James Gunn Reveals Where The Suicide Squad Is Set On DCEU Timeline

The DCEU isn’t too worried about interconnectivity anymore, with most of its movies existing in their bubbles at this point, but there is a common thread running through Birds of Prey and the upcoming The Suicide Squad. And that’s Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Slightly unexpectedly, her recent all-girl team-up movie didn’t sow the seeds for the Task Force X sequel, so fans have wondered if it actually takes place prior to BoP in the timeline.

Writer/director James Gunn has all but spelled it out for us, though. In one of his regular Q&As with fans on Instagram, the filmmaker was asked last night whether his movie takes place after Birds of Prey. Gunn didn’t dive into the ins and outs of it, but he did say: “TSS takes place in the year it comes out.” In other words, yes. By the sounds of it, Birds is first in the timeline and then comes TSS. 

Gunn likely isn’t going into details though as it would spoil his own film. When we last saw Harley, she had done her bit in defeating Black Mask and drove off into the sunset with her new protege in crime, Cassandra Cain. It’s not currently believed that Cain will show up in TSS, so there will presumably be a scene early on that explains how the Clown Princess is captured by Amanda Waller’s goons and pressganged into doing her dirty work again.

We got a look at Robbie back as Harley via set photos taken during the shoot in Panama, revealing the anti-heroine’s comics-inspired new look in what will be her third cinematic outing. This time around, she’ll be joined by the likes of Idris Elba’s Vigilante, John Cena’s Peacemaker, Daniela Melchior’s Ratcatcher and David Dastmalchian’s Polka-Dot Man. Well, we’re pretty sure that’s who they’re playing, at least.

Elsewhere in this Q&A, the director confirmed we will see some footage from The Suicide Squad this year, ahead of its release in theaters on August 6th, 2021. Watch this space for more.