We live in a world of movie trailer mystery boxes. Current film previews can show off character, tone, a cool nostalgic soundtrack. But not what the movie is actually about. If you want to know the plot of your favorite summer blockbusters, you”re just gonna have to wait until opening weekend. A strange but effective marketing tool, based on box office returns. Which is how I went months without realizing Katana”s (Karen Fukuhara) role in Suicide Squad is not as an inmate-turned-government-mercenary.
We still don”t know the how and why of how Katana joins the Squad. But when I was watching the music video of ‘Sucker for Pain” by Lil Wayne, Wiz Khalifa & Imagine Dragons w/ Logic & Ty Dolla $ign ft X Ambassadors from the Suicide Squad soundtrack, I never expected to see her in Arkham.
If you skip to the 3:10 mark, you”ll see someone press a button in a control room. This isn”t new footage, but what immediately follows it. Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) is seen talking to someone in government fatigues (as noted by the A01 tag) when she is blown back across the cage. Previous trailers showed Harley mid-shock but not the full moment. Is it possible these are two different scenes? Totally. But they make sense together. And who pushed the button? Katana. The tell-tale sign of her fingerless black leather gloves (and perfect manicure) give her away.
If Katana is indeed in the Arkham Asylum control room, perhaps the person in the A01 fatigues is Rick Flag ((Joel Kinnaman). I have a hard time believing Flag would let Katana join the team if he didn”t trust her, as she probably doesn”t have a cranial bomb incentive to play nice. But what would they be doing with Harley? If the mission has to do with the Joker, it”s possible they were just trying to get intel from her. Harley”s costume in that scene doesn”t mesh with what she”s wearing when the suits come to get her for her new job.
The difference in Harley”s clothing also leads to the question of just how long she”s been imprisoned. Our first look at Robbie in the role had a perfectly coiffed Harley sitting on her bunk. Her hair is in curls, her prison uniform a bright orange. But by the time we see her swaying from a makeshift swing like a lazily demented Cirque de Soleil performer, her cage is barren of any creature comforts.
In the comics, Katana has spent a great deal of her superhero life as part of the Outsiders; a team put together by Batman. She may be his proxy in the Squad, reporting back their progress on whatever villain(s) they”re tracking down. Katana is also ruthless, so her sneaking into Arkham to question Harley about the Joker”s whereabouts prior to Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) getting authorization for the Squad is not out of character.
What do you guys think? How does Katana fit into the world of the Suicide Squad?