The state of the DC Extended Universe has been hotly debated lately — especially after the controversial decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to shelve the near-completed HBO Max original movie Batgirl — however, fans are appreciating the glow-up that happened for Joel Kinnaman’s Colonel Rick Flag.
Rick was the leader of Task Force X in 2016’s critically panned Suicide Squad. And while the character looked nothing more than a generic G.I. Joe in that film, with an equally one-dimensional caricature of a personality accompanying him, he was given quite the redemption for the movie’s sequel, last year’s The Suicide Squad.
“I think we can all agree that Rick Flag got a MAJOR upgrade in TSS” the Reddit user u/Nahim33 posted on the r/DC_Cinematic subreddit Wednesday, garnering more than two thousand upvotes in a few hours.
Ditching the stereotypical army fatigues and rifle for an ironic yellow t-shirt and trusty shotgun, Rick not only looked a whole lot more original in James Gunn’s acclaimed sequel, but he had quite a bit more character depth as well. Near the climax of the movie, Rick uncovered that John Cena’s Peacemaker had an insidious secret mission throughout the film, which callously disregarded the fate of the people of Corto Maltese and their peril at the tentacles of the kaiju creature known as Starro. Rick bravely fights Peacemaker — and loses his life — in order to uncover the truth about the sinister experiments the United States conducted on the extra-terrestial and the political prisoners who became its victims. Rick even got rid of that ugly goatee in the sequel, to boot.
One commentator remarked that Rick’s reinvention in The Suicide Squad was definitely an improvement, but it’s just “too bad he won’t return.”
“I was legitimately sad when he died!” another fan wrote.
“His hair got better too,” another Reddit user correctly pointed out, referencing Rick’s hairstyle going from an uninspired buzz cut to letting those bangs loose.
“The beard, combined with the pasty skin and the pose, made him look like a tweaker. Big upgrade in TSS,” another fan concurred.
Not only was Flag “Definitely more badass,” according to one commentator, but he also had “more personality and was more memorable.”
“A pity we lost him, he was truly a standout in the movie,” another fan remarked.
Even though we, too, mourn the loss of Rick Flag within the DCEU, we take comfort in the fact that many of the other colorful characters Gunn has brought to the cinematic universe will live on. The prolific writer-director recently clarified the spinoff Peacemaker was safe for returning for season two, despite the recent WBD shakeup.