There’s just over six weeks to go until The Suicide Squad explodes into theaters and onto HBO Max, and a new trailer has set the stage for the marketing campaign to kick into high gear. We’re not quite sure how exactly the film fits into the DCEU timeline, if it does at all, with writer/director James Gunn and star John Cena detailing at various points that it isn’t quite a sequel or a reboot, despite taking place after the events of David Ayer’s first film and bringing back several characters for a second go-round.
What we do know is that it promises to be a hell of a lot of fun, with Gunn having long since established himself as an expert when it comes to crafting irreverent and action-packed comic book blockbusters based on a dysfunctional band of outcasts and misfits, and The Suicide Squad has the added benefit of an R-rating, something he’d never get for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Joel Kinnaman says the movie is hilarious and depraved, while Cena was much more upfront and succinctly claimed that it’ll make you sh*t your pants, which hopefully turns out to be a hyperbolic statement. It’s big, bad, brash, bold, not to mention hilarious from the looks of things, and could be set for a bumper haul at the box office despite the ongoing struggles of the theatrical industry, as well as a simultaneous streaming release.
Gunn looks to have fully justified Warner Bros.’ decision to offer him any project of his choosing almost as soon as he was initially fired by Disney from the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 hot seat, and The Suicide Squad is poised to deliver what fans were hoping to see the first time the titular team was assembled.