Deadly Viper Assassination Squad - Cultural References

Cultural References

The five assassins of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad are a reference to the Five Deadly Venoms, a group of five Hong Kong action actors employed by Run Run Shaw in many old Shaw Brothers martial arts films that were part of the inspiration for Kill Bill. The actors first worked together in a movie called The Five Deadly Venoms, and were referred to as such when seen in later movies together. In another Tarantino movie, Pulp Fiction, Mia Wallace (also played by Uma Thurman) states that she worked on a pilot episode of "Fox Force Five", which included five very different women with special talents that are similar to the talents of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. It was also mentioned in Pulp Fiction that her character was "the deadliest woman in the world with a knife", whereas in Kill Bill Vernita Green is described by The Bride as such. It is also of note that the list of names that Thurman's character makes in Kill Bill is titled "Death List Five". Tarantino also cited the 1973 Ted V. Mikels film The Doll Squad as an inspiration.