Hollywood loves a good mess, and the journey of the The Suicide Squad 2 cast—or rather, James Gunn's The Suicide Squad—is about as chaotic as it gets. You probably remember the 2016 version. It had the neon, the Hot Topic aesthetic, and Will Smith. But when the "sequel" (which everyone basically calls Suicide Squad 2 anyway) finally rolled around in 2021, the roster looked drastically different.
Honestly, it wasn't just a simple swap of actors. It was a total overhaul of the team's DNA.
🔗 Read more: The Jeopardy Final Clue Today and Why That Category Always Trips People Up
The big switch: Why Idris Elba isn't Deadshot
The biggest question everyone had when the project started was: where the heck is Will Smith? People just assumed Idris Elba was stepping into the shoes of Floyd Lawton. It made sense on paper. Both are charismatic, high-profile leads. But things were actually way more respectful than that.
Will Smith didn't skip out because he hated the script; it was a boring old scheduling conflict. He was tied up with other projects, and the timing just didn't work. Instead of recasting Deadshot—which would have felt weird—James Gunn brought Idris Elba in as Bloodsport (Robert DuBois).
It was a smart move. Bloodsport is basically a more "Gunn-style" version of the mercenary archetype. He’s a guy who put Superman in the ICU with a Kryptonite bullet. That's a hell of an entrance. Elba played him with this weary, "I'm too old for this" energy that balanced out the absolute lunacy of the rest of the The Suicide Squad 2 cast.
Who stayed and who got the boot?
Keeping track of the carryovers is kind of a game of "who did the director actually like?"
- Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was a non-negotiable. You can't have this franchise without her. This time, though, she wasn't just "the Joker's girlfriend." She was a chaotic force of nature who finally got to do her own thing.
- Viola Davis returned as Amanda Waller. She’s still the most terrifying person in the DC universe without having a single superpower.
- Joel Kinnaman came back as Rick Flag. If you saw the first movie, you know Flag was a bit... stiff. In this version, Kinnaman actually got to be funny. He became the heart of the team, which made his eventual arc way more gut-wrenching.
- Jai Courtney returned as Captain Boomerang, though his screentime was... let's just say, abbreviated.
Notably missing? Jared Leto's Joker. There was zero room for that energy in Gunn's vision. Also gone were Killer Croc, Katana, and Enchantress. The slate was wiped mostly clean to make room for the weirdos.
The new blood (and the weird ones)
This is where the The Suicide Squad 2 cast really shines. Gunn went deep into the bargain bin of DC Comics and pulled out characters most people had never heard of.
John Cena as Peacemaker was the breakout. He described the character as a "douchey Captain America," and honestly, that’s spot on. He’s so committed to peace that he’ll kill as many men, women, and children as necessary to get it. It worked so well he got his own HBO series.
Then you have the heart of the movie: Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2. She was a total unknown before this, a Portuguese actress who brought a genuine sweetness to a movie filled with exploding heads. Her chemistry with the rest of the squad, especially Bloodsport, is what makes the movie actually feel like it has stakes.
And we have to talk about King Shark. You’ve got Steve Agee doing the physical work on set (he also plays John Economos in the control room), but the voice? That’s Sylvester Stallone. Seeing a massive, man-eating shark-human hybrid grunt "Nom nom?" is peak cinema.
The "A-Team" (The ones who didn't last long)
One of the funniest things about this cast is the bait-and-switch Gunn pulled at the beginning. He assembled a massive group of stars just to kill them off in the first ten minutes.
- Nathan Fillion as T.D.K. (The Detachable Kid). Yes, his arms fall off.
- Pete Davidson as Blackguard. He’s exactly who you’d expect Pete Davidson to be in a superhero movie.
- Michael Rooker as Savant. Usually, Rooker is the survivor, so this was a fun twist.
- Flula Borg as Javelin and Mayling Ng as Mongal.
It was a bloodbath. It set the tone that in this movie, nobody—not even the famous people—was safe.
A cast built on chemistry, not just star power
What most people get wrong about the The Suicide Squad 2 cast is thinking it’s just a random pile of celebrities. It’s actually very calculated. Gunn uses the "Guardians" formula here: take a group of broken, discarded people and make them a family.
David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man is the perfect example. On paper, it’s the dumbest power ever. But Dastmalchian plays it with such deep, repressed trauma that you actually care about a guy who throws glowing circles at people. It’s that nuance that separates the 2021 cast from the 2016 one.
The villains were different too. Peter Capaldi (The Thinker) brought that Doctor Who intensity but turned it sinister. He wasn't some CGI cloud or a witch dancing in a cave; he was a scientist doing horrible things. It grounded the absurdity of the "Starro the Conqueror" plot.
The legacy of the 2021 lineup
If you're looking for a Suicide Squad 3, don't hold your breath. James Gunn is now the co-head of DC Studios, and he's moving toward a full reboot of the entire universe with Superman in 2025.
However, the DNA of this specific cast lives on. We've seen Viola Davis and Steve Agee pop up in Peacemaker and Black Adam. Jennifer Holland (Emilia Harcourt) has become a staple of the "Waller-verse." While the "Squad" as we know it might be benched for a while, the actors Gunn hand-picked changed the trajectory of DC movies. They moved it away from being "grim and gritty" and toward being "weird and human."
How to dive deeper into the Squad's history
If you actually want to see these actors in their element, don't just stop at the movie.
- Watch the Peacemaker series. It’s essentially a 10-hour sequel to the movie and develops John Cena's character in ways you wouldn't believe.
- Check out the "Making of" featurettes. Seeing how Steve Agee acted as King Shark in a grey mo-cap suit while the others tried not to laugh is worth the price of admission.
- Follow the cast on social. They actually seem to like each other. The BTS photos from the Corto Maltese sets show a much more cohesive "team" vibe than the first film's production.
The real magic of the The Suicide Squad 2 cast wasn't the powers or the costumes. It was the fact that for the first time, these "bad guys" felt like people you'd actually want to grab a beer with—even if one of them might try to eat you.