When Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom is released later this month, the DCEU will have officially reached its conclusion. However, one of its first noteworthy critical flops - 2016's Suicide Squad - simply will not go away.
Despite not boasting a fanbase quite as passionate as those who demanded Warner Bros. #ReleaseTheSnyderCut of Justice League, there are plenty of people who would love to see the studio #ReleaseTheAyerCut.
Warner Bros. is believed to have butchered filmmaker David Ayer's vision for the movie after the negative response to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice left executives wondering whether the DCEU's darker tone was working (hence why Aquaman and Shazam! were both more in line with an MCU movie).
After once vowing to move on from the ill-fated project, Ayer continues to spread the word about his version of Suicide Squad on social media and has all but confirmed that DC Studios co-CEO James Gunn has promised he'll help the director's cut eventually see the light of day.
Talking to Total Film, Ayer again shared his belief original version of the movie will be released. However, he also suggested that there are those within Warner Bros. who are scared of what such a move might entail.
"I think so. I'm going to be hopeful. You know, there are a lot of people that are invested in certain narratives that don't want it to see the light of day. So there’s an immense political headwind against it, because if that cut were made public, the cowardliness and the whole just general shittiness of how the film's been treated, and how the actors have had this great work that they'd done taken away."
"That narrative blows up once people see the movie. But it's coming. Something's going to happen. Something's going to be revealed. The truth always comes out. It always comes out."
DC Studios is setting the stage for a whole new DCU, so re-releasing Suicide Squad and stirring up the Snyderverse fans who have already rejected James Gunn's plans seems like a disaster in the making.
Based on past remarks, Ayer's cut is believed to feature a darker and more nuanced portrayal of its characters, with a greater focus on Jared Leto's Joker and the relationship between the members of Task Force X. Whether we'll ever see this faithful representation of the director's creative vision for the DC Comics adaptation remains to be seen.
However, we'd say it's unlikely. It will soon be a decade since Suicide Squad arrived in theaters and, beyond Ayer and an increasingly diminishing number of fans, the demand to #ReleaseTheAyerCut doesn't appear to be there.