James Gunn Says Another The Suicide Squad Member Actually Survived
James Gunn says another character survived The Suicide Squad.
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It’s probably no secret by now that James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad has a much higher body count than its 2016 predecessor, with the majority of Task Force X’s casualties being suffered early in the film with a diversionary assault led by Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman). Thanks to the writer/director, however, we know that there was at least one less casualty than a lot of viewers assumed.
During an online watch party of The Suicide Squad — presumably while the brutal beachhead scene was coming to an end — James Gunn took the opportunity to educate the rest of the audience about an unexpected survivor. You may remember that Nathan Fillion’s character TDK — standing for, hilariously, “The Detachable Kid” — does not fare well in the battle on the beachhead. His detached arms are riddled with bullets, and from his thrashing on the ground it’s clear he can feel the pain of it. But according to Gunn, TDK survives the beach fight.
If you’ve seen The Suicide Squad and you’re confused by this revelation, rewatch the scene and you’ll see that James Gunn is right (and he should be since he made the flick). TDK certainly doesn’t look good when we last see him — his arms are detached and he’s coughing up blood. Back at the Task Force X headquarters, the display showing his picture isn’t red and doesn’t read “DECEASED” as it does on many of the other member photos. Instead, his picture reads “CRITICAL CONDITION.”
Like Weasel (Sean Gunn) and Peacemaker (John Cena), TDK survives the events of The Suicide Squad, in spite of how things initially appear. It seems like sites like Den of Geek and Newsweek — who both published lists of all the characters James Gunn seemingly killed off in the flick — jumped the gun (or the Gunn) when they added TDK.
The next question, naturally, is what happened to TDK? The most likely possibility is that he was captured by the Corto Maltese military. Considering his bizarre and unique abilities, they may have even planned to sic the tender mercies of the Thinker (Peter Capaldi) on him. Of course, by the end of the film, neither the Thinker nor the Corto Maltese military is in much shape to imprison or experiment upon anybody. So it’s possible he was able to escape or — if she still imagined there could be a use for him — Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) sent someone to rescue him and bring him back to Belle Reve.
As for what this means for TDK’s future in the DCEU, there are some intriguing possibilities. On one hand, since The Suicide Squad‘s post-credits scene made it clear that the upcoming Peacemaker series won’t be a prequel, it’s possible TDK could show up in that. On the other hand, we know James Gunn is planning to do more DCEU projects after Peacemaker, so TDK could show up in another film; perhaps even the sequel to The Suicide Squad.
Another possibility — though it may admittedly be slim — is that TDK could get his own series. In early August, James Gunn almost confirmed he was working on another DCEU TV series. While answering fan questions on his Instagram page (via Heroic Hollywood), Gunn was asked if he was developing another The Suicide Squad spin-off series. Gunn answered with an exaggerated “Maaaaaaaaybe” followed by a series of shrug and teeth-gritting emojis. While we’re guessing TDK may not be most people’s first choice for a headlining hero, considering some of the superheroes James Gunn has written and directed — e.g. talking trees and raccoons — it’s not out of the realm of possibility.
