While on his press tour to promote Silent Night, Joel Kinnaman briefly touched on his role as Rick Flag Jr. in the DCEU’s two Suicide Squad films and if he would be game for reprising the role in James Gunn’s DCU.
Kinnaman revealed to Deadline that he would definitely be open to returning but not as Flag.
“If I were to ever do something, I think I would have to come back playing some sort of nasty villain in a big costume of some sort. You know, something that would not make people associate with Flag.”
Joel Kinnaman on returning to #dcuniverse#RedSeaIFF23 #RedSeaIFF #YourStoryYourFestival @joelkinnaman @RedSeaFilm pic.twitter.com/sWyiuVajSQ
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 2, 2023
Joel Kinnaman was one of the leads in 2016 Suicide Squad from David Ayer and had a supporting role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021).
His character was killed off in the latter, as John Cena’s Peacemaker was under orders from Amanda Waller to keep the U.S. government’s role in bringing Starro to Earth under wraps, by any means necessary. Once Flag learned that the U.S. was funding research on human test subjects, he wanted to release the information to the media but was killed by Peacemaker.
However, Rick Flagg Sr. will be appearing in Creature Commandos, played by Frank Grillo and the DCU isn’t exactly closing the door on the DCEU.
With the DCU acting as a soft reboot of the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and some actors reprising their roles as the same character, there’s always the chance that some characters could be resurrected, such as Flag Jr. However, based on Kinnaman’s comments, it doesn’t look as if that will be the case.
Looking onward towards new opportunities for Kinnaman to portray a character in the DCU, who do you think would be a fitting role for the Swedish actor?
Keeping in line with his wish to portray a nasty villain in a costume, Superman: Legacy would provide plenty of options to choose including Mongul, Brainiac, Parasite and Metallo.
Batman also has his fair share of creepy baddies such as Solomon Grundy, Clayface and Killer Croc. There’s also a Swamp Thing movie on the horizon and Kinnaman would actually be a solid choice for Anton Arcane of the Floronic Man.
On the TV side, there are also a ton of opportunities for Kinnaman with Waller, Lanterns, Paradise Lost, and Booster Gold series all in various stages of development.
