After months of dropping little tidbits on how work is going on DC’s upcoming film, The Suicide Squad, James Gunn has finally revealed the most substantial bit of information yet.
Taking to Twitter, the director has confirmed the full cast for his take on Suicide Squad by dropping a bingo card of names who will be in the film, some who have been confirmed and many who haven’t.
The cast list is about as star-studded as you’re going to get but it does throw up a few questions about this James Gunn-ified version of Suicide Squad.
Of the 24 names, four – Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Margot Robbie and Joel Kinnaman – from the first Suicide Squad are returning. So is this new film a sequel, reimagining, reboot or some other interpretation? Hell, is this even part of the established DC Extended Universe or will it be shuffled alongside the upcoming Batman solo flick and Joker as standalone films?
What happened to all the surviving characters from Suicide Squad who aren’t returning? Did they just cut ties from the rest of the squad before moving cities or something?
Where’s Jared Leto? Okay, his take on the Joker may have been horrendous (or great depending on who you ask) but you’d think there’s some unfinished business with the character. At the very least you’d think Gunn might just kill him off and rid him from our collective memories forever.
Who is everyone going to play and will everyone get enough screentime? When you’ve got folk like Taika Waititi, Peter Capaldi, Idris Elba, Michael Rooker and Nathan Fillion, it’s going to be mighty difficult to service everyone while also making sure they’re not there just to serve as background fodder.
Where did John Cena come from? Okay he’s got the physicality to play a superhero/villain but this was a bit of a surprise.
With so many names, how many are going to get killed off over the course of two or so hours of Suicide Squad shenanigans? Gunn said “Don’t get too attached” to the characters before following it up with a slightly chilling “oh you beautiful optimist” to someone who guessed a 50% mortality rate to the cast.
Right now we have a lot of questions but not a lot of answers, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll get any more info for a while since production on The Suicide Squad is still in its early days so we’re in for a long wait.
But hey, if there’s anyone who can pull off a reimagining/re-whatever of DC’s Suicide Squad involving nearly an entirely new cast, it’s James Gunn.