Although the majority of moviegoers would be hard-pressed to describe what happened in the movie, 2016’s Suicide Squad was a huge box office success, so Warner Bros. is determined to release a sequel. But it won’t be a straight sequel. Titled The Suicide Squad, the new installment will be a curious mix of sequel and reboot, continuing the original’s story while introducing plenty of new characters.

Guardians of the Galaxy’s James Gunn has been hired to helm the project for a 2021 release. So, here are 5 Things That Have Been Confirmed For The Suicide Squad (And 5 Fan Theories).

Confirmed: James Gunn is writing and directing

James Gunn signed on to write and direct DC’s next Suicide Squad movie after Disney fired him from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 due to resurfaced offensive tweets. Marvel eventually reinstated him as the threequel’s director, allowing him to complete the trilogy that he has lovingly crafted since 2014. But by then, he’d already signed on to make this movie for Marvel’s closest rival over the next couple of years. So, Marvel will have to wait for Gunn to finish The Suicide Squad before he can make the third Guardians movie, which seems to have screwed up Marvel’s plans.

Fan theory: Arthur Fleck will appear in Arkham Asylum

Since this is a Suicide Squad movie, it stands to reason that at least a couple of scenes will take place in Arkham Asylum. Todd Phillips has been adamant that his recent Joker movie doesn’t take place in the wider DC Extended Universe. However, the ambiguous ending of that movie means that DC can pick and choose how much of it actually took place. We know that the romantic subplot was imaginary, but it’s hinted that more of the film was imagined, too. All we know for sure is that Arthur Fleck is locked in Arkham Asylum, where he’s causing all kinds of problems for the staff. So, he can appear in The Suicide Squad.

Confirmed: Some exciting new actors have joined the cast

When he signed on to helm the next Suicide Squad movie, James Gunn wanted to introduce a bunch of new characters. Rather than focus on the characters that got bungled in the first one with on-the-nose exposition and undercooked arcs, Gunn intended to start fresh. There are familiar characters, like Amanda Waller and Captain Boomerang, but such exciting stars as Idris Elba, John Cena, Nathan Fillion, Storm Reid, Michael Rooker, Taika Waititi, Alice Braga, and Peter Capaldi have joined the cast. Initially, Elba was cast to replace Will Smith as the DCEU’s Deadshot, but the studio decided to make him a new character, leaving the door open for Smith to return in the future.

Fan theory: It’ll be rated R

Neither the MCU nor the mainline DCEU has released an R-rated movie yet. But with the successes of Logan, Joker, and the Deadpool movies, we could be seeing a couple more comic book tentpoles with R ratings in the future. The Suicide Squad would be an ideal candidate for an R-rated movie.

The tale of a bunch of wisecracking supervillains teaming up to tackle an evil greater than all of them could do with a little profanity and graphic violence. The PG-13 original felt too sanitized. There have already been rumors that the movie will carry an R rating, but they could just be rumors.

Confirmed: It’ll be released on August 6, 2021

The Suicide Squad is slated to be released on August 6, 2021. 2021 will see the ultimate box office battle between Marvel and DC. It’ll be the first year in which Marvel releases four movies – Thor: Love and Thunder, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and a sequel to Spider-Man: Far From Home – so it’ll be the ultimate test of the MCU’s post-Endgame longevity. Meanwhile, DC will be releasing James Gunn’s Suicide Squad sequel, Matt Reeves’ The Batman starring Robert Pattinson, and Black Adam, a Shazam! spin-off produced by and starring Dwayne Johnson.

Fan theory: The original team will be killed off in an early scene

Based on the fact that James Gunn won’t clarify if The Suicide Squad is a sequel or a reboot, fans are guessing it’ll be a hybrid of the two. As a sequel, it’ll continue the misadventures of Task Force X from the first movie. But as a reboot, it could replace the whole team in the first few minutes. One fan theory has it that in an early scene in The Suicide Squad, most of the characters from the original movie will be killed off, necessitating Amanda Waller to recruit some new members. This would be a crazy way to open the movie.

Confirmed: It’s more comedic than the first one

According to Joel Kinnaman, one of the only cast members from the first Suicide Squad film to be reprising their role (in his case, Rick Flag) in James Gunn’s combination of sequel and reboot, the new film will be a lot more comedic than the first one: “[Gunn]’s written a fantastic script. It’s so funny…I feel like I’m shooting my first comedy. There are a lot of really funny people there. It’s like a learning experience. I’m around a lot of incredible, funny people.” This is hardly surprising, since Gunn’s sense of humor can be seen in all of his films, including the MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy movies.

Fan theory: Idris Elba is playing Bronze Tiger

Idris Elba has been cast in a major role in The Suicide Squad, but it hasn’t been confirmed who he’ll be playing, so fan speculation is running wild. Storm Reid has been hired to play Elba’s character’s daughter, but this isn’t very telling, because rumor has it that Elba’s character doesn’t have a daughter in the comics and they’ve just given him one for the movie.

One persistent fan theory suggests that Elba will be playing Bronze Tiger. Ben Turner, a.k.a. Bronze Tiger, is a martial arts expert who dresses up as a tiger. He’s traditionally a villain, but he’s also been characterized as an antihero.

Confirmed: Jared Leto’s Joker is out, Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn is still in

The focus of the upcoming sequel to Suicide Squad is on new characters, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be any familiar faces in the cast. Margot Robbie is signed on to reprise her role as Harley Quinn in the movie, although Jared Leto hasn’t been brought back to play the Joker. It’s unconfirmed if any incarnation of the Joker will show up, but James Gunn has explained why he might not be in the film at all: “No one but me and a few others know all the characters in the movie, but if the Joker isn’t in the film, I don’t think it would be strange, as he isn’t a part of the Suicide Squad in the comics.”

Fan theory: Jared Leto’s Joker was Jason Todd

In Batman v Superman, Ben Affleck’s Caped Crusader was presented as an older, more grizzled incarnation of the character than we’d seen before. He was waiting for the right opportunity to hang up the cowl. He was sick of fighting crime. He’d suffered a few traumas. In the Batcave, Bruce Wayne looked forlornly at a Robin costume with “HAHAH joke’s on you, Batman,” spray-painted on it. This suggested that in this universe, Bruce once had a Robin – possibly Jason Todd – who was killed by the Joker. But what if he wasn’t killed by the Joker? What if Jason Todd became Jared Leto’s Joker? It’s been confirmed that Leto’s Joker won’t be appearing in The Suicide Squad, but he could be named as Jason Todd as a fun Easter egg.

  • Suicide Squad 2 Release Date: 2021-08-06