A new team of villains has been revealed in the Absolute Universe and that is the Suicide Squad! Perhaps surprisingly, this new team was revealed in Absolute Wonder Woman #16. Wonder Woman has so far faced mainly mythological and magical foes, but this new team of human foes will help tie Diana of the Wild Isle more to the wider Absolute Universe and, narratively, the human realm.
As the Suicide Squad launch an attack on Wonder Woman at the opening of an exhibition curated by Barbara Minerva, the odds might point in the favour of Diana, but the new team have a trick up their sleeve.
Absolute Suicide Squad team members
Although it was surprising that Suicide Squad were revealed in Absolute Wonder Woman, however the way Kelly Thompson has built the team means it makes perfect sense; all of the team are women. So who is in the team?
We were actually introduced to four of the team back in Absolute Wonder Woman #12, right at the end of the issue. In the last panel, Veronica Cale speaks to a subdued and gagged Zatanna. Cale tells Zatanna she is going to send her to “kill a witch“.
The other Squad members were teased on the previous page in the same issue, as Cale walked past a tank with a fish-human hybrid and another with a tiny woman. The tiny woman is Giganta, likely forced to stay small by Cale, and the former has been suggested by readers to be Nina Mazursky.
Also shown in the locked cells was likely Andira but so far she has not played a part in any storylines. In the bottom righthand corner of this scene is the tip of a furry tail, that could only belong to longtime Wonder Woman villain, Cheetah. Interestingly, Cheetah is not Barbara Minerva. Could Absolute Cheetah be Priscilla Rich, the original Cheetah?
Doctor Poison was introduced even earlier. In Absolute Wonder Woman #8, Doctor Poison is revealed to be working for Cale, under duress, deep in Area-41. Cale gives Doctor Poison a sound recording of the Tetracide to see what she can do with it. Cale promptly creates an army of mechanical spiders which emit the sound and set them loose on Gateway City.
Diana defeated Doctor Poison and her army of Tetra-spiders. Doctor Poison even gave Wonder Woman valuable information about where she could find another Amazon. What Wonder Woman also learned was that there were more powerful people than Doctor Poison who were taking an interest in her.
Zatanna and Starro
While we know that these villains are likely to be formidable, this Wonder Woman has beaten the formidable and then some. The Suicide Squad have to have some extra firepower to help them best Wonder Woman and Cale has that in two different forms.
Firstly, Cale has Starro. Cale describes using the parasite as a method of control as she and her scientists have implanted the Suicide Squad with them. If they the villians do not return to Cale quickly enough to have them removed, the parasite will kill them. This leverage will mean that Cale has control over them but will it likely be a weakness for Wonder Woman to exploit too?
“Hey cutie” – Zatanna
A couple of issues previously, in Absolute Wonder Woman #14, Diana was visited by Zatanna who performed binding magic on Wonder Woman. The spell bound Wonder Woman’s magic to that of Zatanna when she is in her presence. This leaves Zatanna in a very strong position as she now controls Wonder Woman’s magic.
With Zatanna commanding her magic, and the rest of the Suicide Squad like to run rampant, Wonder Woman may have to rely on some help from her friends and allies to get out of this one. Either way, Kelly Thompson gave us another incredible issue, with Hayden Sherman making every panel look beautiful. It is a great time for DC readers.
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