I recently rewatched 2021’s The Suicide Squad with my HBO Max subscription, and it reminded me of why I like the movie and why I love director James Gunn’s approach to superhero movies. It’s not just the needle drops and the humor; it’s that the movies are fun. The MCU, and especially the old DCEU, can just be too serious at times. Too dour. Let’s bring the fun back to comic book movies!
The Suicide Squad Is Silly In All The Best Ways
I was inspired to revisit The Suicide Squad because I recently watched Peacemaker Season 1 for the first time after John Cena’s cameo in Superman this summer. I sort of tuned out the DCEU towards the end of its run, because, let’s be honest, the movies weren’t very much fun. I understand the appeal that Zach Snyder’s movies have for some fans, but they didn’t do much for me. Now that we have a newly rebranded and rebooted DCU, I decided it would be important to catch up.
After I started with Peacemaker, I realized how little I remembered about The Suicide Squad, which was Cena’s first appearance as the dopey, but hilarious Peacemaker. It’s important to note that it sure seems like The Suicide Squad is canon for the new DCU, which officially kicked off its live-action first phase (dubbed “Chapter One: Gods and Monsters”) with Superman, also directed by Gunn, a couple of months ago.
The Suicide Squad has something that Gunn is great at doing in his movies: joy. It’s a wild ride, with a stellar cast, and predictably great music; it’s also campy and cartoony, in the best ways. I look at those old DCEU movies, like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League, and they are such a bunch of downers. Again, I get the appeal of dark comic book adaptation, but for me, I want things that are light and fun.
Making Comic Movies Silly Shouldn’t Be A Negative
Superhero comic books, at their essence, are fun and silly. At least my favorites are. Somewhere along the way in the last 20 years or so of comic book adaptations, the film industry veered too far into the darker themes of more recent comics. This is true of both DC and Marvel-based movies. The Suicide Squad and Gunn’s three Guardians of the Galaxy films all embrace the goofy, silly aspects of comics, and I need more of that in the DCU going forward (I need more of that in the MCU too, which found some of that with The Fantastic Four: First Steps).
It doesn’t have to be all goofy. Gunn walks the line brilliantly between heartfelt and silly, especially in the third Guardians film, and to some extent in Superman, and I love how light and bright his movies are. The scene in The Suicide Squad where Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) shoots up the palace with flowers exploding is a great example of this. It feels like a comic, unlike a lot of the old DCEU to me.
I’m really looking forward to the upcoming DC movies and seeing what James Gunn and Peter Safran bring to all of them as the creative minds in charge of the franchise. Up next, the animated Creature Commandos, which I also haven’t seen.
