Polka-Dot Man

> I'm a superhero! I'm a motherfucking super-!
>
> Polka Dot Man's final words, The Suicide Squad

**Abner Krill**, also known as the **Polka-Dot Man**, was a metahuman criminal who could grow multi-colored polka-dots from his body due to an inter-dimensional virus, and weaponize them. He was also a member of the second Task Force X strike team sent to Corto Maltese to destroy Project Starfish. Krill played an important role in the mission and during the confrontation with Starro was able to damage the alien creature, fulfilling his dream of becoming a superhero right before he was crushed by Starro.

## Biography

### Early life

#### Childhood

> My mother was a scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs, and she was obsessed with turning me and my brothers and sisters into superheroes. She infected me. Now, if I don't, you know, expel the dots twice a day...*"
> "*Then what?*"
> "*They'll eat me alive.
>
> Abner Krill and Robert DuBois, The Suicide Squad

Abner Krill was the son of a woman who was obsessed with superheroes. She was a scientist for S.T.A.R. Labs, and used her research to attempt to turn her children into superheroes. Krill was infected with an inter-dimensional virus that causes glowing polka dots and lumps to form on and under his skin. Although some of his siblings survived the experimentation, others died as a result of the experiments.

Krill survived, but was forced to expel the polka-dots twice per day for the rest of his life, in order to keep the virus causing them from eating him from within. As a result of his mother's experiments and witnessing the suffering and death of his siblings, Krill has PTSD. He sees his mother in every face he looks into. He dislikes killing, but can manage to do it if he imagines the targets are his mother, implying he might've killed her at some point.

#### Imprisoned in Belle Reve

Krill was eventually imprisoned in Belle Reve Penitentiary. He was fitted with a power dampener around his neck, likely to suppress the virus and eliminate his need to expel the polka dots.

### Corto Maltese's mission

#### Recruited into Task Force X

> We're all gonna die."
> "I hope so."
> "Oh, for fuck's sake.
>
> Bloodsport and Polka-Dot Man, The Suicide Squad

 File:Polka-Dot Man I hope so - TSS.png
In 2021, Krill was recruited by Amanda Waller as a support member for a new Suicide Squad and he and the team were briefed on the mission. He traveled with the team to Corto Maltese to destroy the Nazi-era prison and laboratory known as Jotunheim, along with the secretive Project Starfish.

#### Finding Rick Flag

 File:Task Force X trekking.jpg
After Task Force X infiltrate Corto Maltese, the group commanded by Flag is badly ambushed and as a result, the majority of the team are killed. Rick Flag is captured, and Waller instructs the team — comprising of Polka-Dot Man and the others — to divert and find Flag as a matter of urgency.

 File:Polka Dot Virus.jpg
During the night, the team make camp, and Polka-Dot Man is witnessed vomiting violently whilst the other members of the team are sleeping. Bloodsport witnesses this, and the following day, questions Polka-Dot Man about the outburst. Polka-Dot Man explains that he must expel the polka-dot's twice daily to stop them from consuming him.

 File:Task Force X lower their weapons - TSS.png  As a combined effort, Polka-Dot Man and the other members of Task Force X find the base they believe Flag is being held captive at. They kill numerous men but are surprised to find that Flag has been rescued by the resistance, not the Corto Maltese government. They are surprised, but are able to convince the remainder of the resistance to join them in their quest against Jotunheim.

#### Capturing Thinker and saving Harley Quinn

 File:The Suicide Squad in the snow.png
With Flag safe, Task Force X set out to save Harley Quinn, who has been captured by the Corto Maltese government. They find her in a heavily guarded building, but are successful in saving her when she kills most of the guards herself. With the Thinker captured by the other members of the team, and Quinn safe, the team leaves to infiltrate Jotunheim.

#### Infiltration in Jotunheim

 File:Harley, Polka-Dot Man, and Bloodsport run - TSS.png
Arriving at Jotunheim, the team prepared explosives around the building. While setting explosives around the building Polka-Dot man accidentally dropped a bag of explosives which warned the soldiers in the room of their presence. Bloodsport, Polka-Dot Man, and Harley Quinn all were able to hide behind cover but Milton was shot dead in the hallway. Polka-Dot Man avenged his death by killing soldiers and spoke to Bloodsport and Harley about how cool Milton was. He was interrupted by the appearance of more enemy soldiers, As Polka-Dot Man prepared to shoot more Polka Dots at them a horrified Harley tried to warn him to stop as the bag of explosives was in front of them, however she was too late to stop him from firing the dots which ignited the explosives on the floor, the explosion knocked everyone back and caused all the other explosives spread on the building to also detonate prematurely.

Polka-Dot Man and Harley narrowly avoided falling off a chunk of Joutenheim that collapsed while Bloodsport fell through several floors as the whole building crumbled. The group later reunited after Bloodsport took down Peacemaker following his betrayal and murdering of Rick Flag, just in time for Starro's containment cell to be broken by the premature explosions forcing everyone to flee in haste as Starro escaped the underground and made it to the surface.

