23 Things James Gunn Did With "The Suicide Squad" That Make It A Completely Different Movie
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Can you believe it? James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is finally here for our viewing pleasure.
Warner Bros.
Me, devouring this movie like King Shark devours a human.
You might be wondering if this movie is worth your time after Suicide Squad (2016) was a bit, um, underwhelming, to say the least. The answer is YES.
Warner Bros.
Since we may never know what the 2016 movie was meant to look like, this could be the best onscreen version of the Suicide Squad we ever get.
Here are all the biggest differences between David Ayer’s Suicide Squad (2016) and James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad (2021):
Seriously, I'm about to spoil this whole movie. You've been warned!
1.The Suicide Squad has a completely different plot from the 2016 movie, but there is still a connection between the films.
Most notably, returning cast members Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Joel Kinnaman, and Viola Davis. The premise of the Suicide Squad is also basically the same: Join the team and complete the mission, and get time taken off your prison sentence.
Think of it this way: The Suicide Squad is a little bit of a sequel and a little bit of a reboot of Suicide Squad, but it's also a stand-alone movie that exists independently of whatever else is going on in the DCEU.
2.The Suicide Squad's R rating is used to its fullest extent, and it's WAY more violent, bloody, and profane.
You'll immediately know that this movie is not kidding around when Blackguard/Pete Davidson's face gets blown off before the 10-minute mark.
3.There's no direct reference to the events of the first movie, but James Gunn takes advantage of some of the groundwork laid by David Ayers.
For example, Harley Quinn, Rick Flag, and Captain Boomerang already know each other and have clearly gone on missions together. The prisoners at Belle Reve all know about Amanda Waller's Task Force X, aka the Suicide Squad.
4.The group goes on a mission together right away (within the first 10 minutes), rather than 45 minutes in like in the 2016 version.
This means they spend A LOT more time together, which definitely affects the team vibe.
5.The squad itself has different members.
First squad: Harley, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Killer Croc, Diablo, Slipknot, Rick Flag, and Katana.
New squad: Harley, Boomerang, Flag, and new characters Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Ratcatcher 2, Polka-Dot Man, King Shark, Blackguard, Savant, TDK (The Detachable Kid), Mongal, Javelin, and Weasel. I apologize for the blurry pictures, but these are the only shots that have everybody in them.
6.The body count is enormous, and a BUNCH of main characters die.
Captain Boomerang, TDK, Weasel*, Blackguard, Mongal, and Javelin are all dead in the first 12 minutes, quickly followed by Savant, whose head is exploded by Waller when he tries to run away. Rick Flag and Polka-Dot Man also die near the end of the movie. In the 2016 movie, only Slipknot and Diablo die.
*Weasel appeared to drown at the very beginning of the movie, but he actually survived and no one knows. Long live Weasel!
7.Visually, the movies are totally different.
Suicide Squad (2016) stayed in line with the dark cinematography and gray color palette of other DC movies like Man of Steel and Batman v. Superman. The Suicide Squad is much brighter and more colorful.
8.The soundtrack in the new movie isn't as aggressive as its predecessor.
The Suicide Squad (2016) had a soundtrack that mixed pretty much every single genre of music and was very on the nose. Music still plays a big role in The Suicide Squad (2021) — this is a James Gunn movie, after all — but it's more subtle and cohesive. The tracks were all picked out by Gunn himself, which was not the case for David Ayer in 2016.
9.Amanda Waller seems to have less power in this version, which can only be a good thing.
In the 2016 movie, Waller was having meetings at the Pentagon and bossing everyone around while she ate a steak in every other scene. In this version, she's still the person in charge of the squad, but her subordinates are frequently appalled by her actions, to the point where they eventually defy her orders.
10.She's also, somehow, even more evil in this version.
We got the impression that Amanda Waller wasn't a good person in the 2016 movie, but in this movie she is so much worse. She threatens kids, covers up decades of human rights violations, and at one point has to be knocked out so that she won't blow up the whole squad. Viola Davis, who was admittedly very good the first time, is even better at playing this version of the character.
