This article contains spoilers for James Gunn’s “The Suicide Squad,” specifically regarding what happens with Weasel.
Also, we have some, ah, NSFW images of Weasel from the movie here.
It’s tough to call a character in “The Suicide Squad” a scene-stealer, because they’re all scene-stealers. But some of them steal scenes more than others — like Weasel. This cross-eyed critter is only in the movie for about five or six minutes, but he makes a big impression.
And also his penis is hanging out.
It’s tough to spot on first viewing because he’s very furry *down there*, and also because there aren’t a ton of full-body shots of Weasel to work with. But you can see it in two shots when he’s first introduced — when he’s getting out of the armored prisoner transport, and when Team 1 does their hero shot of everybody in a line walking toward the camera. I’ve got screengrabs for you that I brightened so it’s easier to see.
And just for the sake of driving the point home, here’s a gif.
While the presence of Weasel’s penis isn’t really any sort of big deal, I do appreciate the commitment to just doing the thing that James Gunn seems to have had with “The Suicide Squad.” It’s so crude, and so violent, and also kinda depressing — but also hilarious and full of amusing weirdness. This particular little detail, which few people seem to have noticed so far, is the sort of thing that’s gonna keep me coming back. I bet there’s plenty more strange hidden gags like this all over this movie.
But, I should say, Weasel is certainly more than just his penis. He’s a child murderer who stole our hearts with just a few moments of screen time. I probably don’t need to make the case for more Weasel in the DC Movieverse, but I’m gonna do it anyway. And I promise it’s not just because I think we need more funny naked animal people in movies. Though that is certainly one of my reasons.
The Case for More Weasel in the DC Movieverse
In the opening segment of “The Suicide Squad,” Amanda Waller’s Task Force X really lives up to its nickname. And eclectic team of baddies is sent to invade a South American island nation — and most of them are killed pretty quickly. The first to go (apparently) was Weasel, who appeared to drown as soon as he dropped into the water near the beach.
It was an absolutely hilarious moment, but it turned out to be bittersweet — Savant (Michael Rooker) dragged Weasel onto land and then pronounced him dead. No more Weasel, and we’re only eight minutes into the movie.
But he was only temporarily dead, it turns out, as at the end of “The Suicide Squad” we learn that he wasn’t dead at all. We don’t know how long he was unconscious on the beach, or what he did once he got up and wandered off into the woods. But we know he’s still alive, and that’s what matters. We know that he could come back in another movie.
If this article were a tweet, I would say that I would die for my giant trash weasel son. But since this isn’t a tweet I’ll go into a little further detail about just how much I love my giant trash weasel son.
The hook with Weasel is that he’s missing all the signs we would normally associate with intelligence. In our unfortunately brief time with him, he never demonstrates an ability to communicate with anyone, nor does he even really acknowledge any of the other characters — he barely ever even looks at anybody. There’s clearly something going on in that noggin of his, since he uses a seatbelt and manages to behave himself.
So in practice, what we get every time Weasel is on screen is a funny animal video. He’s just hanging out, looking weird, eyes and mouth twitching while he makes cranky cat sounds. It is a great testament to the work of Sean Gunn, who is the man under that CGI costume, that he was able to make this mangy cat man into possibly the most adorable part of “The Suicide Squad.”
It’s also a testament to the quality of “The Suicide Squad in general that Rick Flag (Joel Kinnamen) can offhandedly point out that Weasel killed 27 children and we just think, “Oh, that sounds so cute!”
There’s probably a limit on just how much you could use a character like Weasel before the bit gets old — though it would certainly depend on how he’s used. But that’s OK, because nobody needs a Weasel movie. But we do need more Weasel.
The prime candidate right now is John Cena’s “Peacemaker” series heading to HBO Max next year. Peacemaker and Weasel are the only two members of the Suicide Squad who both survived and haven’t been freed from Amanda Waller’s control. And also James Gunn is directing five episode of the show — where James Gunn goes, Sean Gunn usually follows. And he’s been key. Sean Gunn plays Rocket Raccoon on set in the MCU before Bradley Cooper provides the voice performance.
So fingers crossed.
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