Superman Disproves a Major Suicide Squad Movie Criticism
Warning: spoilers ahead for Superman and the Authority #2!
In Superman and the Authority #2, Superman disproves a big complaint that fans had about the original Suicide Squad movie. David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was met with a lot of criticism, and much of it was directed towards Task Force X's roster. Although a few team members had superpowers, most of the team was comprised of non-powered villains, which contradicted an early scene in which Amanda Waller implied they had been assembled as a direct response to the theoretical threat posed by Superman.
Superman is notoriously hard to take down. In the Man of Steel’s entire comic book history, very few villains have been able to go toe-to-toe with him in person. Villains like Lex Luthor often target Clark with Kryptonite, but Superman is also just as vulnerable to magic as any normal human. It's this detail that dispels criticism of Waller's original DCEU team, which included an incredibly powerful magical user - one even Superman respects as a true powerhouse.
In Superman and the Authority #2 by Grant Morrison, Mikel Janin, Fico Ossio, Evan Cagle, and Travel Foreman, Superman and Manchester Black recruit members for their newly formed Authority team. As they go through their choices, Superman picks out the Enchantress (aka June Moon) as a powerful candidate. Their goals are to recruit a set of so-called heroes who can replicate Superman's power level and give him a second chance to save the world. The Man of Steel obviously perceives Enchantress as a major asset, going on a quest to Hell to recruit her.
While the Enchantress ditches the Suicide Squad quickly in Ayer's movie, that obviously wasn't Waller's intention, and it's June's presence that makes the cinematic team a unit who might stand a chance against Superman. Even alone, Enchantress could take Superman down in myriad ways, but with the help of other metahumans with experience in metahuman combat, Task Force X wasn't underpowered, even if the movie had other problems. The fact that Superman wants to recruit June for his final, ultra-powerful team shows what a force of nature she can be.
Ultimately, it’s clear that Superman realizes having a magic user is always a good move, as they subvert the usual rules of power applied in comics, able to take down otherwise unbeatable foes. Superman wants Enchantress on his team, but he also didn't feel able to tangle with the forces who took her captive without Apollo, Midnighter, Steel and Manchester Black at his side. Despite all the issues Suicide Squad had, the idea that the team were ludicrously underpowered for their stated mission of addressing Superman-level threats simply isn't true, and Superman and the Authority #2 shows even the Man of Steel knows it.