11.Harley wears a lot more clothes in this movie, but she continues her reign as the DCEU's best character.
Goodbye, bikini bottoms and high heels. Hello, red dress and combat boots. Her iconic hair and tattoos are slightly different! Blessedly, there are also no shots that linger needlessly on her butt.
12.Both movies use flashbacks for expositional purposes, but the 2021 movie just does it better.
The 2016 movie seemed to have a flashback for every single character's backstory, and three or four devoted entirely to Harley and the Joker. The 2021 version has just four notable flashbacks, and only one of them is for a new character's backstory.
13.Bloodsport replaces Deadshot as the unlikely leader of the team.
It was originally reported that Idris Elba was going to replace Will Smith as Deadshot, but that was apparently never the case, since both Idris and James Gunn insist that he was only ever going to play Bloodsport. Deadshot and Bloodsport are clearly different characters, but I'd be remiss not to mention their similarities. They have an almost identical skillset and wish they were better fathers, and they both take on a leadership role in the group.
14.Farewell, Killer Croc — welcome, King Shark.
This may not seem like an important distinction, but King Shark is the single most important creation of 2021. I have a feeling that he survived the whole movie because James Gunn knew that if anything happened to him we'd revolt. Meanwhile, Killer Croc only did one notable thing in Suicide Squad — he swam in the sewers to place a bomb that would kill Enchantress.
15.Rick Flag is cool now.
Rick Flag is the character who changes the most between both versions of Suicide Squad. He's funny now! He's close friends with Harley and Bloodsport! He wears a fun yellow T-shirt! Rick Flag 2.0 is great, and his death is the single most emotional moment of the movie, IMO.
16.The new characters are unexpected but perfect additions to the story.
Ratcatcher 2 and Polka-Dot Man might seem like dumb villains with dumber powers, but they end up being the heart of the movie. Bloodsport and Peacemaker have a great rivalry reminiscent of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers (except much funnier and nowhere near as heroic).
17.The villain is relatively small compared to Enchantress from the first movie.
No potential apocalypse here! Just the corrupt government of a small island nation and a giant starfish monster. Sure, Starro is absurd (and also legit scary?), but it's nice for a superhero movie to change up the usual CGI climax from a faceless army or a giant light beam in the sky.
18.No Joker!
Not that he added much to the 2016 movie, but this time he isn't here at all. Harley makes a non-specific reference to her less than stellar dating history, but that's it.
19.In fact, there is little to no connection to the DCEU's previous movies.
Suicide Squad (2016) was directly connected to the ending of Batman v. Superman, and even featured cameos from Batman and the Flash. That's not the case in this movie, which makes one reference to Superman and nothing more.
20.There are a couple of Easter eggs that reference James Gunn's previous superhero work in the MCU.
Michael Rooker (Savant), Sylvester Stallone (King Shark), and Sean Gunn (Weasel/Calendar Man) are all in the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise. Pom Klementieff (Mantis in the MCU) has a tiny cameo and Idris Elba (Heimdall in the Thor movies) obviously plays Bloodsport. Finally, Taika Waititi plays Ratcatcher 1.
21.The whole cast gets a chance to shine.
Suicide Squad (2016) had Margot Robbie and Will Smith, but none of the other team members were memorable at all (sorry). You'll be happy to know that the 2021 version lets every character make an impression, even the ones who are dead before the 12-minute mark.
22.The relationships between the characters are much stronger this time around.
James Gunn is very good at convincingly bringing together a group of non-heroes, as we've seen in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies. He does the same thing here, making the friendship (or lack thereof) between different team members believable. For instance, Ratcatcher 2's relationship with Bloodsport and King Shark is beautiful.
23.And finally: In general, this movie is waaaay less serious than its predecessor.
It's not without its moments of gravitas — seriously, Flag's death hurt me — but at the end of the day, the final villain is a giant alien starfish, which Harley stabs in the eye with a javelin while a horde of rats devours its brain.
