They are described as the ‘Worst. Heroes. Ever’. The darkest members of the DC Comics’ cadre – the Suicide Squad, a team of dangerous super villains, currently residing in maximum security penitentiary Belle Reve, brought together by US Intelligence officer Amanda Waller to fight a mysterious and powerful enemy that threatens the world’s safety… Who are these people; and are they capable of working together as a team?

“The Suicide Squad is essentially a team—though a wholly reluctant one—of DC’s super-villains,” explains writer/director David Ayer. “Because, who better to defeat one super-villain than another or, in this case, a whole gang of super-villains? It was pretty exciting for me, because it let me explore a different version of the superhero movie; they’re the absolute flipside of heroes.”

Ayer has assembled a powerful ensemble for the latest entry in the DC Comics big-screen canon. Will Smith stars as master marksman Deadshot, the world’s greatest assassin. He loves his job… yet, as Smith explains, “he has a daughter he loves more than anything, and he wants desperately to be a great father. But at the same time he keeps the lights on by being a hitman. He’s deeply conflicted by the paradox of his love for Zoe and the fact that he gets pleasure out of ridding the world of trash.”

Explores a different version of the superhero movie; they’re the absolute flipside of heroes

Margot Robbie, the Australian actress whose star has been on the rise since her breakthrough role opposite Leonardo di Caprio in 2013’s The Wolf of Wall Street stars as former psychiatrist Dr Harleen Quinzel. Her transformation into the crazed Harley Quinn is the result of her twisted and dangerous relationship with the Joker, a man she was once assigned to analyse but with whom she fell madly in love.

As for the Joker himself, actor Jared Leto bravely takes on the mantle of a character so memorably brought to life a few short years ago by the late Heath Ledger. “The Joker is iconic, a legend,” states Leto. “He’s been around for 75 years, and there are so many variations of his story. The Joker is Mount Everest: one of those impossible ideas where you most likely can’t achieve what you set out to do. It was terrifying and exciting and a total honour to take on that role.”

Margot Robbie, as Harley Quinn, on set.

Recreating the character for this new film also proved to be a challenge for Ayer. “The Joker is a fascinating, complex guy, but it was terrifying to work with that character because he’s one of the best-known villains in Western fiction,” he explains. “He has this incredible history, and the trick was to be respectful of the legacy of the Joker and the canon and everything that has come before.”

No stranger to playing tough and ruthless characters, Viola Davis plays Waller, the Intelligence operative who has no qualms in assembling a team of criminal renegades and blackmailing them into doing a dark, dirty and dangerous job. Despite her murky motivations, Davis explains that “Waller is a superhero that doesn’t have superhero powers. She doesn’t have any special abilities other than to lead and control this squad of people who do have superpowers. It’s her way of fighting evil.”

Suicide Squad also stars Swedish actor Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag, the military officer assigned by Waller to lead the mission; a man who has nothing but contempt for this band of dangerous criminals he believes are incapable of doing any good. Jay Hernandez is Diablo, a man with pyro-kinetic abilities unable to control his gift – yet he is the one member of the squad who truly tries to be a decent person

Adam Beach plays Slipknot, a master escape artist who can climb anything with a series of ropes of his own chemical design; while Australian Jai Courtney plays Aussie Captain Boomerang, described as Ayer as being a rogue and troublemaker.

Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje plays the cannibalistic beast Killer Croc, a man who suffers a genetic mutation that give him scales over his skin. Karen Fukuhara plays the deadly Samurai fighter Katana; and Cara Delevingne plays the dual role of Dr. June Moone and the ancient goddess Enchantress who possesses her.

The filmmakers are confident that the film will appeal not just to fans of the original comics. “When you make a movie based on a comic, you hope you’re going to get that core audience of the fans, especially if you honour the source material,” says Ayer. But I believe a good movie also has to appeal to everybody, that these characters should be accessible to people who have never picked up a comic book—that was my goal here. As in the comics themselves, there’s a lot of action and conflict, and the fighting gets seriously intense, but my hope is we’ve both respected and transcended the genre and made a fantastic film that lots of moviegoers can enjoy.”