With James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy fame in the director's chair, another outing
for the Suicide Squad has come to fruition.
Here's what we know so far.
With it now approaching five years since 2016's Suicide Squad premiered in theaters, the wait
for the second installment in the franchise has gone on longer than most, largely due
to the first movie's negative reception.
Thankfully, die-hard DC fans don't have to test their patience much longer because James
Gunn's The Suicide Squad will arrive in theatres everywhere and HBO Max on August 6, 2021.
Because of the continued concerns around COVID-19 and the global pandemic, Warner Bros. is continuing
to release all of its movies to both theatres and premium streaming service for the foreseeable
future.
The cast of The Suicide Squad is huge and has a nice blend of old and new.
A handful of members from the 2016 version will be returning, and they'll be accompanied
by a colorful crew of newcomers.
As far as returning names go, Margot Robbie will reprise her role as Harley Quinn.
Joel Kinnaman reprises his role as military man Rick Flag, Jai Courtney will swing back
around to his Captain Boomerang alter-ego, and the mastermind of Task Force X, Amanda
Waller, will grace the big and small screen alike thanks to Viola Davis.
Beyond the returning cast, get ready for a laundry list of fresh faces.
The newcomers include Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Flula Borg as Javelin,
John Cena as Peacemaker, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Pete
Davidson as Blackguard, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Michael Rooker as Savant,
Nathan Fillion as T.D.K., Storm Reid as Tyla, Daniela Melchior as the second Ratcatcher,
Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Juan Diego Botto as Silvio Luna,
Joaquín Cosío as Mateo Suárez, Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt, and John Ostrander
as Dr. Fitzgibbon.
Taika Waititi is also believed to have an undisclosed role in the film.
Some of these characters, such as King Shark, a monstrous humanoid shark who played a popular
role in TV's Arrowverse, and Bloodsport, who famously shot Superman with kryptonite, both
in the comics and the film, are known for being fan-favorites in the comics.
Other new members are B-list villains that Gunn has presumably reworked to fit the humorous
tone and narrative.
If there's one thing that the Suicide Squad is known for in the comics, other than being
a team of bad guys forced to do good guy work, it's the fact that their missions quite often
involve half the team winding up dead.
Because of that, it's worth noting that becoming attached to any member of the Suicide Squad
isn't exactly the wisest choice to make.
It's not a question of whether any of them will die, but rather, which ones.
James Gunn has hinted that it's not out of the question that only two members of the
lineup will reach the end of the movie in one piece.
Fans have speculated that Harley Quinn, Rick Flag, and Amanda Waller are the most likely
to come out unscathed thanks to their "franchise armor."
Gunn has responded though with: "No character was protected by DC.
They gave me carte blanche to do what I wanted."
That also goes for new favorites, such as Sylvestor Stallone's King Shark, who, thanks
to the trailers, has already become beloved by the fandom for his simultaneously bloodthirsty
and cuddly personality.
Doubling these concerns is that Gunn has a reputation for killing off beloved characters,
as seen in both Guardians of the Galaxy films to date.
You’ll likely have to say goodbye to more than one of your favorites.
Keeping in line with both the massive cast and the revised aesthetic, it appears that
the entire plot of The Suicide Squad will go in a vastly different direction than the
first movie.
According to James Gunn and producer Peter Safran, the team's mission will take them
to the fictional Latin American island of Corto Maltese.
Safran revealed: "There they have to destroy a Nazi-era prison
and laboratory named Jotunheim, where political prisoners were held and experimentations took
place."
Gunn added that some “horrid secrets” will come to light.
Speaking of horrid, the film's second trailer made it clear the leader of the Task Force
X operation, Amanda Waller, is up to the same shady stuff as usual.
It appears that Idris Elba's character, Bloodsport, is forced to join the team against his will
when Waller seemingly threatens his daughter.
Her reasoning?
"I wouldn't take such extreme measures if this mission weren't more important than you
can possibly imagine.
Are you in or out?"
What is that threat, and how does it tie into Nazi experiments?
