Taylor Swift has squad goals, but Warner Bros. has Suicide Squad goals. Mainly, the goal of putting your butt in a movie theater seat when the latest DC Comics flick hits the big screen on August 5, 2016. Thankfully, excitement for the David Ayer-directed movie is already at a fever pitch, thanks to rumors of on-set shenanigans, Queen-backed trailers, and a coveted spot on The Dan Cave summer movie guide. (In fact there’s so much hype that Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is getting a spin-off movie of her very own.) DC Comics’ varied supervillains, murderers, and monsters have been around in one form or another since 1959, and they are finally getting their time in the limelight as the latest entry in the DC Extended Universe. But apart from the over-the-top trailers, Rick Ross music videos, and Jared Leto-fueled insanity, not many people know who the Suicide Squad members really are.

Where did they come from? Who are they? Why do they exist? Did they used to fight lots and lots of dinosaurs? The answer to that last one in particular will definitely surprise you. So before you go see Suicide Squad next month, take a moment to learn about the wild, whacked out history of DC’s band of black ops brothers who get sent on the gnarliest missions this side of Earth-1 on today’s episode of The Dan Cave.

What are you favorite Suicide Squad stories? Who do you think will bite the dust in the movie? Let us know in the comments below, or come by our epic Camp Conival event at San Diego Comic-Con next week and tell me in person!

Images: DC Comics

Sources: DC Comics; Wikia; Comic Vine; IGN

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Dan Casey is the senior editor of Nerdist and the author of books about Star Wars and the Avengers. Follow him on Twitter (@Osteoferocious).