HBO Max has released a new video previewing its upcoming 2021 movie slate, and one of its scenes shows four of the main characters from The Suicide Squad together. Serving as a soft reboot and standalone sequel to David Ayer's critically panned 2016 Suicide Squad movie, the new film is written and directed by James Gunn, who joined the DC Extended Universe after being briefly fired from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. Gunn has retooled the Suicide Squad franchise with a bigger cast that includes both new and returning characters. Gunn's film will also be R-rated and is expected to be more action-packed as it involves Task Force X's deployment to South America for a high-stakes mission.
Initially, The Suicide Squad was primed to make a full-fledged theatrical debut in August 2021. But then in March 2020, an outbreak of the coronavirus in the U.S. took Hollywood by storm, forcing the closures of cinemas across the country. While many theaters reopened in late August and early September, the COVID-19 pandemic showed no signs of containment. This moved Warner Bros. to alter its release plans, with the studio giant deciding to release all 17 of its 2021 movies on HBO Max on the same day as their theatrical premieres. The Suicide Squad is one of the studio's major tentpoles, along with The Matrix 4 and Dune, that has been affected by this new model. Though earlier it was reported that James Gunn is seemingly dissatisfied with the move, Warner Bros. is sticking to its new distribution plan as it has just unveiled a sneak preview confirming the same.
HBO Max shared a trailer teasing many of the Warner Bros. movies that will arrive on the streamer alongside their theatrical debuts. One of the scenes in the video includes a shot from The Suicide Squad (around the 0:14 mark) that shows four members of Task Force X: Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Peacemaker (John Cena), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior). The context of the scene isn't clear as the only other clip from the movie is previously seen footage of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn shooting guns alone in a room.
With the video giving a notable mention to certain villains, it appears that these characters will have a larger part to play in The Suicide Squad. Cena's Peacemaker is already significant to the franchise as he is getting his own spin-off show on HBO Max. And the backstory of Melchior's gender-bent superhero and Polka-Dot Man's enigmatic powers are also expected to serve as significant plotlines in the movie. It is currently unclear if the four characters shown together in the video have agenda of their own, and if they are only using their participation in Task Force X to accomplish their own ulterior motives. But if they all successfully make it out of the movie alive, it will be a special treat to DC fans, whom Gunn has scared by suggesting that no character is safe.
It also appears Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher 2, and Polka-Dot Man will stick together during most of The Suicide Squad. In fact, their team-up has been teased in the previous first look images and the set photos that have occasionally surfaced. Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher 2, and Polka-Dot Man have an eerily synchronized unison in every scene that has featured them together. Bloodsport and Peacemaker, of course, appear to carry out the heavier tasks in all the scenes, while Ratcatcher 2 probingly assesses the environment for danger and Polka-Dot Man puts his unconventional antics to use to imbue humor into the situation. Hopefully, fans will be able to savor this camaraderie between the characters once The Suicide Squid premieres on August 6, 2021.
Source: HBO Max