James Gunn - Suicide Squad

[Zero Hunter]

It is being reported by The Hollywood Reporter that James Gunn is in final negotiations to not only write but now also direct the next Suicide Squad movie for WB. It is described as sort of a soft reboot to the last film. The Suicide Squad is set for an August 2021 release date. It makes sense. From the minute Marvel fired him everyone and their brother said WB/DC would be fools not to get Gunn on one of their properties right away, and something like Suicide Squad with its dark humor is right in Gunn's wheelhouse.

[Michael Watkins]

it would be bad for his career. that second guardians of the galaxy movie wasn't that great. and his sense or humor would be wasted w/ a concept like Suicide Squad (which should be grittier than that last movie). he should do something non-comic book related/show that he's more than a one trick pony. or even return to doing horror. Slither (while borrowing heavily from Night of the Creeps) was a decent movie.

[titanfan]

Whose to say Gunn's version won't be grittier? I don't see why Gunn would want to make the exact same movie (Guardians) with a new franchise.

He's talented--we just don't know.

[Gray Lensman]

it would be bad for his career. that second guardians of the galaxy movie wasn't that great. and his sense or humor would be wasted w/ a concept like Suicide Squad (which should be grittier than that last movie). he should do something non-comic book related/show that he's more than a one trick pony. or even return to doing horror. Slither (while borrowing heavily from Night of the Creeps) was a decent movie.

This is the first time I have heard this - maybe in your personal opinion, but by the objective measures available that isn't true. It polls slightly lower (but still quite high) for both critic and audience scores on Rotten Tomatoes (and doesn't have an audience/critic disconnect), rates an A on Cinemascore (same as the first) and made more money than the first (per BoxOfficeMojo). By all the metrics a studio is going to care about, it was a resounding success.

The question is going to be whether or not Gunn can adjust his storytelling style to fit a different set of characters, or will he be Zack Snyder (someone great if you have a darker story, but seemingly unable or unwilling to not darken up stuff that isn't supposed to be).

[AJBopp]

From the minute Marvel fired him

Marvel wanted desperately to keep him. Disney fired him.

[batnbreakfast]

Let's hope there will be more of Ostrander's work in the 2nd movie. The first one only had a building named for Ostrander and looked to the N52 for inspiration. I hope Gunn will do at least 2 SS movies and none of them will feature HarleyQ. For the second movie the Apokolips Now arc would be a great fit.
Also not a big fan of Guardians 02. Same problem as Iron Man 02: By the time Guardians 02 gets interesting I've already zoned out.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

I thought it was a pretty safe assumption that Gunn would direct Suicide Squad 2 even if Warners didn't officially confirm their interest in that until now.

It's fine with me if he directs, but I hope he's a good enough director to respect the source material rather than just trying to give us GOTG 3 in SS-drag.

It's ok if there is humor in his SS movie, but it should be a black comedy, not something with 70s pop songs and goofy dancing with Darkseid.

As far as it being a "soft reboot," if he uses Harley, Deadshot, Waller, and then a bunch of new villains, it would still be seen by the general public as a continuation even if he doesn't reference the first film.

Right now, I'm going to stay optimistic about this until I hear specifics about his take that would make me question it.

[numberthirty]

The funniest part of this is that folks are still discussing it in "Guardians Of The Galaxy" terms.

Forget that noise.

The best chance for a solid "Suicide Squad" film is if the guy who wrote The Belko Experiment shows up to work.

[Zero Hunter]

All I want is bodycount. I loved the last Suicide Squad animated movie because by the end the body count was crazy. Count Vertigo, Punch, Jewllee, Bronze Tiger, Killer Frost, Copperhead, Reverse Flash, Silver Banshee, Blockbuster, and Tobias Whale all dead by the end. I am not saying it has to be that high, but I want to see just how dangerous these missions are and not see the whole team make it out (and do it better than that stupid Slipknot scene in the first movie)

[Midvillian1322]

The funniest part of this is that folks are still discussing it in "Guardians Of The Galaxy" terms.

Forget that noise.

The best chance for a solid "Suicide Squad" film is if the guy who wrote The Belko Experiment shows up to work.

Yup iono why people think everything will be like GOTG when hes done plenty of darker stuff. Guardians movie was original and different I assume he will bring the same originality to SS and not just copy GOTG.


Is Black Adam still suppose to feature heavily in this or is the stunt casting of the Rock gonna end up going nowhere.?

Speaking of Harley I find it weird there has been no chatter on here about the Birds if prey teaser. Or if there was I missed that thread.

[Michael Watkins]

Whose to say Gunn's version won't be grittier? I don't see why Gunn would want to make the exact same movie (Guardians) with a new franchise.

it's why they hired him. they tried to make the first movie like Guardians of the Galaxy; thinking the formula would work for this concept. I've seen enough Gunn movies to know his sense of humor, as well. he's not the guy that you get to do gritty. that's not a knock against him.

[Comic-Reader Lad]

it's why they hired him. they tried to make the first movie like Guardians of the Galaxy; thinking the formula would work for this concept. I've seen enough Gunn movies to know his sense of humor, as well. he's not the guy that you get to do gritty. that's not a knock against him.

Well, Suicide Squad does star a team of villains, so I do hope he understands that and tones the movie accordingly.

Actually, I'd like to see Warners take a risk and let him deliver an R-rated film, but that's probably asking too much given (a) Warners is now riding high on Aquaman, so I don't know if they'd do an R-tentpole, and (b) it stars Harley Quinn who will also be in the, I'm guessing, PG-13 Birds of Prey. Warners likely wants Harley to remain PG-13 to keep the character's mass appeal intact.

The only way Warners might have SS rated R would be to omit Harley, and then tone the movie to go after the Deadpool crowd.

[Starter Set]

that second guardians of the galaxy movie wasn't that great

And that's being nice. Nonsensical movie start to finish, plagued with lame jokes and absurd characterization.

[Robotman]

I really don’t think he’s just gonna do the exact same thing he did with GotG on Suicide Squad. He’s a talented filmmaker and probably doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as a one trick pony. So I wouldn’t expect the nonstop quips with this movie. I can see them going with a darker more espionage theme similar to Ostander’s run. They can scrap the previous lineup and create a whole new team lead by Bronze Tiger. There are a lot of good characters they could include from that run. Vixen, Nightshade, Blockbuster, Shade, Punch & Jewly, etc. They could also pull from DC’s huge list of great villains. I’m looking forward to see what Gunn comes up with.

[Osiris-Rex]

Well, Suicide Squad does star a team of villains, so I do hope he understands that and tones the movie accordingly.

Actually, I'd like to see Warners take a risk and let him deliver an R-rated film, but that's probably asking too much given (a) Warners is now riding high on Aquaman, so I don't know if they'd do an R-tentpole, and (b) it stars Harley Quinn who will also be in the, I'm guessing, PG-13 Birds of Prey. Warners likely wants Harley to remain PG-13 to keep the character's mass appeal intact.

The only way Warners might have SS rated R would be to omit Harley, and then tone the movie to go after the Deadpool crowd.

I don't think WB wants SS2 to be R rated because they want to get the China release this time around and China doesn't show R rated movies. Look how much Aquaman made in China. No way WB wants to pass that kind of money up.
Plus R rated movies tend to make less in the US too because you are excluding part of the US audience. Deadpool was a fluke and had the R rated comic book movie novelty factor. Nothing about SS2 requires it to be R rated. SS1
did just fine with a PG-13 ratings. Even a sanitized PG-13 Deadpool did well at the box office because people that wouldn't watch an R rated movie watched it.