With the release of The Suicide Squad fast approaching, James Gunn is now out on the promotional circuit for the R-rated DC Films release, and during an interview with The New York Times, the filmmaker has revealed why he opted against including Jared Leto’s Joker in his follow-up to 2016’s Suicide Squad.
“I just don’t know why Joker would be in the Suicide Squad,” said Gunn. “He wouldn’t be helpful in that type of war situation. I wanted to create what I thought of as the Suicide Squad. For me to react to [David Ayer’s] movie would make it the shadow of David’s movie. I wanted it to be its own thing completely.”
“When Warner Bros. said they wanted me to do this, I watched the first movie for the first time, and I called them back and said, what do I have to keep from this movie? And they said, nothing. They said, listen, we would love it if Margot’s in the movie but she doesn’t have to be. You could come up with all new characters or you could keep all the same characters.”
SEE ALSO: Margot Robbie says she needs a break from Harley Quinn after Birds of Prey and The Suicide Squad
It’s worth noting that, based on past comments on social media, Gunn doesn’t appear to be much of a fan of Leto (to put it nicely), and so the absence of his Clown Prince of Crime shouldn’t really come as much of a surprise at all.
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.
The Suicide Squad sees James Gunn directing a cast that includes Suicide Squad returnees Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) and Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) as well as new DCEU additions Idris Elba, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, Nathan Fillion, Taika Waititi, Jennifer Holland, David Dastmalchian, Joaquín Cosío, Mayling Ng, Flula Borg, Juan Diego Botto, Storm Reid, John Cena, Pete Davidson, Tinashe Kajese, Daniela Melchior, Julio Ruiz, Steve Agee, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, and Sylvester Stallone.
The Suicide Squad is set for release on July 30th in the UK and on August 5th in the U.S.