James Gunn opened up about why Superman wasn’t the villain in The Suicide Squad.
Earlier this month, The Suicide Squad writer and director James Gunn revealed that he originally saw Task Force X taking on Superman. Those plans ultimately fell through, with the film’s big bad eventually becoming Starro The Conqueror. Critics and fans absolutely adored Starro as the villain, praising Gunn for utilizing the villain’s abilities well and adding emotional depth to the giant starfish.
Unfortunately, no matter how great Starro was, everyone would have loved to have seen Task Force X take on the Man of Steel. James Gunn opened up about why Superman wasn’t in the film during a chat on Script Apart. Ultimately, it all boiled down to the fact that the DC Extended Universe doesn’t really have a Superman right now. It’s unclear if Henry Cavill is still the DCEU’s Superman.
“At the time, there was a lot of questions about, ‘Who is Superman in the DCEU? Is this movie outside the DCEU?,’ and all that stuff that I didn’t really want to deal with that much.”
James Gunn eventually went on to discuss what qualities about Starro appealed to him.
“He’s a character I love from the comics. I think he’s a perfect comic book character because he’s absolutely ludicrous but he’s also very scary in his own way. What he does is scary. He used to scare the crap out of me when I was a child, putting those face-huggers on Superman and Batman and stuff. So I thought he was one of the major, major DC villains that was probably never going to be put into another movie.”
“And if they did, they would do it like, the black cloud version of Starro. Not a giant walking starfish, a kaiju that is bright pink and cerulean blue, just ridiculously big, bright bad guy.”
While it is disappointing that Superman didn’t show up in The Suicide Squad, including Starro as the villain was a stroke of genius. The Man of Steel taking on Task Force X would have made for an interesting story but focusing on Starro allowed James Gunn to fully embrace the wackiness and absurdity of the DCEU, something that Warner Bros. is only now recently leaning into.
Here is the synopsis for The Suicide Squad:
Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission, with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.
Written and directed by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad stars Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Peter Capaldi, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Michael Rooker, Pete Davidson, Nathan Fillion, Sean Gunn, Flula Borg, Mayling Ng, Tinashe Kajese, Steve Agee, Jennifer Holland, Alice Braga, Juan Diego Botto, Joaquin Cosio, Storm Reid, and Taika Waititi.
The Suicide Squad is out now in theatres and HBO Max. Stay tuned for all the latest news on the future of the DC Extended Universe and James Gunn as we learn it and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.
Source: Script Apart
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