James Gunn to redeem Polka-Dot Man’s reputation as dumbest DC character ever

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

James Gunn's The Suicide Squad features an ensemble of characters pulled from the pages of DC comics, most of whom casual fans have probably never heard of, but with all the strange supervillains on display, perhaps the goofiest is Polka-Dot Man. First appearing in Detective Comics #300 in 1962, Polka-Dot Man, aka Abner Krill, was a supervillain who could turn the polka-dots covering his costume into a variety of weapons and devices. Yep, that's just as silly as it sounds, but James Gunn is hoping to redeem the character's goofy history.

While speaking with Total Film, James Gunn revealed that he added Polka-Dot Man to the film after searching for the dumbest DC character of all time.

Polka-Dot Man is great, but I did think I needed a character who’s thought of as one of the dumbest ever. So I went and looked online, ‘Who’s the dumbest DC character of all time?’ and it was Polka-Dot Man. We’ve turned that character who’s a sad, pathetic character into a character who’s depressed because people think he’s stupid. He has a very tragic story that you learn about throughout the film – to be able to add depth to characters who are thought of as the silliest is a fun thing for me to do.

Polka-Dot Man is played by David Dastmalchian in The Suicide Squad, and the actor was keen to dive into the life of someone who has lived through a lot of shit. "I can tell you that my character Abner is someone who has lived a lifetime with a lot of pain, a lot of shame, a lot of solitude because of a condition that he has," Dastmalchian said. "That condition was something that he decided at a certain point in time would be best suited to hurt other people or at least perform acts of crime, so that he could get some vengeance against a cruel and unfair world. Things haven’t gone great in Abner’s life basically since day one, so as we find him entering this story, he’s somebody that has never been a part of anything, so even in a bunch of really broken misfits and criminals, he’s maybe found one of the first moments in his life where he’s a part of something." There's much to look forward to with The Suicide Squad, and Polka-Dot Man is certainly a big part of the allure for me.

The official synopsis for The Suicide Squad:

Welcome to hell — a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese.

The Suicide Squad will hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6, 2021, with the Peacemaker TV seres debuting on HBO Max in January 2022.