Suicide Squad: The Real Game Changer

 
It’s no secret that WB quietly seethes in anger at the monumental success of what Disney/Marvel has been able to produce over the last few years. The pressure to perform at a higher or at least an equal level is at an all time high especially after the studio released their planned DCCU slate. There have been questions as to whether WB is rushing to try to catch up with Marvel’s success by incorporating so many heroes so early or by betting on BvS to be what they are claiming it is, a game changer in creating a shared cinematic universe for characters many people have grown to love their whole lives. But the real secret chess move by WB/DC is the Suicide Squad, a movie many people were shocked was chosen as the third film to represent the shared universe, a movie that I believe is the REAL game changer.
 
We’ve heard over the last few years about Sony’s plan to make their own bad guy centric movie, The Sinister Six, and Marvel even flirting around with making a Loki solo movie in answer to the rising popularity of the bad guy in viewership eyes (Side note: I’ve always been partial to baddies since I was a child, hell I loved Hulk Hogan when he turned heel at Bash at the Beach while all of the other children cried). But it was WB/DC who actually took the ball and ran with it. Sporting one of the best bad guy teams outside of maybe Marvel’s The Cabal, they knew they had a winner with this movie.

 
WB/DC took major steps early on to make sure that this movie has a legitimate shot at becoming a major player in the superhero genre. They signed David Ayer on to direct shortly after they announced their new slate of movies, a man who has had proven success in these style of movies; gritty, villain centered masterpieces. They then took award winning actors and actresses and then attached them to some of the coolest villains in the DC Universe not only to draw in the average non-fanboy viewership but to give the movie a chance to do something that most superhero movies never do: flesh out the villains.
 
When you look at superhero movies throughout the years rarely do you see a great portrayal of a villain. Great actors are often given the role of the antagonist only to serve as a plot device in a movie rather than enhance the movie itself. In the past few years only Heath Ledger’s The Joker and Tom Hiddleston’s Loki have really set themselves apart from the norm. WB/DC now has a chance to up the ante in regards to this line of thinking. While doing a movie about villains, not only does it give the audience an opportunity to understand the nature of these villains but it also gives the studio a leg up when integrating the villains into the hero centric movies later on down the line because the audience now understands what makes these villains tick. There is no doubt in my mind that the Joker and Harley Quinn will reappear in a Batman movie down the line or seeing Captain Boomerang go up against The Flash at some point. The fun will be in the fact that the audience has grown to love elements of these villains which will make for great tension while enjoying these films.

 
I believe that this movie will be what makes or breaks the DCCU (I’m more heavily in favor of “makes” but it’s still early in the process). By going from BvS, which is centered on Batman and Superman (and to a lesser extent: Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Flash and Cyborg), to Suicide Squad, it will allow the juxtaposition of the good and bad to be seen before going forward into the rest of the DCCU movies. If WB/DC can pull this off without a hitch, then we may very well see a big player emerge ready to take no prisoners within the comic book movie world.