James Gunn today released a photo of himself posing with seven of the cast members of his upcoming film The Suicide Squad. Having taken over the helm of the DCEU sub-series from David Ayer, the man behind 2016’s Suicide Squad, Gunn is writing and directing the highly anticipated follow-up.

While debate ensues as to whether or not the new film is a true reboot, DC has been careful to dismiss its label as a sequel, and Gunn has rejected calling it Suicide Squad 2. This is most likely due to the fallout from the original’s release, which, while it garnered a hefty financial return, bombed critically, continuing a chain of subpar reviews for DC’s burgeoning cinematic universe.

Related: The Suicide Squad: Everything We Know (So Far) About James Gunn’s Reboot

The new Suicide Squad movie will hopefully reverse the property’s critical record, as the smiling, upbeat faces in James Gunn’s Twitter photo seem to imply. Each of the actors pictured is a new edition to the cast, joining returning actors Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Viola Davis, and Joel Kinnaman.

Furthest left in the photo is Flula Berg (Pitch Perfect 2), whose role is being kept under wraps at the moment. Next to him is Daniela Melchior, a Portuguese actress who'll be playing Ratcatcher. This is a traditional Batman villain who has the power to communicate with and command armies of rats. David Dastmalchian, well-remembered for his role in Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, will be playing Polka-Dot Man, a bizarre villain from the Batman comics, who hides offensive devices in the polka-dots on his outfit. Dastmalchian also plays Scott Lang's friend Kurt in the MCU's Ant-Man films.

Beside James Gunn stands Jennifer Holland, best known for her role in Brightburn. Her character is also being kept a mystery, along with those of Nathan Fillion (Serenity) and brother of James, Sean Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy). Last in the picture is Mayling Ng, who's theorized to be reprising her role as Orana from 2017’s Wonder Woman. It would be odd (but not unprecedented) to have an actress playing two different characters in the same cinematic universe.

James Gunn’s work on The Suicide Squad is of course a direct result of his being fired as writer and director of Guardians of the Galaxy 3. A series of old posts of Gunn’s came to light containing extremely dark jokes, something Marvel’s parent company, Disney, didn't take lightly. Despite apologies from Gunn, he was dismissed from the Guardians 3 production, and was quicky hired by DC to retool Suicide Squad. While Gunn was later rehired by Marvel to finish what he had started with the Guardians, one wonders what the episode will mean for the director's long-term futures with both companies. If The Suicide Squad turns out to be a big hit, DC may seek to monopolize more of Gunn's time, and Marvel will have no one to blame but themselves.

More: Predicting Which DC Characters The Suicide Squad 2’s Cast are Playing

Source: James Gunn/Twitter

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