Take a close — nope, even closer — look at the poster for "The Suicide Squad," and you'll notice several Easter eggs. One is the raining starfish — an obvious reference to Starro, the big bad, mind-controlling monster Task Force X battles at the end of the film. Another seems to be referring to the beloved DC Comics miniseries that introduced the modern "Suicide Squad" and contained some of their earliest misadventures.
First spotted by the site Comics Beat, the reference can be found masquerading as a palm tree frond just under the word "The" in the poster tagline: "They're dying to save the world." Look super close, and you'll see it: The word "Legends."
Most likely, this Easter egg refers to the warmly-remembered, six-issue Legends comic series DC released in 1986 and 1987. The comics featured new takes on the Flash, Justice League, and Captain Marvel, but perhaps most significantly introduced the Suicide Squad in issue #3.
The series had DC heroes battling Darkseid, and the third issue had Amanda Waller organizing a Black Ops team to take on Glorious Godfrey — one of Darkseid's elite and a New God of Apokolips. She selected Rick Flag, Bronze Tiger, Deadshot, Enchantress, and Captain Boomerang for the mission — many of whom are also featured in Gunn's film and/or appeared in David Ayer's previous "Suicide" mission.
Comics fans love to see a tip of the cap to those who came before, and this minor acknowledgement of John Ostrander, Len Wein, John Byrne, Karl Kesel, and others who helped build the modern "Squad" is a nice touch. Gunn is undoubtedly one of the most comic book-savvy super fans working in Hollywood today, and this seems to be an acknowledgement that the publishing of "Legends" (which would have come out when he was about 20 years old) was a formative experience.
