We’ve been teased quite a bit about Rocksteady’s return to the DC universe and it looks like we finally got our first look at gameplay for Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League. The group of four Arkham inmates is about to take on the most troublesome mission they’ve ever had, as Brainiac took over the minds of our favorite heroes. Harley Quinn, Killer Shark, Captain Boomeragin, and Deadshot take on a horde of enemies in this new gameplay trailer.
Source: Twitter
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was first revealed at last year’s DC Fandome, where we got just a taste for what was in store. The game is set to follow Task Force X being dispatched into Metropolis to take out some mystery targets. Of course, we soon find out these “Mystery Targets” are none other than the Justice League who seem to be under the control of Brainiac. The latest trailer gave us a closer look at the various members besides Superman from the premiere trailer. You can check the Arkhamverse’s version of the iconic heroes right there alongside a nice tribute to Batman, as his Batmobile will make an appearance it seems.
Perhaps one of the brightest spots in the original Suicide Squad film was Will Smith, who played Floyd Lawton, AKA Deadshot. Smith however did not return for the follow-up, and initially was almost recast. Early reports indicated that Idris Elba would take over the role of Deadshot, but that ultimately didn’t pan out so that the door may be left often for Smith’s return. Elba would go on to play Robert Dubois, aka Bloodsport, with no mention of Deadshot in the film.
Recently Smith participated in a special interview with GQ in which he’d gone incognito on social media to answer some of his fan’s questions. One of the many questions that came up was “Why is Will Smith’s Deadshot not in the Suicide Squad, Maybe bc he didn’t want to reprise the role??”. Smith responded to the question with the following quote.
Yeah, I was working and they were ready to shoot. It was a timing issue, I can come back.
It seems he was aware of the initial reports that the studio was eyeing Elba as his replacement, as he ask those around him about the status of Deadshot in the DCEU.
They didn’t cast anybody in Deadshot? they left Deadshot out, right?…So Idris playing a different character he’s not playing, or is he playing Deadshot? Different character? Alright cool so I can come back!
It’s great to see Smith so excited that the door is still open for him to return as Floyd Lawton, maybe in another Suicide Squad film or a potential Secret Six project. While there’s no current plan to bring Will Smith back in any upcoming project we sure hope he pops up again somewhere in the DCEU.
SOURCE: GQ
The first Suicide Squad film wasn’t exactly a fan-favorite, but it was able to bring a ton of money at the box office with $700M+ in total. With money like that, how could you not greenlight a sequel and try to duplicate that success?. While we did eventually get a sequel with James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, there was a very different sequel in development early on.
Before Gunn was brought onto the project, director Gavin O’Connor was originally going to be picking up the reigns from David Ayer, as he moved onto a Gotham City Sirens film, which has still yet to make any movement. After a long silence, the director recently went onto the Playlist podcast where he opened up about his sequel that never was.
What happened there was I wrote a deal to write a script, and they knew what I was writing. At that level, with those kinds of movies, with that budget, no one’s just going off and writing something without walking them through what the movie’s gonna be, and everyone was cool with it.
Gavin O’Connor
O’Connor also went into how the project ended up scrapped and how a managerial shake-up affected his film. He even goes on to highlight the direction he was taking with his project.
What happened was during the latter part of writing the script there was a whole regime change at DC, and when that happened, they wanted it to be a comedy. And I’m like, ‘i’m not writing a comedy.‘ I mean, It [was] fun, but it’s not a yuk-fest. And the new regime wanted a different movie than I was writing.
Gavin O’Connor
While it would’ve been neat to see what he had in store for viewers, audiences and critics alike seemed pretty satisfied with Gunn‘s vision. It seems that the comedic direction did help win some viewers over. It’ll be interesting to see if a third installment finds its way into the franchise, or DC moves on to exploring the stories from the individual members, as Peacemaker gets his own HBO Max series.
Source: The Playlist
After the explosive success that was The Suicide Squad, the team is bound to make a return at some point. When that day eventually comes, Gunn has taught us how much value this franchise gains from a new writer and director. While keeping the films subtly separate, I believe it’s time to explore what happened between The Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey, which allows Rick Flag and Captain Boomerang to return for one of the many other missions hinted at by both them in the opening of James Gunn‘s film.
The premise for this pitch would follow Amanda Waller sending out a team to Pozharnov, Russia. If the location sounds familiar, it’s where the Justice League faced off against Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons. However, the location would now be the temporary base of operations for Intergang, who’ve moved in on the terraformed territory and salvaged leftover Apokolyptian tech. They’ve started reengineering it for sale to capitalize on the tragedy. While they’ve been a mostly Superman antagonist, the group should take a Hydra-like role in the DCEU, acting in the shadows with its ties to Apokolips.
