So far, James Gunn’s forays into the world of superhero cinema have seen him largely gather disparate bands of lesser-known heroes, villains, crooks, murderers, bandits and thieves, with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn arguably the highest-profile character we’ve seen in his three comic book blockbusters to date.
Of course, every member of the Guardians of the Galaxy is now a household name, but that was far from the case when Gunn was first tasked to write and direct the team’s Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, and it’s an approach that’s given the filmmaker more leeway with which to build his own corners of the Marvel and DC mythologies from the ground up.
Given that Harley was a key part of The Suicide Squad, coupled with Jared Leto’s recent return as the Joker in the epilogue of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, many fans were crossing their fingers in the hopes that Gunn would reunite them in a third Suicide Squad, or whatever his next DCEU project ends up being.
Unfortunately, he admitted in an interview with Desde Hollywood that he’s simply not interested in tackling an iconic figure that’s been done so many times before.
“There’s all sorts of other characters I’m interested in doing. Joker isn’t really one of them. He’s been done well so many times by so many people. I am much more interested in taking characters who haven’t fully had their shot, or people who I connect with. For whatever reason, I feel connected to Harley Quinn. I feel she’s one of the easiest characters I’ve ever written. So I’m interested in her, and I’m interested in some other DC characters, and we’ll just see what happens next.”
Once his Snyder Cut cameo was announced, the rumor mill went into overdrive about Leto’s Joker returning in any number of hypothetical movies and TV shows, but so far we’ve yet to hear the slightest official inkling that the franchise’s canonical Clown Prince of Crime has a future.
