DC’s Suicide Squad has seen an impressive renaissance in the past few years. After shifting from a relatively unknown group in the comics to a major presence on both the silver screen and in the comics now, it seems that DC, and the fans, can’t get enough of Amanda Waller’s Task Force X. While the idea of villainous characters conscripted into the service of the greater good is a compelling one, the Suicide Squad isn’t even DC’s best take on the concept. That honor goes to the Secret Six, a tight knight group of villains and antiheroes who have been strangely absent from the comics for a while now. But DC Comics needs to bring back the Secret Six, especially given the Suicide Squad’s new role.
The Secret Six is an evolving team of villains led by the mysterious Mockingbird to conduct secret missions. The Secret Six’s roster has featured characters such as Catman, Deadshot, and Bane, while also utilizing lesser-known villains like Cheshire, Scandal Savage, and Rag Doll. Like the team itself, the identity of Mockingbird is constantly changing, ranging from fellow teammates deceiving the rest, to external forces with their own agenda.
Despite the teams’ similarities, their styles are drastically different, and both teams could coexist while catering to different audiences and delivering different types of stories. Both the teams' leaders/handlers are different enough that each figurehead feels distinct, and given the changing roster of both known and unknown villains, there are plenty of character dynamics to explore. The Secret Six are more than just a smaller Task Force X, and stand tall on their own two feet.
Here's exactly why.
The Suicide Squad’s team leader may change across different interpretations, but in most iterations, Task Force X is handled by Amanda Waller. Waller is an institution in and of herself, written as a stalwart operator with no qualms about doing whatever is necessary to complete her goals. She is a fierce and competent leader, commanding fear from the convicts she presses into service and leading the team with an iron fist. While she is a well-developed character, Waller can almost be predictable to fans of the Suicide Squad, and her interpretations typically range from a Machiavellian government agent doing what she believes is best for the country to a borderline supervillain, such as in Infinite Frontier, where Waller’s plans to take over Earth-3, home of the Crime Syndicate.
Mockingbird, the Secret Six’s handler and Waller’s counterpart, on the other hand, has is a much more enigmatic character. Mockingbird is actually a moniker used by whoever leads the Secret Six to remain anonymous, though the team typically assumes that one of them is secretly Mockingbird. While oftentimes the identity of Mockingbird is kept under wraps, the team has been created and led by characters such as Riddler and Lex Luthor, who contract the other 6 villains to undertake missions of dubious nature. The mystique around who Mockingbird is though adds to the tension and thrills of the Secret Six, as the team never knows what to expect from their shadowy patron and whether they really are being offered a nice payday or serving as pawns in someone else’s game. Mockingbird can be as present, or as absent, in the story as necessary, whereas Amanda Waller’s writing requires that she occupies a focal point in most Suicide Squad stories.
In theory, every character of the Suicide Squad is disposable. Amanda Waller has no qualms killing her own assets to prove a point to the rest. At one point, the team was largely populated with little-known characters who frequently met untimely demises either at the hands of Waller herself or on the mission. Recently, however, the characters who make up the squad have grown larger than life and developed their own following and special place both in the team and in the fanbase. Characters such as Bloodsport and Peacemaker have grown from relatively unknown C-listers to headlining acts with their own backstories and developed personalities. While this is great for the characters and the DC Universe as a whole, it means that new writers with the Suicide Squad have a less wiggle room to interpret these characters, and these staple characters for the Squad are a lot less likely to die on their lethal missions.
The Secret Six has featured several recognizable characters, including Bane and Deadshot, though they are outnumbered by both lesser-known and original characters to round out the Six. Characters such as Rag-Doll, Scandal Savage, and Jeanette each contributed to combat, and to the team dynamic in unique and compelling ways. Furthermore, since the publication history of these characters is comparatively unexplored, any character development during their return can stick.
In its most basic form, the Suicide Squad is a group of convicts looking to whittle down multiple life sentences by engaging in suicide missions for Amanda Waller’s organization. Task Force X often ends up being a collection of convicts Waller handpicks for the task at hand, meaning it is a group of people who likely don’t get along and are forced to work together in life-threatening situations. While the Squad continues to progress and grow closer together, there is a constant air of hostility and a cut-throat atmosphere.
In the Secret Six, the atmosphere feels more cooperative, and the Six’s bond typically grows as their missions progress. A notable instance of this was when Bane developed an almost fatherlike relationship with Scandal. While it is by no means a team as tightly knit as the Teen Titans or the Bat-Family, the Secret Six is slightly more cohesive than the Suicide Squad at times.
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The Secret Six and Suicide Squad have many similarities. While both groups share some thematic elements (and occasionally team members), in execution both teams fill different niches. While the coercion of supervillains into the service of good exemplified by Amanda Waller’s Task Force X provides a compelling read, the mysteriousness of Mockingbird and what exactly it is that brings the Secret Six together provides ample story opportunities. While some key team members from either group are dead and buried, that’s nothing a little Lazarus Resin can’t fix. In any case, with the Suicide Squad’s recent meteoric success and popularity, it seems that the time is right to bring back the lesser-known, but arguably better, supervillain team: the Secret Six.
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