2016's Suicide Squad spent a lot of time delving into Harley Quinn's abusive relationship with The Joker, but concluded with her remaining by the Clown Prince of Crime's side (it's thought she would have rejected the villain in the #AyerCut of the DC Comics adaptation).
By the time Birds of Prey rolled around, Harley had moved on from her ex, but will The Suicide Squad address this? It's no secret that James Gunn isn't a fan of Jared Leto, and there's been absolutely nothing to suggest his Joker will factor into the plot (in fact, the filmmaker has confirmed that he won't be bringing back the Harlequin of Hate in any capacity).
During a recent interview with Toronto Sun, actress Margot Robbie weighed in on how The Suicide Squad handles Harley's relationship with The Joker.
"I think in the first Suicide Squad film she had a certain confidence and cockiness, knowing that she had the protection of the Joker. She was like, ‘I’ll go on this mission, and he’ll get me out of here in a second.' That was kind of her prerogative on that film," Robbie explains. "Then in Birds of Prey it was, ‘Oh s—, it’s a scary, cold world. Maybe I can’t do it.’"
"In this film, time has passed, it doesn’t directly link to either of those films, but it’s not something that Harley is wrestling with anymore," she said of The Suicide Squad. "She’s not waiting for Mr. J to show up and she’s not wondering if she can do it on her own. She knows."
This feels like the right direction to take Harley in, though it is interesting that Robbie is now the latest star of The Suicide Squad to point out that this "sequel" is very much standalone in nature!
The Suicide Squad will be released in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6th, 2021.
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biggest reveals about The Suicide Squad from James Gunn!
5. What Weasel And King Shark Bring To Task Force X
Two of the craziest additions to Gunn's take on Task Force X have to be Weasel and King Shark. Both characters are animalistic in nature and are already tugging at the heartstrings of fans after just a couple of trailers. With that in mind, you just know they're gonna make a big impact in the film.
However, the filmmaker hinted that Weasel being part of the team is darker than it first appears.
"Imagine if they took a German shepherd and they threw them onto the ship and said, ‘Okay, now go fight in this war, and we're just going to throw you into the water,'" he explains. "Unlike Rocket or even Groot or other CGI characters I've dealt with, Weasel is barely more than an animal at that, and he has no clue what is happening around him."
"King Shark is a little bit smarter than Weasel, but that's not really saying much," Gunn adds, hinting that the character is every bit as vulnerable despite his formidable appearance. "He is just a giant fish who likes eating beings and doesn't think of anything more than that, other than hoping that perhaps people will think he's smart and wanting to belong a little bit."
4. Idris Elba's Bloodsport
The latest trailer for The Suicide Squad pointed to Bloodsport's arc being not all that different to what we imagine Deadshot's role would have looked like had Will Smith not had scheduling issues. Both characters have young daughters Amanda Waller can use against them, and they're equally as capable with weaponry.
Despite reports Elba was originally cast as Floyd Lawton, Gunn explains that he always wrote the character with Elba in mind, but wasn't immediately sure who that would be.
"The truth is I wrote this role for Idris Elba, not knowing which character from the comics I was going to use," he admits. "And there were lots of times of using different characters, including a made-up character. So what I did instead was I took one of the characters I liked from the comics, by the name of Bloodsport."
"In the comics, his ability is to pull weaponry out of thin air. And the way we interpret that in this film is he has a costume that is covered with all these different gadgets that he uses, all this weaponry that are these transforming pieces of weaponry," Gunn continues. "And then he has this sort of creepy, Xenomorph-looking skull helmet, which I liked a lot."
3. Harley Quinn's Arkham-Inspired Wardrobe
Harley Quinn went through some big changes in Birds of Prey, and it seems that will continue in The Suicide Squad. Some of her tattoos have been removed, and Gunn is embracing the comics by using a red and black color scheme for the villain that makes her look cooler than ever before.
"One of the many things that people asked me the most about The Suicide Squad, before I was hired, was ‘What is Margot going to wear?’ What is Harley going to look like? Are you bringing her red and black wardrobe into the movies?’" Gunn recalls. "And so my answer to that, yes."
"The truth is I had a huge map of different books of Harley Quinn throughout the years in various media, and one of them I liked the best was the Arkham games look of Harley Quinn."
The filmmaker adds that he wanted her to have something written on the back of her jacket and settled on "Live Fast, Die Clown." However, he also considered "Clown AF" and "World's Best Grandpa." We'd love to know the story behind the latter option, that's for damn sure.
2. The Importance Of Ratcatcher II
It's clear from past interviews that Gunn has a soft spot for Daniela Melchior's Ratcatcher II, and he explains here that "She is an innocent, compared to the rest of them."
"She's taken up the mantle of her father, the original Ratcatcher. She controls rats like her father did, but she's also in prison for robbing a bank. She isn't the murderer. She has never been a murderer and almost all the rest of the Suicide Squad members are murderers for one reason or another."
That puts her in something of a unique position within Task Force, and it could be why Bloodsport takes a liking to her. Gunn confirms they will have a father-daughter dynamic and notes that despite not having a great relationship with his own daughter, he embarks on this mission for her and "through Ratcatcher II, he starts to maybe soften a bit."
"I think through the movie we learn both of them have a very specific and special journey that works intimately off of each other."
1. Why Starro Is The Main "Villain"
Fans figured out that Starro would somehow factor into The Suicide Squad pretty early on, and while he's yet to be fully revealed (we're betting that will be saved for the film itself), there have been some awesome glimpses of the massive alien in both trailers for Gunn's first DCEU movie.
"I knew early on that I wanted to have Starro be one of the primary antagonists for this movie," the filmmaker confesses. "He's a character who I love from DC Comics. He is a giant walking, thinking, cerulean blue starfish. He is both utterly ridiculous and terrifying to me and has been terrifying since I was a very young person."
Interestingly, Gunn would add "I also think he goes along with what's happening in the rest of this movie. This isn't a movie about good guys and bad guys. It's a movie about shades of gray."
It sounds to us like someone is trying to control the alien for their own nefarious means. There's still no casting news for Starro, but we know neither Taika Waititi nor Sylvester Stallone will lend their voices to the villain (they're playing Ratcatcher and King Shark, respectively).
h/t IGN