Margot Robbie & the ‘Suicide Squad’ in costume: cool or try hard?

Will Smith

About a week has passed since Jared Leto’s Hot Topic version of the Joker surfaced online. Now Suicide Squad director David Ayer has tweeted a cast photo (minus the Joker) to further tease the comic nerds. A quick rundown from left to right: Adam Beach (Slipknot), Jai Courtney (Boomerang), Karen Fukuhara (Katara), Cara Delevingne (Enchantress), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flagg), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Will Smith (Deadshot), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), and Jay Hernandez as (El Diablo).

Most of the cast looks unremarkable and oh-so-dark and brooding. Naturally, everyone is zeroing in on Margot in costume as Harley Quinn. I’m including more photos of Margot at the bottom of this post. This an interesting take on the character’s costume. Most people think of HQ dressed like this, although her sartorial leanings have varied considerably over the years. At one point, she did indeed go red, white, and blue. My main issue is how this costume looks a lot like something Gwen Stefani would wear in a music video. Is Harley Quinn secretly a ska girl?

I can’t believe this movie is really happening, but I think DC felt pressure be more adventurous after watching Marvel crush it so hard at the box office. These costumes do look try hard, which doesn’t inspire confidence. Jai Courtney is supposed to be an emerging new star (as is Cara) although he’s quite bland. This movie could sink careers if it’s not done correctly. Speaking of which … isn’t it weird to see Will Smith as part of an ensemble cast? He usually only takes lead roles. Times have changed.

Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie

Margot Robbie

Photos courtesy of David Ayer on Twitter/WarnerBros/DC & Pacific Coast News

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

50 Responses to “Margot Robbie & the ‘Suicide Squad’ in costume: cool or try hard?”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Kara says:

    if she made it herself with a low budget for a halloween party i would say it looks cool and well done but considering its a big movie: nope.

    • PennyLane says:

      Exactly. She’d look cute at Dragon Con in that outfit as a do-it-yourself kind of thing, but her costume looks like this and it’s a big-budget movie?? What did they spend the money on?

      • JM says:

        Will Smith’s salary?

      • PennyLane says:

        LOL

        I can’t even figure out why he’s in this movie – in the poster he’s hardly recognizable, and not in a good/funny way like Tom Cruise in Tropic Thunder.

      • Megan says:

        They should go to Comic Con. The fans do a way better edgy Harley Quinn.

      • Miffy says:

        They spent the money on Leto’s fake tattoos and eyebrow bleach.

    • MandyMillJ. says:

      Yeah, I’m not impressed so far. The joker look was ridiculous and looked like a shopping trip to Hot Topic and this is not impressing me either. It looks so low budget.

      • Audrey says:

        It’s not even really low budget.

        It’s just not creative at all and trying wayyyy too hard to be hip.

        Like damaged on the joker’s forehead. And now daddy’s little monster on her shirt.

        Anything trying that hard to be cool probably isn’t cool at all.

        I know I’m being dramatic here but this version of the joker is an insult to all of the ones which came before.

  2. Pri says:

    They’re shooting in TO, so I am sure the local films are appreciative of any work that comes our way. But, this looks like a disaster…

  3. Bridget says:

    It’s never a good sign when someone appears to be taking a page from the Zak Snyder playbook.

  4. Amy says:

    …this film does not bode well for DC.

    At this point a part of me feels like they need to go back to the drawing board because Marvel has got its film mythology arcs perfect. Each movie interweaves with the previous film and hints towards the next so it does feel like a large cohesive story playing out.

    Between Xena-Wonder Woman and Suicide Hot Topic DC is starting to look more desperate than we already knew they were. I kept an open mind about the movie, but the pics just feel like a bunch of executives in a room wringing their hands looking at Marvel premiere numbers.

    • atrain says:

      One thing Marvel also does really well is make their movies watchable for adults and for children. Kids love superheroes, but parents aren’t going to take them to something as dark as this movie appears like it’s going to be.

  5. Beth says:

    I do like the idea of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, but something about this film makes me think it will be a cult film in 25 years and for all the wrong reasons.

  6. Shambles says:

    She looks like Anne Hathaway, if someone left Anne Hathway in a club with 3 tabs of Acid. I’m not feeling it.

    #NoDisrespecttoAnneHathaway

  7. MaiGirl says:

    Oof! Not good! Even a Brony would be like, “Uhhh, NO!” Was the costumer a depressed Emo cutter who dropped some Molly?

  8. Franca says:

    Can Cara act? Has anyone seen her in anything? I’ve only seen her in the Paper Towns trailer and she looke dreally really stiff.

  9. Tiffany27 says:

    This looks hilarious…….in the bad way.

  10. Catelina says:

    The idea is kind of cool but the execution looks very hot topic mixed with party city

  11. i’ll show up for the kinnaman but only on a weekday matinee

  12. Lucy says:

    I mean, no one gave a penny for Heath’s Joker before the movie came out, and now he’s a pop culture icon. Is it naive and silly of me to sort of wish the same or something similar happened to Margot and her career? Without the terrible sad ending, needless to say.

    • Sof says:

      Had Heath’s life been different, his Joker wouldn’t be considered a pop culture icon. Yes, people loved that character when the film came out, but they became obsessed with it after he passed.

