WARNING: The following contains spoilers for The Suicide Squad, now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
Polka-Dot Man is one of DC's most bizarre and obscure villains. Introduced in Detective Comics #300 by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff, his unique costume was capable of carrying a number of deadly and dangerous tools -- disguised as polka-dots. In his first appearance, he was even able to capture Robin and come close to killing him, only to be defeated by Batman.
A radically different version of Polka-Dot Man appears in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, whose life story and lingering trauma is truly tragic but also gives the movie its best running joke in the form of him seeing everyone as his mother.
In The Suicide Squad, Abner Krill is reimagined as one of the prisoners of Belle Reve. Outfitted with a power dampener to suppress his superhuman attributes, "Polka-Dot Man" is ridiculed by his fellow prisoners on the regular and considers himself to be the most mentally unbalanced of the Squad. It turns out that Abner was the son of a STARS Lab scientist who endeavored to give her children superpowers. Breaching into another dimension and infecting them with a peculiar virus, the attempt worked -- leading her children to develop massive colorful growths that they need to expel from their bodies regularly, lest they face the prospect of a gruesome and painful death.
The process left some of Abner's siblings dead, while some -- like himself -- developed the ability to produce the rainbow-colored energy. Capable of effectively "throwing" polka dots at someone, contact with the substance can melt through most substances. But the trauma of surviving this process as a lab rat for his mother has left Abner traumatized. He's come to see his mother everywhere -- imagining everyone he encounters (his teammates, his enemies, even eventually a giant rampaging Starro) as his mom. And it's something that frequently gives Abner a somber edge to his arc in the movie.
It makes sense that in a world where figures like Superman and Wonder Woman are some of the most powerful and beloved figures on the planet, scientists would be actively trying to recreate the situations that produce such powers. But it also means there are some pretty horrifying possible side effects, as evidenced by Abner's frequent pain and discomfort. Even when he does finally get the chance to have a positive effect on the world and proclaim himself a superhero for helping fight against Starro, it's a short-lived joy, as the alien promptly crushes him for attacking him. Polka-Dot Man dies an ignoble death, only seemingly mourned by Ratcatcher (Daniela Melchior).
But due to the tone and nature of the film, Polka-Dot Man's trauma is also used for comedic effect. The sheer absurdness of his powers is commented on, and the lengths he has to go to control them are portrayed in a bizarre light. Notably, his visions of his mother everywhere he goes generate big laughs three times in the film, with her appearing as all his teammates, dancing around him in a club and eventually attacking Corto Maltese in lieu of the giant Starro. It's a tricky balancing act that The Suicide Squad largely succeeds at handling thanks to the overall ridiculous nature of the universe around it. But it's still fascinating how one of the movie's most haunting tragedies is also one of its silliest aspects.
To see Polka-Dot Man's tragic origin, The Suicide Squad is in theaters now and streaming on HBO Max.
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