Movie fans have come to expect plenty of things from a comic book movie's first trailer: new costumes, new heroes, and plenty of action. Batman V Superman's first full-length trailer released from Comic-Con 2015 fit the bill, but what they got from Suicide Squad - DC's other shared universe venture coming to theaters in 2016 - was something else entirely.
The tale of the DC Universe's nastiest criminals forced to go where the government and military can't promises action and attitude, but the first footage was far more unsettling than many expected. It's that portion of the story - occult, even supernatural horror - where June Moon a.k.a. Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) is likely to shine. And according to the actress playing her, muscles and bullets aren't the only source of fear (or violence) in the film's story.
Delevingne has spoken in the past about her enthusiasm for Suicide Squad's vision, and claimed that the women in the film have the best roles. They may not have come by them easily, however, as the model-turned-actress explains to TIME that her audition process was particularly challenging. Reiterating her belief that the movie, and Enchantress will be "freakin’ awesome...I kill people with my bare hands," the following excerpt from the interview offers a tease of what tortured villain lies in her future:
Delevingne describes her audition for Suicide Squad director David Ayer as lengthy, intense and infuriating. Because he hadn’t yet written the film’s script at the time of her tryout, Ayer made Delevingne read the part of Martha from Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a character Delevingne had played before in a school production. Delevingne thought she had the audition in the bag due to her experience, but Ayer quickly told her to forget everything she knew about Martha, asking her to try the part so many different ways that she was ready to “beat people up” by the end of the process. “I was like, ‘Honestly, if I go outside and punch people, you’ve got to come get me out of jail because I am so furious,” she says. “He sparked a f---ing fury in me."
Picturing the dainty actress as a true source of terror may not be easy (deemed the perfect actress to play Pan's mystical mermaids, for instance), but those familiar with the comic book source material that David Ayer is sticking to for the Squad know that it's more than muscle which fuels her darker side.
The first official image of the film's cast showed that Delevingne (and June Moon) stood out from the rest of the group, looking more like a possessed girl from an ancient time than a modern super-criminal. In the comics, June wound up exploring Terror Castle, encountering a demon who then possessed her body with the entity known as 'Enchantress' - a being of magical power summoned simply by uttering her name. In the Comic-Con sizzle reel/trailer, June is shown exploring an underground cavern, immersing herself in water beneath a pentagram (and looking fairly uncertain about the act), and later, certainly appearing as if she has been possessed.
Connecting the dots between footage, rumors, and the comics, it's safe to say that such an entity being brought into the world (even willingly, by June herself) could result in the kind of devastation and threat that only the Suicide Squad could bring down. And going by Delevingne's description of the audition process, portraying an enraged, tormented, and borderline crazed young woman is exactly what Ayer is after (meaning she'll be menacing due to more than just special effects).
How successful the portrayal will be remains to be seen, but the comic faithful - and fans of supernatural horror - will no doubt be pleased to hear the limits Ayer pushed his cast beyond before even casting them. Are you interested to see what Delevingne can bring to this new Enchantress? Or are you more interested in the shared universe aspect of the film? Sound off in the comments.
NEXT PAGE: Suicide Squad Trailer Secrets & Easter Eggs
Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice will be in theaters on March 25th, 2016; Suicide Squad on August 5th, 2016; Wonder Woman – June 23rd, 2017; Justice League – November 17th, 2017; The Flash – March 23rd, 2018; Aquaman – July 27th, 2018; Shazam – April 5th, 2019; Justice League 2 – June 14th, 2019; Cyborg – April 3rd, 2020; Green Lantern – June 19th, 2020.
Source: TIME