Suicide Squad Movie News: Everything You Need to Know

Certainly the most unlikely movie on Warner Bros. slate of DC Comics superhero movies (yes, even more unlikely than Aquaman), is Suicide Squad. The DC superhero schedule will only be officially two movies old in 2016. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice arrives in March of that year, and is focused on introducing as many heroes as possible in advance of the 2017 Justice League movie. Rather than jumping right in for more solo films, Warner Bros. opted to do something unexpected and start building up their villains...and that's where Suicide Squad comes in.

We probably shouldn't be too surprised. Warner Bros. (along with DC Entertainment) has been quietly positioning the Suicide Squad for stardom over the last several years. From a well-received appearance on Arrow to an animated film where they co-headlined with Batman to a continued profile-raising in the pages of the comics, it's been clear for some time that there were plans for the team. Well, it turns out that plan included a major movie with an all-star cast.

 We'd better take this from the top, though. For now, here's everything we know in one place about the upcoming Suicide Squad movie.

Suicide Squad Movie Members

From the left we have Adam Beach as Slipknot, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, and Jay Hernandez as Chato Santana: El Diablo (he may be the Joker's cellmate, too).

Not pictured here is Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. Waller is the government liaison that keeps Task Force X in line and sends them on their missions. There are reports that she's signing on for multiple DC movies, potentially making Amanda Waller the "Nick Fury" of the DC Cinematic Universe.

Supposedly, we'll also meet minor DC villains like Blockbuster (who showed up in an earlier draft), Live Wire, Killer Frost, and King Shark during the course of the movie, too. Expect them to just show up in various prison sequences (at iconic DC Comics location Belle Reve prison, no less) or to be used as cannon fodder. Because trust me, the Suicide Squad can never have enough cannon fodder.  

Suicide Squad Movie Story

There's little to report on this one at the moment. Here's what you need to know, though. The Suicide Squad is Task Force X, a secret government unit comprised of supervillains and mercenaries. They're offered a chance at redemption by running black ops missions for the US Government under the watchful eye of Amanda Waller. The problem is, these missions, well...they don't really expect you to come out of it alive. 

Oh, and if you try and defy orders and use this opportunity as a chance to escape? They have a solution for that. Each criminal is fitted with subcutaneous explosives that will quite literally blow their heads off if they try and return to their villainous ways. We imagine that this won't deviate too far from that concept, although Warner Bros. are reportedly trying to sell this as having some of the old Ocean's 11 charm.

But seriously, the whole Suicide Squad concept is a ridiculous bloodbath. So much so that we wrote an entire article about exactly that: See for yourself.

David Ayer has shared a little on Twitter about the story inspirations for the film, and he seems to be looking squarely at Jon Ostrander's lengthy tenure writing the comic. Check it out:

Canon #skwad - The DC universe is too rich to go very far astray. pic.twitter.com/fHespNiEf3

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) February 8, 2015

Ostrander's Suicide Squad comics of the late '80s and early '90s were an anomaly at DC Comics. Nobody was safe, the body count was far higher than was traditional at the time, and the book explored little known corners of the DC Universe. If that's the vibe that the movie is going for, I suspect we're in good shape.

In the meantime, Mr. Ayer has promised that he wants this movie to be like "The Dirty Dozen with supervillains" and has asked the question, "does a movie really need a good guy?"

That still doesn't shed much light on what the actual story might be, though, does it? Well, maybe a look at the villains might help.

Suicide Squad Movie Villains

Latino Review is reporting that the villains (wait...aren't they all villains?) in the film are a group of super-powered mercenaries known as Onslaught, led by a mysterious jerk named Antiphon. Onslaught were the antagonists of the 2011 draft of the movie that I read, so I'm willing to bet solid money that they are indeed going to show up here again.

Perhaps even more importantly, based on what David Ayer tweeted up above, they were the primary antagonists of the Jon Ostrander ra of the Suicide Squad comics. The 2011 Justin Marks script included such iconic (hint, that was sarcasm) villains as Manticore, Rustram, Ravan, and Djinn. In other words, much like some of the lesser-known characters who make up the Squad themselves, these guys are all solid cannon fodder.

Who else is involved? We had heard that Gary Sinise could appear as General Eiling and there are still those rumblings about Slade "Deathstroke" Wilson. We've heard Deathstroke's name mentioned in connection with this movie before, and DC Comics has been going out of its way to tie him in with the group in the comics...much like they did with Harley Quinn.  

Jesse Eisenberg is also reportedly reprising his Lex Luthor role from Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, although this is probably more of a cameo than a properly villainous role. Wait...Lex Luthor isn't a character you normally associate with the Suicide Squad. What gives?

Well, neither is...

What About the Joker?

Jared Leto is playing the Joker in the film, and he certainly raised some eyebrows with his new look. Then again, the Joker's entire presence in this movie is worth raising an eyebrow over, because he comes with some serious baggage of his own.

The thing about the Joker is, he's never really been part of the world of the Suicide Squad, which, despite the flashy costumes, has always been more action movie than superhero movie. There's also the little matter of how disposable the team tends to be, and if there's one thing the Joker isn't (other than, y'know, sane), it's disposable. I do know that neither the Joker nor Harley Quinn were in an earlier draft of the movie (although a number of the other characters we're going to meet were, so there may still be some similarities). 

As for why he's here, it's simple economics. It looks like Warner Bros would like to front load this, one of their less recognizable concepts, with big name villains like Mr. J, Harley Quinn, and the aforementioned Lex Luthor. 

Jared Leto has spoken out about his preparation for the Joker role, and he described the Joker as a "Shakespearean" character, which makes us wonder just what their plans are for him. It's clear that this Joker has a bit of a past. We know that the Batman of the DC Cinematic Universe has been operating in secret for many years, so it makes sense that he's clashed with the Joker on more than one occasion. You can imagine, for example, that his grill in the above picture is a result of having his teeth knocked out by Bruce Wayne on several occasions, and some of those tattoos indicate that he's been doing some hard time. In other words, he's not new to the supervillain game.

Of course, with the Joker comes Harley Quinn. We've also heard rumors here and there that Ms. Quinn won't be a fully formed supervillain when we meet her, and rather the movie will see how Mr. J slowly gets inside her head and breaks her down, but I'm no longer sure this is the case. Every image we've seen from the set so far has shown Harley in full-blown supervillain mode, 

See what the director had to say about this:

The case of Harley Quinn: Her madness defines her. Is she mad because of WHO she loves or because she loves him so much? #skwad

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) February 5, 2015

Harley is a relative newcomer to the world of the Suicide Squad, only showing up in their DC Comics stories in the last five years or so. Why? Well, probably for the same reason that she's in the movie. It's an easy excuse to bring in a popular character like the Joker if the lesser-known Squad sees interest start to flag a little. Harley recently got her own comic book series, so DC used her time in the pages of Suicide Squad as a bit of a proving ground for the character. Don't be surprised if the same thing happens in the movies.

And then there's the Batman question. Ben Affleck has been spotted on the set of the Suicide Squad movie, so it's likely that, at the very least, Bruce Wayne will have some kind of cameo. There have also been reports that we'll see Batman in action in the movie, but only in flashback or via video footage playing in Amanda Waller's office or something similar.

Suicide Squad Movie Production

The Suicide Squad movie is currently shooting in Torontu under the working title of Bravo 14. Of course, having a code name for your movie when you've got Jared Leto dressed as the Joker and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn running around the streets makes things a little difficult to keep quiet, and a number of set photos have surfaced in recent weeks.

Suicide Squad opens on August 5th, 2016. We took a closer look at all the movies on Warner Bros. DC Superhero Schedule right here.