When Warner Bros announced a slate of 10 new superhero movies based on its rights to the DC Comics back catalogue last October, it’s fair to say that Suicide Squad wasn’t among the obvious highlights. Most expected the Dirty Dozen-style antiheroes outing to be Warner’s answer to Guardians of the Galaxy, a little-known proposition (outside superfan circles) which would allow the studio to rev its engine in a remote corner of the DC cinematic universe without too much fallout if fans didn’t bite.
Following the announcement of a supremely starry cast, including Jared Leto as the Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, David Ayer’s movie has begun to look a far more attractive proposition. And this week’s apparent confirmation that Ben Affleck’s Batman will also be taking part dramatically ups the ante.
In the comic books, the Suicide Squad acts as a justice system for supervillains. They are forced to take on blackops suicide missions for the US government in exchange for commuted sentences, which helps to explain why the Joker and his ilk never seem to be behind bars for long (though the clown prince of villainy is not known as a core member of the team in print).
Batman has occasionally found himself getting caught up in the Suicide Squad’s affairs, so there’s nothing canonically wrong with Ayer introducing Bruce Wayne into proceedings. The film-maker needs to tread carefully, however. Make Affleck’s appearance little more than a cameo, and fans might feel short-changed. But give the caped crusader too much screen time, and other members of the cast are going to look lightweight.
Just another day... Our cams catching #Batman riding on top of Joker's car down Yonge. #SuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/DS0OM9gOE2
— Melanie Ng (@CityMelanie) May 27, 2015
Leto, and in particular Smith, are actors who need to be centre stage if they’re really to shine. The latter is already playing an antihero most filmgoers won’t know too much about before the lights go down. So it’s important that Batman plays his part, then leaves the movie’s true stars to get on with it.
An opening scene in which Gotham’s dark knight captures the Joker and Harley Quinn, but is then warned off by Suicide Squad handler Amanda Waller would serve nicely. Let’s hope previous reports that Batman represents an ever-present bogeyman are wide of the mark.
Marvel’s own cinematic universe has flourished by generally keeping better-known heroes apart, bar the odd Avengers movie. But it’s good to see a rival studio having the cahunas to take a different approach. Batman is the big daddy of the Warner-DC stable and his presence alone in Suicide Squad, particularly via a storyline that features the Joker on the big screen for the first time since Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, will be enough to convince some fans to go see it.
Of course, this could all mean we’ve just about had enough of the caped crusader by the time Justice League parts one and two rollout around 2017 and 2019, but that hasn’t happened so far with Marvel characters such as Iron Man. In any case, the Disney-owned studio is also showing signs of loosening up, with Spider-Man and Tony Stark due to appear in the next Captain America movie, Civil War. Perhaps the two titans of the brave new world of big screen superheroes are starting to influence each other.
Warner-DC still lags some way behind its rival when it comes to buzz for its upcoming slate. The newcomer’s only shared universe effort so far is middling Superman reboot Man of Steel, while Marvel has already delivered half a dozen bona fide critical smashes. But with every week that goes by there are fledgling signs of a potential shift in the balance of power.
