Wait, Suicide Squad Almost Had An Even Bigger Justice League Connection?

The cast of Suicide Squad (2016)

Following the success of the “Release the Snyder Cut” campaign, fans are now setting their sights on an Ayer Cut of 2016’s Suicide Squad. Director David Ayer also wants to see his original vision for the film released to the public, even going as far as to say creating it wouldn’t be difficult. Since the campaign began, Ayer has been sharing more details about his original cut and early ideas for the story. Now, the director has revealed that the original script included an even bigger connection to Zack Snyder’s Justice League, aside from that quick post-credits scene.

David Ayer, who’s known for regularly communicating with fans through social media, was recently asked if the Ayer Cut connects to the Apokolips invasion in Justice League. The director replied by saying that the original script did have references to the New Gods, but this was changed after rewrites:

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Although Ayer doesn’t say exactly how the New Gods characters would have tied into his story, it would appear that they would have had some link to the Enchantress’ monsters. This could’ve have meant that the possessed June Moon may have been initially summoning parademons instead of corrupting humans and creating monsters.

The New Gods and their corner of the DC Universe haven’t been explored heavily in the cinematic franchise, but their presence has loomed large for years now. Apokolips’ presence, in particular, first became clear in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The “Knightmare” sequence featuring Batman not only showed the Dark Knight squaring off with parademons, but it also referenced Darkseid through the Omega symbol.

While discussing his original cut of Justice League, Zack Snyder has been incredibly vocal about the fact that Darkseid was to be the main antagonist in his film. The director even teased the character’s cinematic debut in a new social media post.

We’ve only scratched the surface with the New Gods in the DC Extended Universe thus far, and their roles are only going to expand moving forward. Ava DuVernay is set to direct a big-screen adaptation of Jack Kirby’s classic comic and is currently co-writing the script with DC Comics scribe Tom King.

Based on DuVernay’s early comments on the story, the movie will highlight characters from the planet New Genesis, but Darkseid will also appear in that movie as an antagonist. This makes you wonder whether or not Snyder and DuVernay will link up and discuss how their two projects could sync up.

New Gods connections would’ve been cool to see in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad, as they could have better linked the two films together. Plus, seeing Task Force X ripping into parademons would’ve been a sight to behold. But on the bright side, we can savor the fact that there are plenty of cosmic DC goodies on the way.

Erik Swann
Senior Content Producer

Erik Swann is a Senior Content Producer at CinemaBlend. He began working with the publication in 2020 when he was hired as Weekend Editor. Today, he continues to write, edit and handle social media responsibilities over the weekend. On weekdays, he also writes TV and movie-related news and helps out with editing and social media as needed. He graduated from the University of Maryland, where he received a degree in Broadcast Journalism. After shifting into multi-platform journalism, he started working as a freelance writer and editor before joining CB. Covers superheroes, sci-fi, comedy, and almost anything else in film and TV. He eats more pizza than the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.