The latest verison of the gang would be lead by Bruno and Moxie Manheim, Doctor Polaris, Neutron, Toyman, and Deathstroke, who were sent to keep things on track by the one bankrolling the operation, Lex Luthor. Deadshot returns with another team consisting of hand-picked members especially suited for this mission to search and and shut down Intergangs operation.
The roster could include Poison Ivy, Killer Frost, Rick Flag, Count Vertigo, Parasite, Nightshade, Killer Moth, Clock King, Captain Boomerang, and Copperhead. This time around, there’s no diversion with a team but rather two groups with specific missions to accomplish. In typical Waller tradition, she doesn’t inform them of each other’s existence, which leads to an unexpected confrontation.
The one notable absence in this film would be Harley, and while she’s been a staple in the past two films, it’s time to move on. Captain Boomerang teased he’s been on different missions when he asked her surprised what she was doing back in prison. I think exploring those missions getting to know some past fan favorites, even more, would be much more beneficial. Placing it during Birds of Prey also gives a good reason why Harley is absent and gives us a new perspective on the team that might also explore why Waller continues to fall down a darker path.
The Suicide Squad has finally released in theaters and on HBO Max. Even with a lukewarm Box Office opening over the weekend, it’s proving quite popular on the streaming service. It introduces us to some new characters from the DC canon alongside some familiar faces from the previous entry. One of the highlights is the newly introduced character of Bloodsport, who is played by Idris Elba in the film.
Yet, it looks like his role might’ve been very different at one point as Twitter user @DCversio1 shared an image from behind-the-scenes with various artwork in the background. Once you take a closer look you’ll notice that Bloodsport’s leading position is taken by the iconic DC anti-hero, Deathstroke. It’s possible they kept the artwork for production purposes but already realized the role would be perfect for Bloodsport.
https://twitter.com/DCverso1/status/1425084579212406787
James Gunn did reveal that the character almost made the cut into the film. Yet, we never got into any insight into what role he would’ve had and it seems he almost was the leading man of the original second team throughout the film. The other members, King Shark, Peacemaker, Polka-Dot Man, and Ratcatcher 2, are present in the visual. We sadly don’t see the first team from the film, which might reveal its original line-up.
Still, it’s a shame we didn’t get the return of Deathstroke, who only briefly returned in Zack Snyder’s Justice League for a brief appearance. He was played by Joe Manganiello in both versions of the film. It’s uncertain if he was up for the role, or Idris Elba would’ve taken on a new interpretation of the character. Still, Bloodsport’s unique weapons added a great visual flair to the film, and it hopefully is just the beginning of Elba‘s time in the DCEU.
Source: Twitter
The Suicide Squad had to face an uphill battle with the Delta variant roaming the world and adding some doubt in people willing to visit a cinema. So, our only point of orientation on its potential success would be how popular it was on the HBO Max streaming service. It could give us an inkling how well the same-day release strategy is working for Warner Bros. and it seems it might’ve been far more popular than expected. HBO Max chief Andy Forssell shared that the film was their second most-viewed film during its release weekend.
As the country faces new challenges due to the COVID variant, we’re happy to continue to offer fans the option of viewing movies in their homes. Many chose to do just that as Suicide Squad emerged as the second most viewed film over an opening weekend on HBO Max since we began day-and-date releases with theaters.
Of course, they didn’t share any exact numbers and according to The Hollywood Reporter, Mortal Kombat is currently holding the top spot. Samba TV shared an analysis yesterday that on Thursday, 363K US households watched the film, but it doesn’t offer a direct point of comparison for the entire weekend. Still, it’s good to see the film is prospering through streaming and might be a hint that R-rated projects have a good home in streaming media.
The Delta variant is still adding a lot of uncertainty for cinemas. So, the upcoming weeks will give us a better idea, especially with early September still locked in. It’ll be curious if major Marvel Studios like Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings might push beyond the current threshold and offer some more trust in movie-going audiences, as some delays are still happening for major releases.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
It looks like The Suicide Squad ended up falling short of its early $30M+ predictions, as the film ended up debuting with $26,5M domestically. It also garnered an additional $45.7M internationally, putting it at a $72.2M worldwide Box Office. These results are slightly higher than yesterday’s prediction, which saw it making $1M less. Even with it hitting a lower than expected BO, it still took the top spot. It was closely followed by Jungle Cruise with $15.6M and Old with $4.14M. Black Widow has been keeping steady at the fourth spot with another $4M.
Overall, the Box Office results prove that Delta concerns are still dominating. Ever since Marvel Studios’ release, the overall numbers have steadied out for bigger releases at $30M. Yet, each film faced harsh drops in its second weekend. Trends would reflect non-pandemic numbers, but digital releases are showing their fangs. James Gunn’s DC film is available on HBO Max for no additional costs. So, even after a strong Thursday showing, people were hesitant over the weekend as pandemic numbers continue to rise again.
