One of Suicide Squad‘s biggest strengths is arguably also one of its biggest weaknesses: its ensemble cast. Never has a superhero film attempted to introduce such a large team in just one go, and it’s a team full of supervillains, at that. Screen time will be at a premium, so viewers might not have too much time to appreciate the transformations the actors went through to portray their characters.

David Ayer has assembled a strong cast to star in Suicide Squad: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney, Cara Delevingne, Jay Hernandez, Karen Fukuhara, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Adam Beach. Though some are instantly recognizable names, the rest will have to trust in Ayer to give them enough of the spotlight in the film.

The transformations the Suicide Squad cast members went through vary wildly "” from Leto fully immersing himself in the Joker and Akinnuoye-Agbaje getting heavy prosthetic makeup as Killer Croc, to Kinnaman and Beach donning Kevlar and toting guns as Rick Flag and Slipknot, respectively.

As the third installment in the DC Extended Universe finally hits cinemas on August 5, 2016, moviegoers will be looking to get to know this ragtag team of criminals forced to complete suicidal missions. We’ve compiled the following gallery to compare what each cast member had to undergo to look the part of his or her character.

Hit NEXT to check out what the Suicide Squad cast looks like in real life.