Who the heck is Deadshot?! An intro to Will Smith's 'Suicide Squad' assassin

Every A-lister seems to want in on a superhero movie these days, but probably not many people had Will Smith pegged as an antiheroic hitman.

Hitch as a supervillain? NO WAY!



Yes, the Artist Formerly Known as the Fresh Prince has been cast as Deadshot in Warner Bros.' baddies-doing-good-deeds-for-the-government action flick Suicide Squad, along with a number of other high-profile names.

Jared Leto as the Joker is odd, too, though mainly because Heath Ledger (RIP) was so great. Margot Robbie as nutty blonde Harley Quinn isn't much of a stretch. And one could imagine square-jawed Tom Hardy as Rick Flagg, a, unstable leader of men.

For those who've missed out on issues of Suicide Squad over the years — which is probably most of you — Deadshot is the codename for Floyd Lawton, an old Batman villain who first appeared in comic books in 1950. He's known for not missing a target, has a death wish, had a bit of a dalliance with Harley Quinn at one point and has a daughter he cares for pretty much more than anything — other than a violent job well done.

Maybe it's Smith wanting to break out from his good-guy mold (see: Independence Day, I Am Legend, Men in Black, Bad Boys, etc.) or perhaps this is a new, Big Willie Style Deadshot and not Floyd Lawton, though he really needs the whole red-lens eyepiece thingy, which is kinda money.

Smith spent most of Hancock being a ornery jerk with superpowers so it's maybe not that much of a stretch for him to now be the Fresh Prince of Belle Reve. Then again, he's going to have to work hard to make us forget about this:



And this:



And also this:



Yet if director David Ayer gets Warner Bros' first choice to play the Squad's head hard-case Amanda Waller — none other than Oprah Winfrey, if you believe Variety — then anything's possible.