Suicide Squad actor David Dastmalchian may relate to Polka-Dot Man

You may not know him by name, but if you’re a fan of superhero movies, you’ve definitely seen David Dastmalchian. This weekend, he appears as the hapless supervillain Polka-Dot Man in James Gunn’s. Suicide squad.

But the actor began his career not long ago, in the Christopher Nolan film. The dark knight. Between then and now, he has appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a member of Scott Lang’s team in both Ant-Man films, he appeared in Gotham Y The flash (as the supervillain Abra Kadabra), and voices the villain Calendar Man in Warner Bros. ‘animated adaptation of The long Halloween.

As a lifelong comic book fan (he has even written his own comic series), Dastmalchian says his killer’s row of comic book papers feels like “I won the lottery and yet I didn’t win the lottery once. Now I’ve won the lottery, probably if I counted, a dozen times. ”

Still, Abner Krill, the deeply trampled convict, (literally) spitting out points of Suicide squad, has a special place in your heart.

“Meeting someone so haunted by doubts and so lost in the world,” Dastmalchian told Polygon by phone, “for me, it was deeply engaging. I think it’s something that we can all relate to in such an intimate way. […] Abner doesn’t feel like he really has much to live for when he’s introduced to you in this movie, and he really doesn’t have much. It is the butt of the joke. I have felt this way. We have all felt this way. We’ve all been to a place where it’s like Because I am here? What am I doing? What is the purpose of the talents I have? And if I have any, are they really valid, viable or of any use to the world? ”

Polka-Dot Man’s talents have changed a bit since his comic book incarnation for the movie. Instead of each individual polka-dot in his costume hiding a cleverly shrunken weapon or tool, Abner can cast a shower of polka dots from his hands that disintegrate everything they touch. And if you don’t shoot stitches at least twice a day, you get a bulbous rash of moles and vomit them up.

But Dastmalchian is proud of his cosmically cursed persona; To him, Polka-Dot Man might be the world’s worst villain, but he’s the best of what the Suicide Squad story has to offer.

“There is a list somewhere [where Polka Dot Man is] voted worst villain […] And man, what a badge of honor. What a wonderful character to tell a story, because that’s what all these characters are. That’s the beauty of Suicide squad, the beauty of the [John] Ostrander ran it. That’s the beauty of what James Gunn can bring. ”

And for Dastmalchian, we are all in the Suicide Squad.

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

“These are characters that are thrown overboard. They are discarded. It’s like, if you succeed in the mission, great. You may have a little free time on your sentence. If it doesn’t, it’s dead, and if it doesn’t do what we like, it’s dead anyway. This is how many of us feel in the world. How can we not be part of the system in which we all live and in which we have to exist without feeling completely disposable? As soon as you are a liability to the corporate structure, as soon as you are a liability to the system, as soon as you are a liability to, you know, Man, I don’t mean that our heads will necessarily be detonated, but we can just be discarded. , as if we were nothing in this society. And that’s a terrifying reality. ”

As a mostly joking question, I asked Dastmalchian if Suicide squad Being rated R for (among other things) nudity had something to do with Polka-Dot Man.

“I cannot confirm or deny Polka’s nudity,” he answered bravely, but even that sparked a strong connection between him and the Polka-Dot Man.

“I grew up with, and have, an autoimmune disorder called vitiligo,” shared Dastmalchian, “which is a condition that affects the pigmentation of my body. I’m covered in moles from head to toe. I was teased and nicknamed as a kid, and as an adult, that made fun of the fact that I have these large, blotchy spots on my body. And james [Gunn] I didn’t know this about myself, but when I was cast as a Polka-Dot Man, I finally got to embrace my polka dots. I’m proud of them now, and I’ve turned what used to be a really debilitating insecurity about them into something that I think makes me unique and different. I’m proud of them and I try not to cover them up anymore. So it was also great for me to be able to bring that personal point of view to Abner. ”