‘The Suicide Squad’ New Trailer: DCEU Gets an R-Rated Dose of James Gunn Insanity

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A new trailer for DC and Warner Bros.’ “The Suicide Squad” has been unleashed. Directed by James Gunn, the film is a standalone sequel to David Ayer’s 2016 DC Extended Universe entry “Suicide Squad.” Check out the new footage below.

The Suicide Squad,” like all of Warner Bros.’ 2021 titles, will debut day and date in whatever theaters are open later this summer and on HBO Max for 31 days. The release date is currently set for August 6, 2021. It’s a strategy that’s been paying off for Warner Bros. (mostly), thanks to films like “Godzilla vs. Kong,” which has topped $100 million in the U.S. even after playing on the Warner streaming platform.

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Director James Gunn has long billed his version of “The Suicide Squad” as a gritty, 1970s war movie with comedic sensibilities. He also wrote the movie based on the comic book characters created by John Ostrander.

While Gunn is bringing back some of the same rebellious characters from Ayer’s “Suicide Squad” (Margot Robbie’s Harley, Jai Courtney’s Boomerang, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller, and Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag), he’s gone back to the drawing board in terms of the story. He’s also mixing in some new cast members, including Idris Elba (as Robert DuBois, aka Bloodsport), Nathan Fillon (as Floyd Belkin, aka TDK), John Cena (as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker), Alice Braga (as Sol Soria), Pete Davidson (as Richard Hertz, aka Blackguard), and many more. The new trailer offers another peek at the vast ensemble.

The plot is centered around the imprisoned convicts from Task Force X as they are sent on a new mission to the South American island of Corto Maltese to destroy Jotunheim, a Nazi-era prison and laboratory that held political prisoners and conducted experiments.

Filming on the supervillain epic managed to be completed before the lockdown shuttered most film and TV productions. Production began in Atlanta, Georgia in September of 2019, and then wrapped up in Panama in February of last year.

The new movie has already spawned an upcoming spinoff series, with John Cena reprising his role in a “Peacemaker” show for HBO Max. It’s set to debut on the streaming platform in January of 2022.

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