Rick Flag

"When it's time for you and I to say goodbye, you'll know." ―Kent Nelson, Black Adam This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the most recent DC Extended Universe content. You have been warned.

"This is the deal: You disobey me, you die. Try to escape, you die. You irritate or vex me, you die."

―Rick Flag to the Task Force X^[src]

Rick Flag
Real name	Rick Flag
Species	Human
Affiliation(s)	United States Army Suicide Squad ARGUS
Status	Alive
Appearances
Film(s)	Suicide Squad
Actors/Actresses
Portrayed by	Joel Kinnaman

Colonel Rick Flag is a US special operations forces officer (among the finest ever produced by the country), and the lover of June Moone. He was recruited by Amanda Waller to lead her new Suicide Squad team, alongside a team of Navy SEALS, in a high-risk operation.

Biography

Early life

Rick Flag is known to have graduated from the prestigious West Point. He proceeded to serve an unknown number of tours in the United States Military, before getting assigned to ARGUS, under the jurisdiction of Amanda Waller. She promptly sent Rick on a mission to subdue the Enchantress that possessed June Moone. Rick and June quickly got close, becoming lovers. He also ran into formidable samurai warrior Katana, and managed to convince her to be his personal bodyguard.

Formation of Task Force X

Following the approval of Waller's Task Force X pitch by the Pentagon, Rick is assigned by her to be the task force's commander. He attempts to object, however, stating that Waller needs actual soldiers instead criminals and supervillains. Ultimately though, Waller forces him to comply and accept his position by revealing the debilitating leverage she had over him.

Arrival at Belle Reve

"The hell is wrong with you people?"

―Rick Flag to Task Force X

Flag soon accompanied Waller as he arrived at Belle Reve in Louisiana to recruit the members for the task force. Upon arrival, he was treated by Captain Griggs and was first introduced to Deadshot at a firing range to see his skilled marksmanship. Deadshot impressed Flag and Waller on the shooting range; then Deadshot listed his demands to Waller, but saying it to Flag, knowing the hierarchy. He also saw Killer Croc in Belle Reve.

Failed Operation and Task Force X

Before Task Force X was activated, a Non-Human Entity known as Incubus appeared in the subway of Midway City, causing havoc. Flag and a Special Forces team was sent in with the help of June Moone, who was possessed by a metahuman called Enchantress; Enchantress's ability to move instantly was the key to approaching Incubus, however, unbeknownst to the team and Waller, Enchantress had planned Incubus's release and when tasked to destroy him using a powerful demolition charge, Enchantress bolted, leaving the operation in tatters. In response to this, the Pentagon decided to activate Task Force X and gather them in Midway City Airport.

Flag arrived with 2 squads of Special Forces and SEALs and authorized them to gear up for the mission. Before that, Flag explained that the Task Force has been injected with a nanite explosive that will kill them and that any sign of dissent would mean their deaths. After briefing from Waller to extract HVT1, the team then departed for Midway City, with Katana joining them.

Personality

To be added

Abilities

• Abilities
• Weaknesses
• Equipment

• Peak Human Condition: Rick Flag, as a US Armed Forces colonel, is in top physical condition (from frequent missions and extensive experience in the field), though not even near to Batman's level. Hence, it took an entire group of Enchantress's Eyes of the Adversary to overpower Flag.
  • Peak Human Durability: Rick Flag is exceptionally durable, swiftly recovering after being sent flying back by a super humanly strong blow from Incubus, though this was also due to Flag's bulletproof vest.
• Gifted Intelligence: Rick Flag quite intelligent, having graduated from the prestigious West Point, where he would hone his exceptional leadership and tactical skills.
  • Expert Leader: Rick Flag, as an experienced US Armed Forces colonel, is an extremely skilled leader (with Amanda Waller even referring to him as "the finest special forces officer that [the US] has ever produced"), able to successfully lead the Suicide Squad in the mission to extract Amanda Waller from Midway City, and then to lead them against Enchantress and Incubus. He did, however, initially have trouble motivating his Squad subordinates, due to them initially mutually despising one another.
  • Expert Tactician: Rick Flag is a highly skilled tactician, as well as an expert in ops and counter insurgency, able to come up with an effective strategy to bring down Incubus by attacking him from both fronts (with the El Diablo chasing the gigantic opponent into a corner and Killer Croc helping Edwards plant a bomb right under him), and an equally effective one to destroy Enchantress' mystical superweapon.
• Expert Combatant: Rick Flag, as a US Armed Forces colonel, is a highly skilled armed and hand-to-hand combatant (though not quite on par with Batman, Enchantress and Katana), able to take down quite a few of Enchantress' monstrous troops, and even momentarily able to hold his own against the extremely skilled Enchantress herself (notably blocking her dagger slashes several times), though he was ultimately brought down by her.
• Expert Marksman: Rick Flag is a highly skilled marksmen, landing several shots on some of Enchantress's monstrous troops, though he is far surpassed in accuracy and precision by Deadshot.

