Secret Six still rivals the Suicide Squad after 21 years
Twenty-one years ago, DC introduced the Secret Six—villains hired by Mockingbird in Villains United—as a sharp rival to Task Force X. Unlike the Suicide Squad’s Waller-driven missions, Gail Simone’s team made Catman, Scandal Savage, and Rag Doll II feel newly compelling, and many fans still argue the Six is the cooler outfit.
Key Takeaways
- The Secret Six rose in the mid-2000s Infinite Crisis era as villains who battled other bad guys, not heroes alone.
- Gail Simone’s Villains United and later Secret Six series elevated Catman, Scandal Savage, Rag Doll II, and more.
- Unlike the Suicide Squad, the Six was less of an Amanda Waller showcase and more about the team’s own bonds and growth.
- ComicBook.com argues the Six can feel cooler as a team concept even if the Squad remains more historically important.
What rival did DC create for the Suicide Squad?
After Crisis on Infinite Earths reshaped DC in 1986, Legends helped relaunch shared-universe storytelling and introduced Amanda Waller, who would assemble the modern Suicide Squad for near-impossible missions.
By the 2000s, that Squad had been off the main stage for years. In the build-up to Infinite Crisis, readers got a new villain outfit: the Secret Six, framed as a 21st-century answer to the Squad until Task Force X roared back in the 2010s.
That revival path is laid out in detail by ComicBook.com, which revisits how the Six fought fellow villains and pulled C- and D-list characters into the spotlight.
How did the Secret Six follow—and break from—the Squad?
The classic Secret Six began as adventurers serving a mysterious Mockingbird. After Countdown to Infinite Crisis #1, a new Mockingbird hired Deadshot, Catman, Cheshire, Scandal Savage, Rag-Doll II, and Parademon to oppose Lex Luthor’s Society in Simone and Dale Eaglesham’s Villains United miniseries.
Simone’s scripts made Catman cool and locked in sharp villain chemistry. Secret Six returned as a 2007 miniseries, a 2008 ongoing that ran into the New 52, a 2015 Simone revival, and a later miniseries with a different creative team. Additions such as Bane and Black Alice kept the high-stakes “suicide run” energy without copying Waller’s government leash.
Why do some fans say the Secret Six is better?
The Suicide Squad is still more important in DC history. ComicBook.com’s case is that the Six is often cooler: less Waller-centric, closer to villains doing hero-adjacent work and changing over time—more like the Thunderbolts after Zemo’s fall than a pure Task Force X clone.
Where the Squad boosted stars such as Deadshot but rarely reinvented the rest of the roster, the Six rebuilt personalities and lasting relationships. Making readers care about Catman or Rag Doll II is the proof point the feature leans on.
For more celebrity and pop-culture breaking coverage, browse BlasterPost’s Celebrity Breaking News hub.