While Warner Bros. and the creative team have been keeping the plot's various mysteries
close to their chests, it has been revealed that the team will be told to destroy everything
related to something called Project Starfish.
And as the trailer reveals, this project appears to involve a classic DC villain named Starro,
who is, well, a Godzilla-sized starfish creature with psychic powers.
In the comics, it was the first opponent that the Justice League of America ever faced down.
Nobody ever claimed that Silver Age comics were subtle.
Starro might be outlandish, but given the tone of Gunn's The Suicide Squad, this colossal
foe will likely make a perfect fit.
Warner Bros. has released several trailers for The Suicide Squad, with the most recent
one hitting the internet on June 22.
"Hey, guys Sorry I'm late.
I had to go number two."
"Good to know."
Every release has received an enthusiastic response from fans and even garnered massive
interest from those who were disappointed in the 2016 film.
While the trailers don't appear to give away the movie's big secrets or reveal which of
the villainous do-gooders will bite the bullet, they do make it clear that this is, for the
most part, a different Task Force X than the one assembled in the prior movie, and for
a different reason.
Perhaps the biggest accomplishment of the trailers is how they broadcast the snarky,
humorous tone that the movie will take, true to James Gunn's style, while also containing
emotional beats that ring true, particularly concerning Bloodsport's family connections,
or Harley Quinn being genuinely touched that the team was going in to save her life.
Already, DC fans online are forming connections to the new characters featured in the trailers,
as each one appears to have a unique, fascinating backstory, from the depressed and sulking
demeanor of the ridiculous Polka-Dot Man to the discomfort that Weasel causes among his
fellow supervillains.
Naturally, Gunn and Warner Bros. are probably trying to make sure that viewers connect to
these characters before they start killing them off.
Is The Suicide Squad a sequel or a reboot of the 2016 film?
That's the big question.
The returning cast members imply that it's a continuation, but the wildly different tone
says the opposite.
Then there’s the title: The Suicide Squad.
It’s extremely similar to the original film, but with "The" attached.
Warner Bros. is going all in with “The” - The Batman...
The Suicide Squad the possibilities are endless for reboots/ sequels with the word “The”
in front of existing movie titles!
Apparently, it's technically neither a sequel nor a reboot.
While Gunn has confirmed that the movie is set in the DCEU, it's also clear that this
version is not continuing the style, tone, or dangling plot threads of the first release.
That explains why it's not actually a sequel.
In other words, if you liked the 2016 movie, you can link the two movies, but if you didn't
like the original film, or avoided it like the plague, Gunn himself confirmed that nothing
in his movie necessitates seeing the 2016 version.
Producer Peter Safran, meanwhile, has said that Gunn's film was going to be a "total
reboot," but it seems he meant that more in the sense of it resetting the series, rather
than DCEU continuity.
You can ignore the 2016 version or not.
It’s completely up to you.
That said, while Gunn is very much doing his own thing in his own way, he's been very cordial
toward David Ayer's movie.
Gunn explained: "I think the original film did some amazing
casting on those characters, in particular the ones I used.
I changed what I wanted to and kind of didn't fix what wasn't broken."
John Cena's shiny-helmeted character, Peacemaker, will be coming back in an HBO Max series in
early 2022.
James Gunn is the creative force of the upcoming Peacemaker TV series, having written all the
show's eight episodes.
While Peacemaker, known in the comics for being an "extremist pacifist" who loves peace
so much that he'll kill for it, has always been a cult-favorite character, it seems like
John Cena's take on the role must have been impressive enough that Gunn wanted to keep
a good thing going.
Gunn, for his part, describes Peacemaker as the "world's biggest douchebag," and sees
the series as a way to explore real-world issues.
However, before you go assuming that this ensures Peacemaker's survival in The Suicide
Squad, think again.
The HBO Max series is set to delve into the character's beginnings.
Don't forget, Marvel only released a Black Widow movie after Endgame.
When it comes to The Suicide Squad, it's safe to say that no one, Peacemaker included, is
safe.
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