June Moone: Rick Flag's greatest weakness is his beloved girlfriend June Moone, since Amanda Waller is able to use his girlfriend as psychological leverage against Flag, forcing him to comply with her orders concerning the Suicide Squad, much to Flag's dismay. The fact that his girlfriend was unwillingly hosting the malevolent Enchantress made it extremely hard for Flag to destroy the latter when he has the chance, with him only able to do so after recalling that June Moone had made him promise her to do so in such a situation.

Human Vulnerabilities: Rick Flag's second great weakness is that he is a human with no enhanced strength, speed, durability, or metahuman powers, therefore making him quite vulnerable to the physical attacks of stronger and more powerful opponents. He, however, usually compensates for this relatively well with his exceptional combat and marksmanship skills, peak physical condition, tactical intellect, and weapons arsenal. Hence, Rick Flag was able to battle with and take down quite a few of Enchantress' monstrous troops, but was relatively quickly overpowered on 2 occasions when the troops teamed up against him, with Flag only being saved by the timely intervention of first Harley Quinn, and then Deadshot and Killer Croc. Later, while Flag's bulletproof vest helped him survive Incubus's super humanly mighty blows, Flag was still swiftly and easily incapacitated by the gigantic metahuman (saved only by the timely intervention of El Diablo in flaming avatar form), and he is later relatively quickly overpowered in the final physical battle with Enchantress, due to her having superior strength and combat skill, along with teleportation, telekinesis and telepathy (all of which Flag had no ability to effectively resist). He is only saved from her telepathic probing with the more mentally resistant El Diablo's help.

Heckler & Koch HK416: Rick Flag is seen carrying an HK416 Assault Rifle equipped with different attachments and accessories. His version of the HK416 is the DS20R full sized barrel version, a standard among US Special Forces equipment.

Nano-bomb detonator: Rick Flag, in order to ensure the compliance of most Suicide Squad members (apart from his bodyguard Katana), keeps the detonator of their implanted nano-bombs on him (with a separate button for each individual) - ready to blow off the heads of any of them if they step out of line or fail to comply, with him notably killing Slipknot in this way. Ultimately, however, when Amanda Waller is captured by Incubus, Flag destroys his detonator, releasing his subordinates (who, however, are still motivated to stay and fight the mystical duo nonetheless).

C4 Explosive: Rick Flag carried an explosive ordinance to destroy Enchantress's weapon. After Harley Quinn cut the heart out, Flag readied the explosive and gave it to Killer Croc to throw, which is then detonated when Deadshot fired at the explosive.

Demolition Charge: In the original mission to stop Incubus, Flag carried a demolition charge powerful enough to destroy Incubus. Originally set for two seconds to explode, when given to Enchantress, Enchantress dropped it in the subway and escaped, leaving the bomb intact with a second set to explode. In the battle against Enchantress, his subordinate Lt. "GQ" Edwards of the Navy SEALS detonated it and destroyed Incubus, with El Diablo and GQ being casualties of the explosion.

Relationships

Allies June Moone - girlfriend United States Armed Forces General Edwards - Task Force opposer turned supporter and authorizer Admiral Olsen Lieutenant "GQ" Edwards † Gomez † Dexter Tolliver - Task Force supporter ARGUS Amanda Waller - boss and manipulator Suicide Squad - subordinates Katana - personal bodyguard Killer Croc Captain Boomerang Deadshot - rival turned savior and respected ally El Diablo † - friend and savior Slipknot † - victim Harley Quinn - former subordinate and savior

Enemies Enchantress † - enemy, target, and victim Incubus † - indirect victim Joker's Gang Joker - attempted killer Jonny Frost Panda Man

Gallery

Rick Flag Suicide Squad Poster.jpg

Trivia

• Rick Flag is known to golf with a 3 handicap.
• His main weapon is a 5.56x45mm Heckler & Koch HK416 carbine outfitted with various accessories, while his sidearm is a 9mm Glock 17 pistol.

Behind the scenes

• Luke Evans, Bradley Cooper, Mark Wahlberg, Jake Gyllenhaal, Tom Cruise, Joel Edgerton, Karl Urban and Jon Bernthal were considered for the role of Rick Flag.
• Tom Hardy (who previously played Bane in 2012's The Dark Knight Rises) was originally cast as Rick Flag but dropped out due to his prior commitment to filming The Revenant.