James Gunn confirmed Superman is alive and well after it was revealed in The Suicide Squad trailer that Idris Elba's Bloodsport shot him with a Kryptonite bullet. Ahead of the highly anticipated film's release on August 6, a new trailer for The Suicide Squad has debuted, giving audiences another look at the team of supervillains that will be taking on Starro the Conqueror. Several characters are returning from David Ayer's 2016 film, including Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag, and Viola Davis' Amanda Waller.
New to the scene, though, are a slew of villains that will join up with the returning characters to take on another mission of epic and deadly proportions. One of those is Bloodsport, played by Elba. Gunn already confirmed Bloodsport's connection to Superman in the film, something that has carried over from the comics, but The Suicide Squad's new trailer gave fans a taste of that connection. At the beginning of the clip, Amanda Waller can be heard saying, "[Bloodsport] is in prison for putting Superman in the ICU with a Kryptonite bullet."
Now, director James Gunn has taken to Twitter to assuage fears that Superman is in dire straits. When asked by a fan if the Man of Steel recovered from his time in the ICU, Gunn took a second to respond, confirming that Superman did, indeed, survive his scuffle with Bloodsport. The director did add that he may have come out of the hospital with one less spleen, but that he is alive and well. Check out the interaction below:
Seeing as The Suicide Squad is part of the DCEU's main continuity, comments about Superman being sent to the ICU cannot be taken lightly. While the moment mostly serves as an in-universe joke about the vast connections between the various characters, it's sure to raise eyebrows for a number of reasons. Not only does it establish a clear connection between the DCEU's more popular heroes and the obscure characters at the center of The Suicide Squad, but it also points to the state of the Man of Steel himself in the DCEU.
Currently, Henry Cavill's future as Superman is up in the air. Cavill hasn't starred in a solo follow-up feature to 2013's Man of Steel and now it seems like the DCEU could be gearing up to replace him. Sasha Calle will debut as Supergirl in 2022's The Flash and although she may or may not be from the Multiverse, it's possible that these are the first steps in filling the Cavill-sized hole in the franchise. Whether or not The Suicide Squad provides answers to this Superman mystery remains to be seen, but audiences will find out when the film hits theaters and HBO Max on August 6.
Source: James Gunn