#### Facing Starro

 File:The Suicide Squad runs towards Starro.png
A now freed Starro proceeded to release its spores to mind control everyone in the nearby area except for the Task Force X members who were able to either kill spores flying into their trajectory or protect their faces. Amanda Waller demanded that Taskforce X leave Starro behind to doom everyone in Corto Maltese, but Bloodsport refused to walk away and turned back to go fight Starro. An infuriated Waller lashed out at everyone to no avail as the rest of Taskforce X including Polka-Dot man joined Bloodsport to stop Starro's rampage, meanwhile Waller's staff knocked her unconscious before she could detonate their neck bombs.

 File:Polka-Dot Man attacks Starro.png  Fighting alongside the other members of Task Force X against Starro, Polka-Dot Man ran to a nearby pole to take cover, Bloodsport said "You see who that is??? ITS YOUR MOM!!!" making Abner picture Starro in his mind as his mom destroying a building, he then fired a bunch of polka dots at his mom/Starro and her leg disintegrated , as all of the mind controlled victims of Starro and Starro yelled in pain, Abner cheerfully remarked "I'M A SUPERHERO!!! .. I'M A MOTHER FUCKING SUPER-" right before being crushed by one of Starro's legs, killing him instantly.

After Starro's defeat, Ratcatcher 2 briefly mourned Abner's death over a small piece of his costume that was left behind.

## Personality

> I thought you were the crazy one."
> "I am.
>
> Ratcatcher 2 and Polka-Dot Man, The Suicide Squad

Abner Krill is very timid, soft-spoken, dourly dispirited, and doesn't seem very confident in his metahuman abilities, due to his powers being viewed as a joke by his fellow inmates as they constantly mock his abilities and call him names. As a result he often appears nervous in battle. He is miserable and has a death wish, wanting to die on his Task Force X mission. He is also a cynic, taking up the mantle of "the crazy one" with no issue or debate, though like Ratcatcher 2, Abner is not a violent hardened criminal and has a good heart as he does not enjoy killing.

Due to his traumatic upbringing, Abner suffered a form of Fregoli delusion, viewing person he saw as his mother.

## Powers and abilities

### Powers

* **Weaponized polka-dots manifestation**: As a result of being exposed to an interdimensional virus by his mother, Krill developed a condition that causes him to grow multi-colored polka-dots and glowing pustules on his body over time. With the help of his gauntlets, Krill can project the multi-colored dots as destructive projectiles from his hands. Krill's polka-dots were incendiary in nature, being able to disintegrate anything they come in contact with. The Polka Dots were shown to be destructive enough to quickly melt down Starro's skin when Bloodsport's weapons and King Shark's bites only mildly injured it before.

### Abilities

* **Expert engineer**: Krill is an experienced engineer, being able to construct his uniform and a pair of advanced technological gauntlets that help him project his polka-dots.

#### Weakness

* **Mental illness**: Abner suffered from severe psychological trauma stemming from his mother's experimentation on him and his siblings, as well as watching several of his siblings die as a result of said experimentation. This trauma resulted in his quiet, soft-spoken and awkward demeanor. It also resulted him perceiving everyone around him as his mother, as well as possible depression and suicidal thoughts.
* **Power limitation**: Due to the nature of Abner's condition, if he did not expel polka dots twice a day they would build up in his body to the point that they devoured him internally, killing him. Without the use of his gauntlets, Abner would be forced to vomit out his dots.

## Equipment

### Other equipment

* **Uniform**: Krill wears a polka-dotted uniform with bright red goggles that protect his identity and cements his supervillain status.
* **Gauntlets**: On each wrist, Krill wears gauntlets that glow and assist him in the projection of his weaponized polka-dots.

## Relationships

* Unnamed siblings †

Allies* Task Force X - teammates and friends
	+ Rick Flag † - team leader
	+ Christopher Smith/Peacemaker
* Robert DuBois/Bloodsport - former team leader and friend
* Cleo Cazo/Ratcatcher 2 - former teammate and friend
* Nanaue/King Shark - former teammate and friend
* Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn - former teammate and friend
* Maltese Resistance - former enemies and victims turned allies
	+ Sol Soria
	+ Milton † - friend
* John Economos - mission coordinator and manipulator turned ally
* Flo Crawley - mission coordinator and manipulator turned ally
* Emilia Harcourt - mission coordinator and manipulator turned ally
	+ Amanda Waller - manipulator
	+ Fitzgibbon - physician
* Belle Reve
	+ Calendar Man - rival
	+ Double Down - rival
	+ Karma - rival
* Starro † - target and killer
* Corto Maltese Armed Forces
	+ Silvio Luna †
	+ Mateo Suarez †
* Gaius Grieves/Thinker † - kidnappee and manipulatee

## Behind the scenes

* David Dastmalchian has vitiligo and felt a personal connection to Polka-Dot Man, as he had been bullied and called "polka dots" as a child due to this condition. James Gunn was not aware of this when he cast Dastmalchian in the role.
* Adam Hart was a stunt double for David Dastmalchian in the role of Polka-Dot Man.
* It was confirmed in the deleted scenes that Abner killed his mother, mentioned by Gaius Greeves, though Abner then states it was out of self-defense.

## References

Gunn, James (writer and director) (August 6, 2021). *The Suicide Squad*.
2. ↑ The Suicide Squad's David Dastmalchian has a personal connection to Polka-Dot Man

## External links

The ***DC Extended Universe Wiki** has a collection of images and media related to* **Polka-Dot Man***.*

* File:Favicon.png Polka-Dot Man on DC Database
* File:WP favicon.png Polka-Dot Man on Wikipedia

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