Rick Flag

Rick Flag is the name of several characters featured in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by Robert Kanigher and Ross Andru, he made his first appearance in The Brave and the Bold #25 (September, 1959). While originally a single character, due to the nature of his resurgence in John Ostrander's Suicide Squad run, the history was retroactively altered to feature two Rick Flags as relatives, one existing during the World War II era and in contemporary times respectively.

The most-well known version, Richard Rogers Flag Jr. (Rick Flag Jr.), is the field commander of the modern Task Force X (Suicide Squad), a black-ops team which uses super-villains as expendable agents for dangerous missions in return for a commuted sentence. Differing in not being a criminal asset coerced and having an exemplary military record, he is considered one of Amanda Waller's loyal and trusted operatives. Due to the character's existence in contemporary times, he has been altered to either be the son or grandson of the "original" Rick Flag. The second version of the character, Richard Montgomery Flag Sr (or simply Rick Flag Sr.), is the father (or grandfather) of Rick Flag Jr who was retroactively stated to have led the original Suicide Squad (codenamed Squad S) during World War II, composed of expendable soldiers whose experience with them left an impression on him. Rick eventually fathered his son, whom he named after him. His history as the original squad leader would influence his son's eventual placement within a new iteration decades later.

The character made his live-action debut in the television series Smallville, played by Ted Whittall. Joel Kinnaman portrayed Rick Flag Jr. in the DC Extended Universe films Suicide Squad (2016) and The Suicide Squad (2021), while Frank Grillo plays his father, Rick Flag Sr., in the DC Universe (DCU) animated series Creature Commandos (2024–present) and the film Superman (2025). Both reprise their roles in the second season of Peacemaker (2025), set in the DCU.