James Gunn has made his mark and given his heart to the DCEU with The Suicide Squad. The filmmaker brought his trademark emotional sensibilities, love for the more outlandish magazine ideas, and a replacement energy to a cinematic universe still navigating its path forward. whilst the DCEU lines up its future projects and attempts greater connectivity while also exploring the multiverse, one thing seems certain: Gunn are going to be playing within the world of DC properties for a few time to return .
The Suicide Squad spin-off series, Peacemaker, starring John Cena, is about to hit HBO Max early next year, and there are teases of other projects to return . At the premiere of The Suicide Squad, DC Films president, Walter Hamada said, “He’ll be back. we’ve more stuff planned.” Even after the pandemic saddled opening weekend box office results for The Suicide Squad, the film was a transparent win for the brand, opening the door for brand spanking new characters, concepts, and stories. the large question is: what is going to Gunn tackle next?
The thing that creates Gunn such a desirable filmmaker, who has proved integral to both the MCU and DCEU, is that he doesn’t recoil from the fictional elements that make comic books what they’re . For him, grounded comes within the sort of emotional sincerity, rather than overly complicated explanations on how Ratcatcher II’s (Daniela Melchior) technology works, or working overtime to translate every utterance of “I am Groot,” to an audience that already gets it. during a superhero movie space where, no matter the standard of the film, it still seems like some filmmakers are embarrassed by the source material and only check out it for imagery or try too hard to form the magic of comics desire a science project so as to form certain themes land, Gunn stands apart. this is often such a lot the case that when The Suicide Squad introduces a political coup that interrogates America’s culpability in foreign polices, and a starfish kaiju that shoots replicas of itself out of its armpit, they create absolute sense on screen together.
So far, Gunn’s superhero projects have consisted of characters that the overall public doesn’t know much about, if anything, beforehand and don’t have preconceived notions, or previous iterations of the characters in their heads. Everyone has an opinion about how Superman should be as Zack Snyder could surely attest, but nobody , hopefully, is fretting over a change to the Polka-Dot-Man’s (David Dastmalchian) origin story. It’ll be interesting to ascertain if that’s a luxury Gunn looks forward to continuing to possess as a he tells more stories within the DCEU, or if he’ll make the leap to tackle a number of DC’s A-listers.
Given the close friendships Gunn seems to develop together with his actors, it’s likely that we’ll see Ratcatcher II, Bloodsport (Idris Elba), and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone/Steve Agee) again. But will that be within the sort of a sequel to The Suicide Squad? Obviously, there’d be only a few complaints from critics or comic fans if Gunn came back and did another Suicide Squad movie with those characters and a few new faces. There’s certainly enough John Ostrander comics to tug from, and many weird and obscure characters that Gunn could make audiences fall crazy with: Killer Frost, Clayface, Doctor Light, Punch and Jewelee, Clock King, Chemo then on. But perhaps, the Suicide Squad would be better served through television going forward, as Gunn has expressed enthusiasm for what television offers him as a storyteller, and therefore the Suicide Squad plays around with an episodic format by way of its structure and title cards.
While the result of Peacemaker will likely be the deciding factor, it looks like HBO Max are going to be an honest home for DC projects that aren’t necessarily destined to be blockbusters. because the show business rapidly shifts, partially due to the pandemic, and partially due to the streaming wave that was already within the works, it is sensible for films like Batgirl and Blue Beetle to be smaller-budgeted HBO Max exclusives. And hopefully, with box office not serving because the chief concern, more directors are going to be ready to take risks and have creative freedom with their projects. Gunn could certainly fit into the planet of $80 to $100 million DC passion projects tackling characters like Detective Chimp, Blue Devil or Deadman.
But as Gunn recently told THR, he likes making big movies, and whether you watched The Suicide Squad reception or in theaters, the film, shot in IMAX, definitely seems like an enormous movie. So, on the larger side of things, not that Gunn couldn’t make a tremendous $200 million Blue Devil movie, because he definitely could, there could certainly be more Harley Quinn in his future. There are rumblings of a Gotham City Sirens film since Suicide Squad (2016). David Ayer was originally set to try to to it, and after Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of 1 Harley Quinn) there was online buzz about Cathy Yan taking over the project. But Gunn could also be the one to truly bring it to fruition. therein same chat with THR, Gunn said that he felt he had a knack for writing Harley Quinn which Margot Robbie was his favorite actress he’s worked with. Robbie expressed similar enthusiasm for Gunn at the premiere. Another team-up between the 2 looks like the natural answer.
Gotham City Sirens, created by Paul Dini and Guillem March, features Harley, Poison Ivy, and Catwoman, who with the assistance of the Riddler, combat Hush. Although Catwoman and therefore the Riddler are going to be appearing in non-DCEU film The Batman, portrayed by Zoe Kravitz and Paul Dano respectively, the multiverse would leave other iterations of these characters to seem within the DCEU. Fans are waiting an extended time to ascertain Harley and Ivy’s romance on screen, and Gunn, so adept at telling unexpected love stories, might be the director for the work .
Call it illusion , but perhaps Gunn could even manage to urge Ben Affleck back for alittle role as Batman, and a bigger role as Hush, as long as the chance would be something out of Affleck’s wheelhouse. Gunn recently said he’d be willing to require a stab at a Batman film if Matt Reeves wasn’t already doing one. So, if not Batman, Gotham is a minimum of on the table. If there’s any lingering concern about Gunn having the ability to attract theatrical audiences with DC’s lesser-known characters, then the mixture of Harley, Ivy, Catwoman, and perhaps Batman alongside a couple of familiar Gotham Rogues just like the recent Punchline would definitely be a draw.
Another possibility to stay on the rear burner of potential projects is Justice League. I know. I know. But hear it out. While a replacement film is probably going a ways off, Gunn recently skilled CNA’s Genevieve Loh a few potential Justice League vs. Suicide Squad film. That confrontation is additionally the idea for Rocksteady’s upcoming computer game , Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, and comic companies do love synergy between brands. Gunn admitted it wasn’t a nasty idea, before saying that he’d need to find out who’s on the Justice League first, noting the complicated nature of who’s still playing which roles. While it certainly wouldn’t be the Justice League narrative that Snyder found out , those characters are too great to never see close again. And a movie told through the Suicide Squad’s perspective, instead of the Justice League, that might also allow Gunn to tap into the more irreverent side of DC also has his penchant for underdogs. Where else are we ever getting to see The Condiment King bully off against Batman, Harley Quinn fight woman , or a rematch between Bloodsport and Superman?
Whatever Gunn chooses to try to to next within the DCEU, there’s little question that it’ll be additive to the franchise and convey forth characters and ideas many comic fans never imagined they’d see on screen. We already got Starro in Gunn’s first DCEU film, so it’s only getting to get bigger and weirder from there. Creatively speaking, The Suicide Squad seems like round 2 of the DCEU, one free from limitations and studio cuts, and every one in on celebrating every character in DC’s vast pantheon of characters from Batman to Ratcatcher II with equal significance