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The DCEU spans a wide range between gritty and hilarious, and The Suicide Squad’s Polka-Dot Man unites them both beautifully.
WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Suicide Squad, now in theaters and on HBO Max.
There are so many great characters in The Suicide Squad that picking a favorite is almost impossible. But by narrowing it down to certain categories, it becomes far easier. King Shark is obviously the cutest, Ratcatcher 2 is the most moving and Polka-Dot Man has the best motivation. As the perfect blend between the DC Extended Universe’s characteristic grittiness, irreverence and sheer hilarity, Abner Krill’s mommy issues stand out as one of the best backstories in The Suicide Squad.
Not everybody on the high-fatality Task Force X gets much time for backstory. At the film’s open, there is an entire Suicide Squad that gets mowed down as they’re fed to the slaughter, but luckily Polka-Dot Man is on the team that survives. Introduced as a dangerous metahuman with a power volatile enough to require a power-dampener, the glowing blotches on his skin swell in size throughout his mission before team leader Bloodsport can learn what exactly their true nature is.
When Polka-Dot Man first involves himself in the action, he reveals an ability to fire a stream of confetti at his targets that instantly disintegrates them. He then tells the audience everything they need to know about his character, explaining that he doesn’t like killing, but he’s able to do it when he pictures the people he murders as his mother. Periodically, the perspective of the camera switches to Polka-Dot Man’s view of the world as he see his mother replacing everyone else he looks at. Much like in Being John Malkovich, the same actor just appears wearing different costumes, be they Ratcatcher 2’s, Bloodsport’s or even King Shark’s. But what caused these mommy issues?
It turns out Polka-Dot Man’s mother was a scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs, who deliberately experimented on him and his siblings to turn them into a superheroes. Infected with an interdimensional virus, Polka-Dot Man needs to release his deadly confetti twice a day or risk dying himself. This background makes him somewhat addled and suicidal, and when Rick Flagg compares him to Psycho‘s Norman Bates, the comparison does not seem far off. Luckily, that deep-seeded hatred of his mother comes in handy.
In a display of the leadership he’s fostered throughout The Suicide Squad, Bloodsport directs Polka-Dot Man at the kaiju Starro during the film’s climax. Imagining a massive version of his mother rampaging through the city, Polka-Dot Man then releases so many polka-dots it disintegrates Starro’s legs. Polka-Dot Man cheers, overwhelmed at the joy of feeling like a superhero at last. Starro then promptly crushes him, ending a brief but effective character arc with a splatter of blood.
Ultimately the character did not receive the same attention as the bigger names among the cast, like Harley Quinn, who practically had entire segments of The Suicide Squad to herself. But Polka-Dot Man’s motivation and backstory are so tight and well-conveyed that there’s a level of craftsmanship to appreciate here. Not everybody can be the star, but each character deserves their own share of the spotlight. And nobody knows what to do with spots better than Polka-Dot Man.
To see David Dastmalchian’s Polka-Dot Man face his mother, catch The Suicide Squad in theaters or on HBO Max.
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