James Gunn’s new DCEU movie The Suicide Squad has finally hit cinemas in all its manic glory. With all the chaos and carnage that happens in the action movie, though, it’s understandable if you lost the plot while watching. Worry not, though, dear reader. We’ve put together an explanation of the ending and post-credit scene. If you’ve not seen The Suicide Squad, don’t read any further to avoid spoilers.
Opening with the bloodiest beach scene since Saving Private Ryan, The Suicide Squad’s first action set piece is a massacre that sees the Squad, except for Rick Flagg (Joel Kinneman) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) wiped out. Harley is given a javelin by a dying Javelin (Flula Borg) in the fracas, who seems to think she’ll need it later, before the Corto Maltese soldiers capture her. Flagg, meanwhile, escapes the beach and is found by freedom fighters trying to overthrow their corrupt government.
It’s then revealed that the first squad was just a distraction and that Amanda Waller (Viola Davies) – the woman behind the Suicide Squad – has sent a second team, comprised of Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Peacemaker (John Cena), Kingshark (Sylvester Stallone), Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and Ratcatcher (Daniela Melchior), to the island.
What happens at the end of The Suicide Squad?
After the Squad reunites with Flagg and Harley Quinn, they capture The Thinker (Peter Capaldi) and head off to Jotunheim to put a stop to Project Starfish. Once their The Squad murder their way inside and use The Thinker’s access codes to lock everyone out of the tower before Mateo Suárez (Joaquín Cosío) and his army can arrive and stop them.
Placing plastic explosives through the tower, The Squad splits up into two teams Flagg, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher, and The Thinker head down into the basement. While Bloodsport, Harley Quinn, Polka-Dot Man, Hector (the Squad’s bus driver), and King Shark head upstairs.
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Arriving in The Thinker’s old lab, the team is horrified to see the experiments the deranged scientist has been subjecting the people of Corto Maltese to. The Thinker has spent the last thirty years experimenting on a giant starfish-like alien he’s nicknamed Starro the Conqueror, which can create smaller clones that attach themselves to the face of an unfortunate host and put them under the direct control of the alien. It’s here that The Thinker reveals that he’s spent the last three decades trying to work out how to control the beast, not for the ruling family of Corto Maltese but for the US government.
Enraged, Flagg tries to retrieve evidence of America’s involvement in the project, but Peacemaker turns on him, explaining Waller put him on The Squad to ensure the data is destroyed. As the two start to fight, a huge explosion goes off, splitting Flagg and Peacemaker off from Ratcatcher and Greaves while also freeing Starro from his prison. The creature almost immediately murders The Thinker before trying to grab Ratcatcher. Thankfully she escapes just in time to see Peacemaker stab Flagg in the heart, killing him.
Not wanting his death to be for nothing, Ratcatcher manages to grab the data and tries to escape, but she’s quickly caught by Peacemaker who aims his gun at her and… the film cuts to eight minutes earlier.
Here we see Bloodsport, Harley Quinn, Polka-Dot Man, Hector, and King Shark as they make their way upstairs. Inevitably King Shark gets separated from the group and makes friends with some jellyfish-like creatures he finds floating around in an aquarium. As the rest of the team make their way through an office, Polka-Dot Man drops his explosives just as a group of soldiers attack, killing poor Hector.
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While the Squad are able to dispatch the goons easy enough, Polka-Dot Man’s powers, unfortunately, ignite the explosives (triggering the explosion that freed Starro), and the building starts to collapse. While Polka-Dot Man and Harley manage to stay safe, King Shark falls out of the building and is surrounded by soldiers who pump him full of lead, although he’s quickly revealed to be alive after an unfortunate soldier gets too close to him.
Bloodsport, meanwhile, falls several storeys conveniently landing on the same level as Peacemaker and Ratcatcher. The rat controlling villain quickly explains what happened with Flagg, and Bloodsport makes quick work of Peacemaker shooting him through the heart. The surviving squad members then reunite outside, ready to face Suárez and his men. Before a fight can break out, though, Starro, who’s revealed to be several storeys tall, bursts out of the ground and releases countless spores seizing control of Suárez and his army.
Thankfully The Squad are able to avoid becoming zombies, and Starro Suárez warns them to leave as the city is “his”. As Starro and his horde make their way into the city, Waller calls Bloodsport to congratulate them on completing the mission and tells them to head home.
As The Squad hears the screams of Corto Maltese’s people, though, they’re compelled to set aside their usual selfish natures and try and save the innocent civilian population. Furious at their mutiny, Waller goes to detonate the bombs embedded in their heads, but before she can flip the switch, her own support crew rebel and knock her out with a golf club.
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Freed from Waller’s control, the Squad return to the city to take down the kaiju sized Starro. Combining their powers, they manage to hurt the beast but not bring it down. Polka-Dot Man is unceremoniously crushed during the fight, and with their heavy hitter gone, it looks like all is lost. That is until Ratcatcher takes control of every rat on the island and uses them to attack Starro. The rats manage to weaken the creature just enough for Harley to toss Javelin’s javelin through the creature’s eye. The wound allows the rats into Starro’s brain, which they then unceremoniously eat, killing the monster and his army.
Later the Squad are seen negotiating their freedom with Waller, threatening to release all the information they have about Project Starfish if she tries to blow them up. Reluctantly agreeing to the supervillain’s terms, the Squad then make their way home.
WHAT HAPPENS IN THE SUICIDE SQUAD POST-CREDIT Scene?
Once the credits have rolled, though, the action picks up again. Well, we say action it’s actually a visit to a hospital where we see two of the bureaucrats in charge of Task Force X being escorted through the ward by a doctor.
The pair complain bitterly about being sent to this hospital, and it’s clear they’re being punished for their mutiny against Waller. As the doctor leads them to an observation window, she explains that their patient was lucky to survive such a significant injury to his heart and that it was a close call.
The camera then pans to reveal that the man in the hospital bed is none other than Peacemaker, who miraculously survived being shot by Bloodsport. As the doctor looks on, she calls him a hero, and Waller’s minions correct her, saying he’s not a hero but adding they need him to save the world, setting up his new TV series.
The first TV show to be canonically set in the DCEU proper Peacemaker is an eight-episode TV series written by James Gunn that will see Cena reprise the role of Peacemaker as he tries to save the world. Peacemaker is scheduled to debut in January 2022.