What is the story of James Gunn's upcoming movie The Suicide Squad? Details are few and far between, but the recent teaser footage and panel information revealed at DC Comics' DC FanDome event offered some answers regarding James Gunn's long-awaited follow-up to 2016's Suicide Squad.
No superhero franchise in recent memory has seen so tormented a production cycle as that of The Suicide Squad. For the longest time, it seemed unlikely that there would be a follow-up film to the original DCEU film about a covert team sponsored by the United States government that put convicted super-criminals to work on dangerous missions in exchange for time off their sentences. That changed when filmmaker James Gunn, best known for his work on the Guardians of the Galaxy films, was brought in to write and direct the project.
The teaser trailer released at DC FanDome did not reveal much new information about the story of The Suicide Squad. However, it did confirm many things that had only been rumored until recently. It also presented the first look at the film's sizable ensemble and revealed which actors would be playing which characters and how they would look in action. Fan enthusiasm for the project rose sharply in the wake of the event, yet the question of what the movie is actually about remains.
Is James Gunn's Suicide Squad a Sequel To David Ayer's Movie?
There has been some debate as to whether or not Gunn's film s a proper sequel to the Suicide Squad movie directed by David Ayer. Despite some ties to Suicide Squad that suggest The Suicide Squad is not a reboot, DCEU producer Peter Safran described Gunn's picture as "a total reboot," yet the Birds of Prey movie starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn contained several direct shout-outs to Ayer's film, setting them in the same reality. Perhaps the fairest statement on the matter came from Gunn himself, who simply said "No. You don't," in an April 2020 Instagram Q&A session where one fan asked if one had to see Suicide Squad to understand the story of The Suicide Squad. Since true sequels generally require some familiarity with the original, it seems safe to say that The Suicide Squad, while being set after the events of the earlier Suicide Squad and featuring some of the same characters, is not a sequel.
Is The Suicide Squad Based On A Specific Storyline From The Comics?
The Suicide Squad is expected to adhere more closely to the source material than the 2016 Suicide Squad did. James Gunn confirmed that he had read "every single comic featuring every iteration of the Suicide Squad" as part of his preparations for scripting and directing the film. Gunn also claimed to have read 85% of all the comics to ever feature Harley Quinn. Despite this dedication to knowing the roots of the characters he is working with, Gunn noted, during his DC FanDome Q&A panel, that he strove to make The Suicide Squad a spiritual sequel to the first Suicide Squad series written by John Ostrander and Kim Yale, rather than a direct adaptation of those stories.
It might be noted that one Suicide Squad story from this run does seem to broadly resemble the reported base plot of The Suicide Squad; the 1988 one-shot Doom Patrol and Suicide Squad Special #1. That issue saw both teams getting involved in an international incident in a South American nation. It spoils little to say that the incarnation of the Squad in this special featured several characters confirmed to be in The Suicide Squad and that it did not end well for them. Then again, several Suicide Squad stories have been set in South American nations and Suicide Squad members dying in action is hardly unusual.
Who Is The Suicide Squad's Actual Villain?
With Task Force X being largely made up of unrepentant villains, one big question regarding the movie is who the main villain of the movie will be. Early rumors of who The Suicide Squad's villain will be suggested that it might be either King Shark or the sinister cult-leader Kobra. Yet behind-the-scenes footage seems to show King Shark as part of the Suicide Squad and there's nothing to indicate Kobra's inclusion beyond the setting of the movie being a fictional South American nation and Kobra having ruled such nations before in the comics. However, it's fair to say that Amanda Waller will be making everyone miserable and ready to set-off the head-bombs of anyone who goes off-mission or stupidly annoys her. This might make her the main antagonist for most of the Suicide Squad's membership, regardless of who they are meant to be fighting.
What The FanDome Teaser Reveals About The Suicide Squad's Story
The high-point of the DC FanDome panel for The Suicide Squad was the premiere of a teaser trailer showing some behind-the-scenes footage and the first glimpse of some of the characters in costume. While the visuals were impressive, the teaser trailer did also confirm several details of the story of The Suicide Squad. The biggest takeaway was several combat scenes filmed on a tropical beach, seemingly confirming the rumors of the film's Central American or South American setting. DCEU producer Peter Safran summed up the aesthetic of the film, describing it as "a gritty 1970's war movie combined with the brilliance of James Gunn's characters and comedy." This seems to have been born out by some of the production scenes shown, which seem heavily dependent on practical effects and stunt work over CGI and green-screen trickery. The latest poster for the film, which features the cast charging out towards the viewer as a burning building collapses behind them, imitates the over-the-top action movie posters of the same era.
The Suicide Squad Will Be Incredibly Violent
Regardless of the actual story of The Suicide Squad, one thing can be safely said; it will be far more violent than your standard superhero movie. When asked during the DC FanDome Q&A how many vehicle crashes and explosions the final movie would contain, James Gunn said he had been told by Special Effects Supervisor Dan Sudick, who also supervised the Special Effects for most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, that The Suicide Squad would contain "more effects... than all of those movies he's done combined." While this may seem hyperbolic, actor Flula Borg (who plays Javelin) seemed to confirm it with his description of one scene, which involved "Everyone's exploding. Genitals, heads, arms, legs..." While The Suicide Squad has yet to be rated, it seems that this will not be a film for Family Movie Night.
