# Suicide Squad DC Comics' Suicide Squad, formally Task Force X, is a team of jailed supervillains coerced into government black ops. The property broke into wider meme culture around David Ayer's 2016 film, whose Jared Leto Joker reveal photo spawned a Photoshop wave and whose rough reviews pushed fans to petition Rotten Tomatoes into shutdown[3]. ## Origin DC Comics introduced the Suicide Squad in Brave and the Bold #25 in September 1959, then rebuilt the concept in the 1986 crossover Legends with warden Amanda Waller and the implanted-bomb setup that stuck through later runs. The meme cycle kicked in on April 24, 2015, when director David Ayer tweeted the first look at Jared Leto's Joker to mark the character's 75th anniversary; the image pulled over 40,000 retweets and 33,000 favorites inside 72 hours and set off a Photoshop wave using Leto's grinning face[4]. - **Platform:** DC Comics (source) / Twitter (viral spread) - **Creator:** Unknown - **Date:** 2015 ## Overview The meme output from Suicide Squad hit in two waves. The first sat around Jared Leto's Joker, whose "damaged" forehead tattoo and metal-grill smile made the character an easy paste-in target after Ayer posted the reveal shot in April 2015. Photoshoppers dropped Leto's face into unrelated frames and lined the promo up against panels from Alan Moore's 1988 The Killing Joke, which the pose was staged to reference. The second wave hit with James Gunn's 2021 The Suicide Squad, where Sylvester Stallone's childlike CGI King Shark pulled a swarm of reaction shots and direct comparisons to Marvel's Groot[4]. The first film's rough reception fed its own cycle: The New York Times knocked its "nihilistic swagger" as thin cover for tired superhero beats[1], and Time called it "dead on arrival"[5]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Suicide Squad? Suicide Squad, in-universe Task Force X, is DC Comics' team of jailed supervillains sent on government black ops in exchange for reduced sentences[4]. ### Where did Suicide Squad come from? The comic team dates back to the 1950s and hit the big screen with David Ayer's 2016 Warner Bros. film, which landed at 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes[2]. ### What does Suicide Squad mean? The name reflects the missions' expendable nature, and among viewers the phrase became shorthand for the underwhelming 2016 film that Time called "dead on arrival"[5]. ### How do you use Suicide Squad? The main meme templates paste Jared Leto's 2015 Joker reveal photo into unrelated scenes and pull King Shark reaction shots from the 2021 sequel; TheWrap noted the first film's overstuffed cast made almost every character quotable in isolation[6]. ### Is Suicide Squad still popular? The 2016 film sat at 33 percent on Rotten Tomatoes and the frustration drove a Change.org petition that held 13,360 signatures the day before release[3]; the memes tied to it are historical rather than actively trending. ## References 1. [https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/05/movies/suicide-squad-review-dc-comics.html?_r=1]() 2. [https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/suicide_squad_2016/]() 3. [https://www.change.org/p/rottentomatoes-com-shutdown-rotten-tomatoes]() 4. [https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/suicide-squad]() 5. [https://time.com/4430396/suicide-squad-review/]() 6. [https://www.thewrap.com/suicide-squad-review-dc-extended-universe/]() 7. [https://www.metacritic.com/movie/suicide-squad/critic-reviews]() 8. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EuwFw-7ke0]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/suicide-squad Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library