James Gunn Reveals the Secret Spinoff That DC Studios Has Discussed And It Could Change Established Characters

Though The Suicide Squad is technically part of the DCEU/Snyderverse, James Gunn has freely taken elements of it and brought them into his DCU, most notably Peacemaker and his history with Rick Flag Jr. It seems like he isn’t done yet, with the next potential character to return being Polka-Dot Man, played by David Dastmalchian. Gunn wrote the character into The Suicide Squad script after determining that he was considered “the dumbest DC character of all time,” because he has a particular affinity for adding depth to characters who seem silly on the surface. And Condiment King and Kite Man already had their own spotlight moments in other projects.

Speaking on “The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon? The Official Podcast,” Gunn revealed the way he has talked about bringing back the seemingly dead Abner Krill, a.k.a. Polka-Dot Man. The idea would be to develop a TV show about Abner’s mother, possibly entitled The Krills.

Polka-Dot Man’s Backstory Runs Deep in the Gunn-Verse

Polka-Dot Man, originally named Mr. Polka Dot, was created in 1962 by Bill Finger and Sheldon Moldoff. This was at the height of the kid-friendly era, and a character with magic, peel-off spots didn’t require too detailed a real-world explanation. Though he’s typically been considered as a silly, goofy character, his visual appeal has led to him appearing in plenty of spin-off media, from The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries to Teen Titans Go! and Kite Man: Hell Yeah! In The Suicide Squad, however, Gunn added a layer of tragic backstory, as he tends to do. (We’re still wrecked by Rocket Raccoon’s movie origin.)

According to The Suicide Squad, Abner’s mother was a S.T.A.R. labs scientist who experimented on her children to try to make them into superheroes. In Abner’s case, this led to infection with an interdimensional virus that grows glowing, explosive dots inside his body that he has to vomit out on a regular basis, though he later developed gauntlets that could fire them out of his body as weapons instead. A deleted scene made clear that Abner eventually killed his mother; Abner himself was killed by Starro after redeeming himself and becoming a hero. A Krills series, according to Gunn, “would be about (Polka-Dot Man’s) mother and their many superhero children. So it’s been discussed, that’s not in active development, but we’ve talked about it because I think it would be interesting to see what happened to the rest of his family. Where did they go, what were they like back then?”

Here’s the kicker: “I may have other people that I think are Krills already in the DCU.” An obvious choice for speculation would be the facially colorful Kaleidoscope, briefly glimpsed in the movie. However, this could also be the chance to introduce other characters without iconic backstories. As for existing ones, how much do we really know about John Economos’ childhood? Since the series would focus on a canonically dead character in Mother Krill, there’s no need for magical hijinks to somehow bring Abner back — it would be a prequel to current canon. And perhaps a way to get a new Polka-Dot man (or woman) into the modern DCU.

Would you like to see a show about the Krills? Cross your t’s and dot your i’s as you add your thoughts to comments!