Forbes’ Scott Mendelsohn also argues that the confusion regarding Suicide Squad’s position as a soft reboot and sequel may also add some confusion to audiences’ willingness to risk viewing it. Of course, the first film’s negative reception also adds to that factor. Will Smith was the big selling point of the original, and he is absent in the sequel. Combine that with an R-rating and there are a lot of wild factors this film had to face.
Still, the film received a very positive reaction from critics and fans alike. Yet, it did face a B+ in its CinemaScore rating. Of course, we can’t compare it to Ayer’s Suicide Squad, which opened to $133M without facing any of these issues. We’ve already seen Sony delay Venom: Let There Be Carnage in New Zealand. So, there’s a lot of uncertainty moving forward into what the future holds for cinema as we face the current development.
Source: The Numbers, Variety, Variety (Updated), Forbes, Twitter
With the roster for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad stacked with wildly disparate and relatively unknown DC Comics villains, we thought it would be great to get to know each of them in 400 words or fewer. Now that the film was released in theaters, we finally can talk about the big bad starfish, Starro the Conqueror. He first appeared in the 1960s Brave and The Bold #28 by Gardner Fox and Mike Sekowsky. Starro is a giant intergalactic starfish that has the ability to spit out smaller versions that seek out hosts. They attach to their faces and take over their body. An ability that could quickly topple nations, and even worlds. Starro’s abilities consist of size alteration, bio-fission, mind control, regeneration, flight, telepathy, and mass consciousness.
Starro was the first enemy the Justice League fought in their original inception. So, you can imagine how fearsome this space starfish truly is. Starro came to Happy Harbor and quickly took over the town. This brought together one of the most popular and iconic teams in comics. At the time, the team consisted of Wonder Woman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and Martian Manhunter, who would face off against the cosmic conqueror and defeat him by covering him in quicklime. The intergalactic starfish has become a recurring villain ever since, appearing in various comic storylines including Crisis on Infinite Earths #9, Justice League Europe #24, and many more. He made his live-action debut when he got unleashed onto Corto Maltese. He was kept quite close to his comic counterpart, and we also get to explore what happens to its hosts once it takes control of their bodies. Let’s just hope Starro gets a bit of open-ending, as the comics introduced an offspring of his known as Jarro that got adopted by Batman.
The line “Sad souls in silly costume” summarizes the motley crew that serves as the world’s last line of defense against a towering galactic starfish that conquers worlds perfectly. James Gunn makes his grandiose return to the genre with The Suicide Squad. It is a fast-paced firefight that features some stellar characters with individual, fulfilling arcs. While the film tends to drag a bit at certain points and some characters feel underutilized, those at the heart of the film’s eccentric story keep the ball moving and allows for an action-packed third act that ties the film together almost perfectly. So, without further ado, let’s jump into the highs and lows of the latest DC film.
There will be spoilers in this review. So only continue at your own risk if you haven’t seen it yet.
Let’s start with some minor shortcomings of the film. The part that I felt could’ve benefitted from more time is the opening sequence. When we land on the beach with our initial team, we really meet the duds of the bunch. They are obvious cannon fodder. Characters like Javelin, Mongal, Captain Boomerang, Savant, Weasel, and Blackguard don’t get the slightest chance to show off before they meet gruesome ends. The only exception is Nathan Fillion‘s TDK for a joke on the absurdity of his abilities. While this sequence felt rushed, Harley’s time with the new president of Corto Maltese was on the other side of the spectrum. It just dragged on a little too long, and I felt she could’ve got her ‘red flags’ speech out earlier when he mentioned hanging an entire family.
But we’ve really got to talk about the parts that sing louder than the rest, which is 90% of the film. From the get-go, you can tell who the main characters are, and it’s difficult to choose a standout among them. I loved the dynamic between Bloodsport and Ratcatcher 2. Idris Elba’s mercenary acts as a surrogate father, while she helps find the good within him. What truly stands out is the group dynamic perfectly complemented by Peacemaker, King Shark, Polka-Dot Man, and Harley Quinn. Margot delivers yet another fantastic turn at Quinn. All of this comes together in the third act, where the film truly shines. Polka-Dot Man overcomes his fears and manages to become the superhero his mother had always tried to force him to be but on his own terms.
The Suicide Squad truly feels like a comic book brought to life in all the right ways. The film excels at what it sets out to do and told a fantastic story with an excellent roster of actors. Everyone brings their A-game, no matter how small the role. While the film may not be for the weakest of stomachs, it’s got a ton of heart, quite literally.
