Even though it was still shocking, James Gunn's The Suicide Squad spoiled a major character's death halfway through the movie. When a film has a name like The Suicide Squad, it shouldn't come as much of a surprise when characters die, possibly even major ones. After all, the entire idea behind the titular team is that they're considered expendable by their handler Amanda Waller, and the U.S. government as a whole. Obviously, they're meant to succeed in completing their missions, but if they die, it's merely collateral damage.
Surprisingly, the 2016 Suicide Squad movie actually didn't see any major deaths occur, outside of perhaps El Diablo, although some people question whether that was even a permanent demise. For The Suicide Squad, Gunn decided to take Task Force X into a deadlier direction, with several popular members of the cast being killed off. Though it wasn't quite the X-Force in Deadpool 2-style immediate bloodbath, the opening beach massacre did come close. The biggest death would occur near the end of The Suicide Squad, though, when team leader Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) was killed.
Flag was taken out by his fellow former soldier Peacemaker (John Cena), operating on orders from Waller (Viola Davis) to ensure the destruction of certain damaging information that would be harmful to the government. Having some sense of morality, Flag wanted to expose the truth, and for that, he was brutally murdered. Yet, those paying close attention to The Suicide Squad might've seen Flag's death coming. About halfway through the film, Flag has a dialogue exchange with Bloodsport (Idris Elba) that, unbeknownst to Flag, lays out exactly what happens to him later.
The exchange in question between Rick Flag and Bloodsport comes during a period where Flag finally opens up a bit and bonds with his team, sharing drinks at a bar before they further press forward on their mission. It's one of the scenes many believe saved Kinnaman's Rick Flag as a character after his overly gruff characterization in the first Suicide Squad turned many viewers off. Flag toasts, saying to his comrade, "Here's to being alive in three hours." Bloodsport replies with, "I'll be alive. You speak for yourself."
Sure enough, by the end of The Suicide Squad, Flag has been killed, and Bloodsport is still very much alive. While in context the exchange was simply a display of macho bravado by Bloodsport, it still eerily foreshadowed what came later for both characters. Neither man had any way of knowing for sure if they would survive their mission, but both definitely hoped they would, and even if neither would admit it, probably did care if the other did, too. This is shown by Bloodsport's infuriated reaction to Peacemaker killing Flag. While Flag's story appears to be over after The Suicide Squad, Peacemaker, who was a bit conflicted about being ordered to kill his leader, will soon gain a chance for redemption in his own Peacemaker HBO Max TV show. -Screen Rant
