Well, that didn’t take very long. It was only a few months ago that Disney fired director James Gunn, the man behind the first two Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
A new report by The Hollywood Reporter published on Wednesday says the exiled director will be back behind the camera for an all-new relaunched Suicide Squad movie for Marvel’s archrival DC Comics.
The move is not entirely unexpected as Gunn was already writing the script for the sequel, which Warner Bros. just slotted for a August 2021 release.
The dealmaking does, however, solidify that the new Suicide Squad film will be his next directorial effort. Disney fired Gunn from his Marvel franchise in July after old tweets from 2008 and 2009 resurfaced in which he made insensitive and controversial jokes.
The pic has the title of The Suicide Squad and is not being labeled a direct sequel but as a relaunch. The 2016 original movie featured the characters Deadshot, Harley Quinn, the Joker, Captain Boomerang and Killer Croc, who are forced into the service of the government in exchange for lighter prison sentences.
Sources say that Gunn’s focus is to take the franchise in a new direction with a mostly all-new cast of characters and actors. Sources also say that the project is also very much rooted in Gunn’s vibe, as seen in the Guardians movies.
You mean the Guardians movies that brought in $773.3 million and $863.8 million worldwide? Those Guardians movies?
I see you working, DC.
Also… “mostly all-new cast of characters and actors”?
Does that also include Harley Quinn?! But… how?
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Maybe they will just leave her out of this story. It would certainly be easy enough to do considering the plethora of other DC Comics characters who have been a part of the bad guys doing good group over the years.
Assuming you remove most of the characters used in the 2016 film (have to keep Deadshot though, that’s a requirement… and Waller), the crew could be made up of people like Vixen, Bronze Tiger, Killer Frost, Penguin, Captain Cold, and Nightshade – none of which appeared in the first movie.
Stay tuned.