The 5 Best 'Suicide Squad' Conspiracy Theories 

The supervillain dysfunctional family fun film Suicide Squad isn’t coming out until next summer, but that in no way stops us from speculating about its comically vague plot. You’d think for a movie about villains, it would be clear who they’re fighting, but everything from the main antagonist to the story arc is presently unknown. Below are the five best fan theories that, should they come true, will make it a hell of a film.

1. The Joker is actually Robin

By far the most prominent theory, this one posits that the Joker is Jason Todd, an incarnation of Robin who falls from grace and becomes a villain known as the Red Hood. It takes this narrative a step further to suggest that Red Hood isn’t good enough, and he actually morphed into Batman’s biggest nemesis. It takes this shot from the Batman v Superman trailer to mean that the Joker’s taunts are personal. True or not, it would make for a hell of an origin story.

2. Batman is the real villain

This intriguing theory posits Batman as a “boogeyman” figure — think the Joker’s role in The Dark Night — who is “feared by the government,” which is why Viola Davis’s Amanda Waller wants to work with the Joker. If the lesser of the two evils turns out to be this guy …

Then people can stop maligning the movie’s lack of an R-rating: this movie will be seriously hardcore.

3. Rick Flagg is secretly Bane

This theory admittedly hinges solely on the fact that Bane actor Tom Hardy was the original Rick Flagg — but there’s no reason for them to chance their plans just because Joel Kinnaman is stepping up instead. The Dark Knight trilogy already has some wonky continuity with the DC universe; Rick Flagg could have been born in the darkness.

4. The Squad must team up against the Enchantress

The Enchantress is an enigmatic character who doesn’t like to be seen with the rest of the gang in the majority of their family photos.

It stands to reason, then, that if Batman isn’t the villain, it’s likely she is. Granted, maybe this is a nice, well-adjusted human who’s just having a bit of a rough morning.

But that would a non-villain really have crazy-eyes that are that crazy?

5. Harley Quinn’s role will be smaller that it looks

Harley Quinn, the Joker’s sometimes girlfriend, the character with the most screen time in the trailer. In every shot we see, she looks pretty damn unhinged, which seems to indicate that movie’s timeline is firmly rooted after she has fallen from grace.

This picture, of her former life as Dr. Harleen Quinzel, is probably from a flashback … unless Suicide Squad is standing in as her origin story. If that’s the case — if DC shafts the most fascinating female superhero out of a standalone origin film — that’s even more fucked-up than the Joker and Harley’s breakup texts. But it’s possible the trailer is misleading and Dr. Harleen Quinzel will be just as prominent as her alter ego.

Suicide Squad drops next summer, and while we’re waiting to see if these theories pan out, we’re already mapping out the plot of its sequel. Too far off? Well, anything goes wrong, we have built-in deniability.