Warning! Spoilers for War For Earth-3 #1 and Suicide Squad #13 by DC Comics below
DC’s War For Earth-3 crossover is coming soon as some of the publisher’s greatest heroes and villains will battle it out as the Suicide Squad’s Amanda Waller tries to gain power in the alternate universe. The event will see the likes of the Suicide Squad, Flash, and Teen Titans taking on the Crime Syndicate, while Waller continues her scheming to gain more firepower on Earth-3.
We spoke to writers Dennis Hopeless and Robbie Thompson about the upcoming five-issue crossover. The War For Earth-3 event will kick off with both War For Earth-3 #1 and Suicide Squad #13, which will see Waller’s plans finally become clear as multiple Suicide Squad teams emerge to take on the Crime Syndicate. Check out the preview and interview below.
War For Earth #3 Amanda Waller’s been planning something big on Earth-3 for some time, how does War From Earth #3 see her plans go to fruition?
Hopeless: Amanda’s not telling what she has planned just yet, so neither will I… But yeah, in this first issue we see Waller and her massive Multiversal Suicide Squad invade Earth 3’s Metropolis. She’s daring Ultraman and his Crime Syndicate to come do something about it. Mayhem ensues.
What about the other Suicide Squad trying to stop Waller? What role do they play in this?
Hopeless: Rick Flag has gone rogue. He’s recruited a team of ex-Squad members to try and stop Waller. After all these years under Waller’s thumb, watching as her definition of “whatever it takes” grows darker and deadlier, Flag has just had enough. His team are temporarily free of Waller’s neck bombs and plan to use that window to prevent the invasion. Unfortunately, as we saw at the end of SS #12, Waller saw them coming. She’s three steps ahead as usual, so as War for Earth 3 kicks off, Flag and his Squad are being swallowed up by a giant Clayface monster.
The Crime Syndicate are involved in this event as well, how will they react to their Earth being invaded?
Hopeless: It’s hard to rattle The Crime Syndicate. Most people are reasonably terrified of the Evil Justice League and their fascist Superman. Waller clearly isn’t, which makes the first issue pretty explosive. This conflict is my favorite thing in the event.
Thompson: Dennis came onto the book in Issue 11, and as we started to talk about this coming event, he really brought The Crime Syndicate alive as individual characters and as a sinister group. He dug deep into their history and came up with fantastic insight into their characters which led to a super-structure to the event. Hats off to Dennis, because this stuff really sings thanks to him.
What is Ultraman’s state of mind in the issue?
Hopeless: Ultraman is having himself a day when Waller’s Squad arrives. He’s furious and distracted and in absolutely no mood to deal with a multiversal invasion.
Thompson: Again, all this delightful stuff comes from Dennis and his desire from jump to make sure this event felt personal for the characters, and rooted in their lore. If my hat wasn’t already off to him, it would be again.
Can we expect any casualties in the event?
Hopeless: So many casualties.
Thompson: No one is safe. Including, and perhaps especially, me.
Who’s your favorite character to write?
Dennis: I had a ton of fun with The Crime Syndicate. If you made me pick one character, it’s probably Owlman… But Ultraman and Superwoman are quite a duo to dialogue.
Robbie: I’m under court order to say Ambush Bug. But the stuff I loved to READ was Dennis taking both the Squad and the Syndicate and running wild. I can’t wait to see what he does with the Squad next — should any of them survive this event!
What’s it like to write the ultimate Suicide Squad story?
Hopeless: I’m just thrilled and humbled to be a part of this team. Robbie Thompson is one of my favorite people in comics. He’s a brilliant writer and just the absolute best human. Co-writing with him is always a joy. And the art team on this series is absolutely top-notch. The fact that it’s also a Crime Syndicate versus Amanda Waller Suicide Squad event… That’s just ridiculous. I’m in heaven.
Thompson: It’s a blast working in this sandbox, and even more fun to get to work on this with Dennis. Don’t tell him I said this, but I adore Dennis as a writer and as a person. He was gracious enough to step in and work on this book and we were very fortunate he had a window to come and play. We’re working on this book together, but Dennis has been leading the charge, finding the voice of the Syndicate, and making the event work on a level I honestly wasn’t expecting. He’s just a top-level writer and collaborator. There have been so many moving parts behind the scenes on this book, and I’m so grateful to Editors Paul Kaminsky, Chris Rosa, Steve Buccellato for all their help and guidance as we land this plane.
Peacemaker and Ambush Bug end up on quite an adventure together, what was it like pairing the characters together?
Hopeless: I love writing oil and water team-ups. My comics career has been full of them, but they always sneak up on me. Porcupine and Spider-Woman. Forge and Dr. Nemesis. Arcade and Teenage Murder. I didn’t see any of those coming. It all happened on the page. Peacemaker and Ambush Bug is no exception. It makes so much sense that these two would be hilarious together, but it totally snuck up on us. I blame Robbie.
Thompson: And I totally blame, Dennis, and am super jealous of his idea to bring those two together. We hadn’t had as much opportunity to do so since Peacemaker was off on his own, but as soon as Dennis came up with the idea, and started to write their scenes, everyone on the team knew what he was doing was solid gold.
Can you talk about Rodriguez and her changes?
Hopeless: That’s all Robbie. He set that whole storyline up beautifully.
Thompson: This is something original series editor Mike Cotton and I talked about a long time ago. To take someone from Waller’s crew and slowly reveal them to be someone with their own agenda. We had wanted her to be pushed to this breaking point, to give herself powers, so to be able to get there in success was really gratifying.
How do the revelations about Match impact the character?
Hopeless: Match just found out his entire personality and backstory are a fabrication cooked up by Waller to make him more pliable. Now she’s yanked him away from his crush to go fight in a war he didn’t sign up for. I’d say he reacts to it about as well as any other teenager would.
Thompson: Honestly, I feel bad for Match. We’ve really beaten on him throughout this run, but he’s also proven to be a surprisingly emotional and durable character as well. I’m rooting for him to pull it out and survive!
Does Rick Flagg’s Suicide Squad team have a chance at winning?
Hopeless: Sure. Not a good chance… But, you know, anything is possible. Robbie: I mean, maybe?
Look, I can confirm at least he has a chance of winning most handsome, non-homicidal maniac of the Squad. Or at least a strong second or third.
Is Waller DC’s most self-centered character? It’s very easy to hate her in this book.
Hopeless: Waller is like Detective Batman if he wasn’t hamstrung by morality. She’s delightfully hateable when she’s wrong and even more so when she’s right.
Thompson: Couldn’t have said it any better. See? Dennis is the absolute best.
Thank you so much to Dennis Hopeless and Robbie Thompson for taking the time to chat about the upcoming DC Comics crossover event. The War For Earth-3 kicks off with War For Earth 3 #1 (of #3) (by Hopeless, Thompson, Steve Pugh, Dexter Soy, and Brent Peeples ) and Suicide Squad #13 (by Hopeless, Thompson, Eduardo Pansica, Julio Ferreira, Marcelo Maiolo, and Soy) coming to comic shops on March 1st, 2022. You can find more information about the crossover here.
