With the MCU having let James Gunn go from Guardians of the Galaxy, it looks like the DCEU may try to capitalize on that loss, as he is in talks to write and direct Suicide Squad 2.
There is some big news out of the world of comic movies, according to The Wrap. After having been fired by the MCU over tweets from a decade ago, James Gunn might be getting a second chance in another major comic cinematic universe, the DCEU.
It is being reported that Gunn is in talks to not only write the script for Suicide Squad 2, but possibly even direct the film as well. And considering the director helped bring the Guardians of the Galaxy to life, we think he makes a great fit for the rag-tag team of supervillains from the DC comics.
In the first film, which starred Margot Robbie and Will Smith, audiences got to see as the government recruited some of the big bads of the DC comics to join an elite team tasked with carrying out missions that were simply too dirty for the likes of Superman or Batman. And while the movie was very divisive, splitting fans down the middle (you either loved it or hated it), it was still able to pull in a relatively respectable $750 million on a $175 million budget.
As the DCEU has continued to grow and evolve, it became clear that a Suicide Squad 2 was inevitable. And now it might even be an exciting possibility if James Gunn joins the project.
Gunn might have left Disney on negative terms, but his talents are simply unparalleled. He has proven that he is able to turn a rag-tag team of characters we may never have rooted for before and make them a team (hello, Guardians!), and that is exactly what Suicide Squad 2 needs. There were plenty of moments in the first Suicide Squad that gave us glimpses of what could be, and if the sequel got the right script and director, perhaps we could get an amazing team-up movie with plenty of humor and action.
With James Gunn taking on a leadership role on Suicide Squad 2, maybe the individual characters would get more of the spotlight in a cohesive manner. One of the things many of us didn’t like about the first film was how much time seemed to go into introducing the characters rather than telling a story. And while we need to know who these villains are, it is so much better to do that over the course of the story and not as the story itself.
And perhaps Gunn could take Jared Leto’s Joker and really give him a story if he is included in the sequel. While we know that Leto is set to reprise his role in a solo movie, there is no guarantee he would be brought back into the Suicide Squad fold. But if the Joker makes sense as part of the sequel, then this could be a great way to redeem the character after what we saw (or really didn’t see much of) in the first film.
We believe that Gunn would be able to give us so much more personality to these characters, although Harley Quinn and even Deadshot were definitely able to pop off the screens in part because of the actors bringing them to life. But they aren’t the only villains in the squad, and that means the other bad guys deserve some of the spotlight, too.
While we may have to wait and see how this plays out, we certainly think this is an amazing move by the DCEU to give new life to the Suicide Squad. It’d be great if James Gunn really does join the family and imbues his sense of storytelling into an entirely new world of comic characters. Let’s just hope it doesn’t end up like the last time DC borrowed from Marvel with Joss Whedon, and ended up creating the directorial mess that is the Justice League.