Article by Eric Lee
Corto Maltese will be one of the mission locations in The Suicide Squad.
In the latest issue of Empire, director James Gunn discusses the team’s mission in the film. Task Force X will be gunning to destroy Jotunheim – a secret military lab.
In DC Comics, Germans built Jotunheim during World War II to house their top-secret experiments, and hold captives. It’s located in the fictional Middle Eastern nation of Qurac. Jontunheim is also in reference to the first mission in the Suicide Squad comics. It first appeared in Suicide Squad #1. However, according to the article, the movie version of Jotunheim will be located in Corto Maltese.
According to producer Peter Safran, the squad will need to tear down Jontunheim and destroy all of its experiments.
There they have to destroy a Nazi-era prison and laboratory named Jotunheim, where political prisoners were held and experimentations took place.
Director Gunn took it a step further, describing the facilities basement as a place where:
Some horrid secrets are revealed.
The History of Corto Maltese
In DKR, President Ronald Regan dispatched Superman to intervene in an active war zone. Unfortunately, the Soviets noticed Superman’s presence in the Corto Maltese conflict. In retaliation, they launched a nuclear missile towards America, causing a giant EMP blackout in the country, including Gotham City.
Corto Maltese is a fictional DC Comics country placed somewhere in South America. In the comics this nation often hosts many wars and political unrest. It first appeared in Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns. In DKR, President Ronald Regan dispatched Superman to intervene in an active war zone. Unfortunately, the Soviets noticed Superman’s presence in the Corto Maltese conflict. In retaliation, they launched a nuclear missile towards America, causing a giant EMP blackout in the country, including Gotham City.
Various DC films and television shows featured Corto Maltese in the past. The war-torn country made a brief cameo in 1989 Batman. It was the most recent photo assignment that Vicki Vale did before going to Gotham City. Images of the conflict featured in her portfolio that she showed to fellow reporter Alexander Knox and later the Joker. When the Joker saw the grisly images of Corto Maltese, he joked:
I don’t know if it’s art, but I like it!
Other DC shows have also made brief references to Corto Maltese, even Arrow and Smallville also made passing mentions of the country.
The Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 6, 2021.
Images May Be Subject To Copyright