Who Is Mongal? Mayling Ng’s Suicide Squad 2 Character & Powers Explained

Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Suicide Squad.

Who is Mongal, the character played by Mayling Ng in 2021’s The Suicide Squad? The only known daughter of the intergalactic despot Mongul, Mongal made her first appearance in Showcase ’95 #8 in September 1995 and was created by writer Peter J. Tomasi and artist Scot Eaton. Her mother was an unnamed chambermaid, who died, along with most of the population of Debstam IV, after Mongul accidentally introduced a germ to their planet that, while harmless to him, was quite lethal to the Debstamians. Mongul’s discovery that he had become a father was equally accidental, as he was surveying Debstam IV for survivors and found two unattended babies who resembled him in a hospital.

Little has been written about the upbringing of Mongal and her twin brother, Mongul the Younger, but she was reportedly raised in the traditions of Mongul’s people and her father personally trained her in the art of combat. After Mongul was defeated by Superman, his children went to Earth to try and avenge their father by alternatively killing Superman or conquering the Earth. They failed at both tasks. Despite this, Superman formed an uneasy alliance with Mongul’s children (among other enemies) during the Our Worlds At War event, to stand against the greater evil posed by a being named Imperiex.

It was during this storyline that Mongal began to build her own empire, after befriending Maxima, the warrior queen of the planet Almerac and one-time Justice League member. When Maxima died during the battle, her people gave the Crown of Almerac (traditionally awarded to the strongest woman on their planet) to Mongal and asked her to be their new queen. She accepted the responsibility and built the Almeracians into a cosmic-level threat, going on to fight Superman, Wonder Woman, and the Green Lantern Corps on multiple occasions. Unfortunately, for all of her power, she could not stand up to the might of her competitive twin brother, who decapitated her with a single blow, before taking command of her empire in Green Lantern (Vol. 4) #8.

James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad does not go into the background of the DCEU version of Mongal. Indeed, the staff of Belle Reve were uncertain if she was an alien or a god. However, a quick glance at her record as the staff took bets on which Task Force X members are going to die on the next mission revealed that she is an alien and that she was imprisoned on charges of Mass Homicide, War Crimes, Crimes Against Humanity, Destruction of Property, Aiding and Abetting, and Threatening An Official. These are all in line with the comic book character’s behavior and suggest that she was brought to justice after trying to take over the Earth.

In the comics, Mongal had sufficient super strength, super stamina, super speed, and enhanced durability to go toe-to-toe with Superman and survive. She was also a master tactician, as brilliant as her father in the ways of war. The DCEU version does not seem to be as strong or as smart, as she died after attempting to bring down a helicopter by tackling it. While she proved strong enough to survive this feat, she was not fireproof and she was burned to death after the helicopter crashed, becoming one of the many C-list supervillain characters to die a painful death in The Suicide Squad.

About The Author

Matt Morrison
(1835 Articles Published)

Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word
“blogging” was coined. He got his start writing for the
legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing,
before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on
to write for over a dozen websites, including 411
Mania, Comics
Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information
Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the
University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book
history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American
Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions
and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels
for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his
work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of
Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No
Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site
aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –
My Geeky Geeky Ways –
which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series
making up The Arrowverse as well as his
comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is
devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You
can follow his adventures on Twitter, @GeekyGeekyWays.

See also  Genshin Impact: Fleeting Colors in Flight Event Guide

More From Matt Morrison