One wild Polka-Dot Man fan theory got shot down by The Suicide Squad’s director. James Gunn always interacts with fans on social media and this week is no different. A big fan theory for why the villain gets so upset when Milton dies during the film is that the bus driver is supposed to symbolize something from DC Comics history. Bill Finger actually created The Polka-Dot Man on the page. But, his actual first name was Milton So, a lot of fans thought that the theory made a ton of sense. For Gunn though, it’s just another example of people’s imaginations running wild when they don’t really need to. His actual reasoning for David Dastmalchian’s character freaking out in that tower is more character-focused than anything having to do with the “deep lore” of DC Comics.
Gunn said, “I don’t think PDM thought about Milton much more than anyone else. But he’s always for grabbing an opportunity for people to feel sorry for him, thus their “connection.” Talked about this w/
@dastmalchian before filming.”
Nope. https://t.co/GDxfUkMKh3
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) August 18, 2021
That makes a ton of sense. Poor Polka-Dot Man felt like he was a puppy always getting kicked over the course of The Suicide Squad. But, that was an intentional device according to Gunn. Give Dastmalchian a ton of credit for bringing a ton of emotion to a character that most people would consider a silly continuity nod in most circumstances. In a conversation with Total Film, he explained how he selected the poor Polka-Dot Man.
“Polka-Dot Man is great,” Gunn explained. “I went and looked online, ‘Who’s the dumbest DC character of all time?’ and it was Polka-Dot Man. We’ve turned that character who’s a sad, pathetic character into a character who’s depressed because people think he’s stupid. He has a very tragic story that you learn about throughout the film – to be able to add depth to characters who are thought of as the silliest is a fun thing for me to do.”
In the same conversation, Dastmalchian actually described the mindset of his character. “I can tell you that my character Abner is someone who has lived a lifetime with a lot of pain, a lot of shame, a lot of solitude because of a condition that he has,” Dastmalchian observed. “That condition was something that he decided at a certain point in time would be best suited to hurt other people or at least perform acts of crime, so that he could get some vengeance against a cruel and unfair world. Things haven’t gone great in Abner’s life basically since day one, so as we find him entering this story, he’s somebody that has never been a part of anything, so even in a bunch of really broken misfits and criminals, he’s maybe found one of the first moments in his life where he’s a part of something.”
Did you love Polka-Dot Man? Let us know down in the comments!
