Earlier this week, James Gunn finally confirmed who will be in The Suicide Squad. It's a pretty long list of names. Which characters are they playing? Aha! Different story ... that you'll have to wait to hear. Is Gunn enjoying these power moves? I would imagine so. Hey, it's his movie. His rules. I'm game to play along for the next [checks calendar] two years?
James Gunn took a break from social media after the whole Disney/Guardians 3 mess, but he's back now and still answers questions from time to time. One fan was "blown away" by Gunn's cast list for The Suicide Squad and asked when we'd get specifics on the new stars' roles. The writer/director replied in two parts:
The Suicide Squad will be filming soon, and set leaks will probably come out about various characters. Since there are so many people in the movie, some stars may speak freely on their characters without fear of upsetting the DC Powers That Be. Others may stay secret until maybe even the first screening? We'll see.
Interesting that some character reports have been "very wrong." We already saw that Michael Rooker appeared to shoot down the report claiming he'd play King Shark. He's on the new cast list, though, so he's in the movie, it's just a matter of who he is playing. It later came out that comedian Steve Agee would be voicing King Shark in The Suicide Squad. But that was from another reputable source report, not straight from James Gunn or Warner Bros.
For all we know, Pete Davidson -- who, yes, somehow is in this movie -- will really play King Shark. Or heck, maybe that's how they'll squeeze Jared Leto into this movie to make his fans happy. Gunn has only confirmed what he posted the other day with a bunch of names.
Idris Elba is one of the names on The Suicide Squad list, and he was initially said to be playing Deadshot, the role Will Smith played in poor unfortunate soul David Ayer's Suicide Squad. That was later changed to say Elba would be playing a new character in the new movie. Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and a very cold Joel Kinnaman are all returning from Suicide Squad, but James Gunn's movie is still not really a sequel.
It's been reported that David Dastmalchian will play Polka-Dot Man, with Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher. Storm Reid is said to play the daughter of Idris Elba’s character. John Cena is rumored to play Peacemaker, but the point is that we might not know for sure for a long time.
There was chatter at one point about Benicio Del Toro being in talks for The Suicide Squad, but I don't see his name on James Gunn's list. Maybe more names are coming, beyond this core 24? Gunn also warned "Don't get too attached" and there's a part of me that wonders if a bait-and-switch is ahead. I could just be in my head too much on that, though.
The Suicide Squad is currently scheduled to open in theaters on August 6, 2021.
