Although James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (simultaneously a sequel and a soft reboot of the 2016 movie) isn’t set to be released until next year, DC have recently released lots of information about the upcoming feature. Namely, the huge cast of actors have finally had their characters revealed and this short fact file series is dedicated to letting you know who is who in this wacky, wonderful-looking film.
This article will be focusing on the character of Weasel. Weasel is to be played by Sean Gunn, who is an actor and the brother of director James Gunn. This will be the live action debut of the character. Ironically, Sean Gunn also played the on set version of Rocket Raccoon – another wild, furry creature – in his brother’s earlier film, Guardians of the Galaxy.
In the Comics
The Weasel is a nickname given to two different villains in the DC Comics Universe. The original Weasel was created by Gerry Conway and Rafael Kayanan and made his debut as a villain of the hero Firestorm, in The Fury of Firestorm #35, back in 1985.
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The second iteration of Weasel came in the new 52 rebooted universe. Rather than being a serial killer in the costume like the original, this new Weasel was much more of an animalistic creature and served as an enemy to Damian Wayne.
Who is Weasel?
John Monroe was the original Weasel and was a loner, who was also bullied whilst studying at Stanford University in the 1960s. The bullies gave him the cruel nickname of ‘Weasel’, due to his appearance.
Many years later, Monroe ended up becoming a teacher and was working alongside some of the bullies who had taunted him when he was younger. Unable to control his anger and let go of the past, he fully adopted the alias of the Weasel whilst wearing a costume with sharp claws.
As well as the costume, Monroe was versed in hand to hand combat and was surprisingly agile. Under the guise of the Weasel, he murdered several people on the campus.
Martin Stein ended up taking a job at the very same school as Monroe. Monroe saw Stein as a threat and attempted to kill him, unknowingly unleashing the transformation of Firestorm. Firestorm unmasked Monroe and he was subsequently arrested.
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The Suicide Squad
In an attempt to pay for his crimes, Monroe was recruited into the Suicide Squad. His first mission unfortunately ended up also being his last.
The Squad’s mission was to rescue Hawk, but the Thinker caused a lot of issues for the team. After Rick Flag Jr has seized control of the Thinker’s helmet in order to get the mission back on track, the helmet actually convinced Flag to kill Weasel.
Ironically, this also sounds like a plot point that James Gunn could lift directly from the pages of the comic book. The film version of Weasel probably doesn’t have much to give to the actual Squad, so having him killed off by a member of his own team seems like a darkly comedic path to go down.
