then tries to entice the Enchantress by insisting that he can free her from her mortal host June Moone if she reverts back to her for a moment. This is a big mistake.
June delivers a spellbound right hook to the monster before proceeding to banish him to the realm he arose from, citing that she had learned this all from harboring a murderous witch in her soul. Now, June doesn’t seem so timid and helpless anymore. In fact, if she ever does split from her “partner,” the Enchantress might have some newfound competition.
8. The resurrection of Boomerang by way of Zod
Remember when we said Captain Boomerang became a computer virus that drove everyone crazy? Well buckle up, because this one’s a doozy. The newest member of the Squad is an African Harley Quinn fan who goes by the name Hack and has the ability to turn organic information into digital information and then back into it’s original form.
She does this for the team just before Boomerang gets incinerated by Zod’s heat vision, who doesn’t realize that she was able to save the Captain onto a file in her brain.
When they return to Belle Reve, Boomerang runs amok, angry that he isn’t in a physical body, before he has his wish granted when Harley “plugs” him into a giant rampaging Zod. Using Zod’s organic material, Boomerang is able to recreate his body (and his clothes) and live once more, rendering the Kryptonian behemoth unconscious. The irony is not lost on us.
7. Killer Frost freezes the Justice League and the Squad
In the heavy hitter-filled crossover extravaganza known simply as Justice League Vs. Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller sticks her band of misfits on the world’s finest heroes in order to keep classified government information from falling into the hands of the leaguers.
However, to no one’s surprise, the Squad are not having such an easy time taking them down. That is, until new Squader Killer Frost absorbs the life energy of a weakened Superman and instantly freezes both teams in their tracks.
Is it a bit convenient? Sure. Is it awesome to see? Absolutely. Killer Frost is slowly slipping into the mainstream after her appearance in Injustice: Gods Among Us and the CW’s The Flash television show. This moment is huge because it not only provides Amanda Waller with a way to capture the Justice League, but it also showcases Killer Frost’s raw power in a way we haven’t yet seen before.
6. Amanda Waller’s death and rebirth
Amanda Waller is dead, and it was an inside job. While shocking, this is the kind of betrayal you might expect when you threaten and force a group of murderers into obeying your every command.
However, the betrayal isn’t from the Squad we know and love, because as it turns out, this isn’t the first time she’s had a Suicide Squad. The original team, lead by Rustam, see to Waller’s “demise” in order to release the Squad from her grasp.
All is not won for the disgruntled ex-employees, though. Waller– in true Waller fashion– returns and leads her new team to victory, as she reveals that she isn’t actually dead. Now temporarily without their explosive brain implants, the Squad truly fight the good fight by Waller’s side the only way they know how: with a lot of blood.
5. Amanda Waller inserts a Kryptonite brain bomb in Zod
Waller is never one to shy away from power. So, when her team subdues a giant Kryptonian war criminal, she makes quick work of turning him into her weapon. Using Kryptonite that she and her Suicide Squad took from Lex Luthor, Waller gets her scientists to fashion a bomb into Zod’s skull to use as leverage over him, which will thus force him to fight for her cause.
This little action, however, is short lived. Zod uses his heat vision to perform brain surgery on himself in the mirror and extract the bomb from his own skull. Not only is this gruesome, it forces us to ask the questions we always ask when talking about Amanda Waller: is she doing more harm than good? Is she the real villain?
4. Deadshot/Batman team up to save Floyd’s daughter
Deadshot’s most humanizing factor is his connection to his daughter. When she is kidnapped by a group of terrorists and used as a bargaining chip against him, Floyd calls the most reliable search and rescue expert he can think of: Batman.
Promising to only use rubber bullets, Deadshot and Batman find Floyd’s daughter and start kicking villains left and right– like a superhero version of Taken.
One of the villains decides that he should use the young girl as a human shield, threatening to kill her if the pair move any closer. Much to Batman’s dismay, Floyd swoops in and kills his daughter’s assailant, returning her to safety. However, this ensures his return to prison and her return to her own home. While Batman is furious about Deadshot’s lies, it’s hard to blame him.
3. Katanna’s origin story
As a woman of few words, Katana is often seen as the mysterious and stoic member of the Squad. In her personal arc, Waller asks her why she chose to volunteer for the team, forcing Katana to relive the night her husband and child were murdered by her own brother-in-law, and the time she first wielded her iconic soul sword.
The story is heartbreaking and telling. Readers really begin to understand Katana’s purpose; a hero forged by tragedy, driven to right the wrongs of those that have acted against her and all those like her.
It’s a familiar story, but it is no less touching. Bolstered by the beautiful artwork and the authentic, emotional dialogue, this origin is powerful and impactful in a way that is hard to accomplish in such a short period of time.
2. The arrival (and murder) of Hack
This comic run not only provides fans with familiar faces, but also introduces a spunky new face in the form of a young metahuman known as Hack. As a huge Harley Quinn fan, Hack volunteers to aid the team in their missions. Her power to speak to computers and travel through them makes her a huge asset to the team. That is, until she is murdered.
Her death goes a long way in inspiring the Squad to avenge her, with Harley especially in the mood for revenge. While we are sad to see Hack go so early, her inclusion in the story added an element to the team that it was desperately in need of. Not to mention, her power was incredibly interesting and useful.
1. The Eradicator and Cyborg Superman team-up
With the heavy inclusion of Superman mythos in this run, it is no surprise that more enemies of the big blue boyscout show up. In issue 18, Cyborg Superman and the Eradicator– two seasoned Superman baddies– arrive with two goals in mind: rescue General Zod and release the Kryptonian prisoners from the Phantom Zone. They succeed in the first mission, but the Suicide Squad put up a good fight, ensuring that the prisoners stay sealed and locked up.
Of course, in order for this to work, sacrifices must be made. Rick Flag makes his way into the Phantom Zone to keep the prisoners from escaping, which leaves Harley Quinn with one less lover. (That’s right, that’s a thing now.) While not a complete victory, the Suicide Squad have proven that they can hold their own against the best of the best while still being the worst of the worst.
Can you think of any other great moments from DC’s Rebirth series? Let us hear about them in the comments!
