In many ways, it is 2013’s Man of Steel that can be considered ground zero of Warner Bros.’ budding DC Extended Universe, teeing up the aesthetic and general tone of what’s still to come along the studio’s slate. Much of that style bled into Zack Snyder’s Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, though it’s really the arrival of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad that will steer Warner’s juggernaut into uncharted territory.
Assembling Task Force X in all of their erratic and capricious glory, Ayer – best known for End of Watch and the excellent Fury – is juggling a group of supervillains united under a common cause. And it’s for this reason actor Jay Hernandez considers Suicide Squad to be “the next step” in the evolution of superhero movies.
[zerg]On board to portray the volatile El Diablo, Hernandez spoke to Coming Soon recently about his role as one of the lesser-known members of Task Force X.
“As a lesser known member of the squad, there wasn’t as much anticipation and there wasn’t people saying, ‘You’re veering off doctrine.’” Hernandez laughs. “There’s a certain level of freedom that I thought was great.”
In terms of what sets David Ayer’s uber-stylish spinoff apart, the actor went on to discuss the characters driving the plot, along with those icons swinging in for a glorious cameo – i.e. Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader.
“Suicide Squad is the next step,” he says. “Everything starts somewhere and is going to end somewhere. I think this is that next step in the evolution of superhero movies… [There are] characters from the other movies that have come in onto our project. It’s interesting because, as a filmmaker and as a writer, you have to make it make sense. You have to find some way to infuse characters that aren’t really part of the narrative, but still have it make sense and have it not just be this weird piece where you’re setting up the other movie. It’s fluid and it has to feel right.”
David Ayer will rally Task Force X together for better or worse when Suicide Squad opens on August 5.