      • FLORC says:

        I think that only makes sense in hindsight.
        His performance as Joker was really amazing. That he died shortly after has never imo carried much weight on his performance. It was just great acting and a new take on the character in a live action and very dark setting.
        To be pop icon status was only greater because of his death, but without that his performance would still be praised and discussed as the new bar to reach with The Joker.

      • Amy says:

        @FLORC

        Perhaps it’s just me but I remember watching the film in theaters and thinking while Heath did an adequate job he wasn’t exactly amazing. I was actually pretty confused since I assumed I was really going to see something special in his portrayal coupled with the grim-toned world, instead it was…okay to good. I chalked up all the reviews lauding his amazing performance as stemming from the glow of the ‘dead legend’.

        I have to agree if he didn’t pass away so closely to the film the reviews likely would have been different.

      • Bridget says:

        @Amy: I agree. I thought he was mediocre, but that his death clouded people’s judgement. All he did was twitch a whole bunch.

    • cr says:

      Heath’s Joker started getting buzz when the first trailer came out, at the end of 2007, which was before Heath died.
      Did his dying add something to the buzz? Yes, but the buzz wasn’t totally because of his death.

      • Kori says:

        The early makeup reviews (from pr shots while filming) were terrible. People appreciated it more in action–maybe they will with SS too.

  13. Nessa says:

    No. Just no.

  14. Samtha says:

    She looks like a 90s club kid. It’s all too obvious. The “Daddy’s Little Monster” shirt reminds me of the “disturbed” tattoo on the Joker’s forehead–too on the nose and obvious.

  15. lucy2 says:

    This looks oddly amateurish, and too cartoon-y.
    I am SOOO burnt out on comic book/superhero movies, and I don’t even watch most of them.

  16. Bethy says:

    Speaking as a DC Comics books nerd…NO. Big, fat NO. I’m going to abandon ship now and move to the Marvel side of the aisle; even though I thought Avengers 2 didn’t rock as much as the first one, but at least the characters didn’t dress like ICP fans.

  17. gilmore says:

    Didn’t they just get out of jail? So it’s supposed to be low budget, plus, she has several costume changes from what I hear, so this is just one of many. Harley is a hot topic girl imo

    Also can we stop giving Jai “Mashed Potatoes” Courtney jobs, he’s so bland.

  18. FLORC says:

    DC had all the potential to be bigger than Marvel. Instead they’re not even in the same league.
    They’re using a playbook that doesn’t even apply to them trying to follow th Marvel formula. Shame.

  19. bammer says:

    I will only watch this for Joel Kinnaman….on DVD….that someone else buys.

    • Kori says:

      JK was great in Run All Night with Liam Neeson. Good movie too, wish it’s done better.

  20. Mela says:

    So far, everyone looks really stupid in this movie. It’s really sad since the Suicide Squad was just featured in an animated version, and that movie was really good. Too bad they didn’t take inspiration from the cartoon version instead of whatever was in the clearance racks at Hot Topic.

    If it wasn’t pointed out in the article already, I would have never known that was Harley Quinn. That’s a really bad sign IMO. I’m not saying that the characters have to be in their classic costumes or anything, but they should still be recognizable. There’s no question to who Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America are. Even with this movie, there was no question who Joker was (even though he’s so edgy he comes across as cheesy instead of dark).

    I think Warner Bros. jumped on the comic book heroes bandwagon a little too late now.

  21. Jazzy says:

    Thank god they’re giving us something besides the boring ass wonderbread white men of Marvel.

  22. yuyka33 says:

    I’m still not convinced that is not a picture of Britta and this whole article is should be about Community.

  23. JB says:

    I am not liking the look of these characters. My nerdiness has been offended.

  24. Norman Bates' Mother says:

    I hate it. The comics are supposed to be entertaining, not dirty, broody and depressing, even if the subjects are murder, theft and mental illness. One thing that is very remarkable about those villains in the comic books is that they have great costumes and here what? Margot looks like Gwen Stefani, if Gwen Stefani played a cheap, barely legal, emo hooker in the early 2000’s video, the rest of the cast look like cos-players on a budget and I won’t even comment on the Joker. For now it looks like a kind of movie, that will inspire a long series of rants about what is wrong with the comic book adaptations these days from the fans, critics and anyone who cares.

  25. Wheeze says:

    I love how the marketing teams love to make these shots look “exclusive” and “accidental” and “leaked” when we all know how carefully they’ve been selected to build up excitement and interest in the film (hopefully). I can’t stand superhero films – the narrative is so juvenile – so I don’t really care about their costumes. The last one I mildly enjoyed was the latest superman, which had some interesting SF ideas and glimpses of the home planet and the hidden spaceship in the North or Southpole.

  26. Stacey says:

    Okay, first of all: why is her hair pink/blue? Why is her costume blue/red? I hate her stupid diamond tatts, hate her boots, there is absolutely NOTHING about this costume that is Quinn. Don’t even get me started on her glorified underware masquerading as shorts.

    In short, boycott.

  27. Cerridwen says:

    How Disappointing, I’m definitely boycotting this.