The DCEU continues in an action-packed trailer for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad - and here's our full trailer breakdown. James Gunn has joined the DCEU to direct The Suicide Squad, a follow-up to David Ayer's 2016 Suicide Squad that's not quite a full sequel nor reboot. There's more than a little irony to this, given Ayer's Suicide Squad was warped out of shape in part because Warner Bros. wanted him to make a movie more like one of Gunn's.
Marketing for Gunn's The Suicide Squad has been well planned, with each trailer gradually revealing a little more about the latest iteration of Task Force X and the threats they're going to be facing. Now, Warner Bros. has released a new trailer that focuses in on some of the individual Squad members, and builds on reveals from the previous trailers to explore their mission to the troubled fictional island of Corto Maltese. It remains silent about one key question though; what price will Task Force X pay to save the day? Gunn was told he could kill anybody he wants, and it's safe to assume some of these stars won't be appearing in the DCEU again.
Still, with a lot of mysteries finally revealed, the new trailer for The Suicide Squad is more informative than its predecessors. Here's every Easter egg and reveal from Suicide Squad 2's trailer.
The new The Suicide Squad trailer opens with a focus on Robert DuBois, aka Bloodsport, played by Idris Elba. In the comics, Bloodsport was originally portrayed as a Vietnam vet who suffered from PTSD and lashed out at Metropolis in a fit of rage because of their lack of gratitude to soldiers who had died for their country; he caught the attention of Lex Luthor, who supplied Bloodsport with Kryptonite to use against the Man of Steel. The Suicide Squad is clearly playing this straight, with Bloodsport shooting Superman with a Kryptonite bullet, presumably one provided by Luthor. This may be the first hint as to Luthor's activities in the DCEU since he escaped from Arkham Asylum at the end of Justice League.
The voice-over from Viola Davis' Amanda Waller may be about introducing Bloodsport, but some of these shots actually appear to be from the end of the film, corresponding to the end of the trailer. Bloodsport appears to be dropping through a collapsing building on Corto Maltese, performing a superhero (supervillain?) landing during the final battle.
He may have managed to put Superman in the ICU, but Bloodsport was caught all the same, and he's been sentenced to prison at Belle Reve. This facility is run by ARGUS, and it holds superhuman criminals considered to number among the world's most dangerous threats. It's run by Amanda Waller, who makes liberal use of the inmates as members of Task Force X. The Suicide Squad's trailer confirms Bloodsport has been making himself useful cleaning up, and he doesn't want to become part of Waller's Suicide Squad at all. Interestingly, there is a relationship between PTSD and OCD, so Bloodsport's apparently obsessive cleanliness may indicate the trauma he's still suffering.
Bloodsport doesn't really care about himself, but he's underestimated just how dirty Waller is willing to play; she's got to him through his daughter, an original character for the film. According to dialogue in this shot, Tyla is in trouble with the law and her court date is coming up. Waller is offering to help - so long as Bloodsport joins the Suicide Squad first. It's a smart play, and it serves to add an emotional beat to the story of The Suicide Squad; thematically it's reminiscent of Deadshot's story in Ayer's first Suicide Squad.
Viola Davis was perfectly cast as Amanda Waller in Ayer's Suicide Squad, and she returns in Gunn's movie - getting a powerful moment to shine in the trailer when she confronts Bloodsport. It seems Bloodsport doesn't take kindly to being manipulated, and he threatens Waller's life. But Waller - nicknamed "The Wall" in the comics due to her aggressive and stubborn personality - is not one to back down. She orders her people to lower their guns, and cautions Bloodsport she wouldn't take such extreme measures if this mission weren't more important than he can possibly imagine. The official synopsis for The Suicide Squad confirms Task Force X is going to the island of Corto Maltese in order to incite a coup, in a plot inspired by '70s war movies, but this latest trailer assures viewers the stakes are high.
The Suicide Squad is expected to feature two different teams, but - contrary to early theories - it doesn't look as though one will be sent to Corto Maltese as backup. Rather, they'll be sent in together, and then split up. The first few Belle Reve inmates seen in the trailer are expected to work with Bloodsport; from left to right, you can see Blackguard, Mongal, Javelin, Task Force X veteran Boomerang, TDK, Squad leader Rick Flag, and Savant. Some of these characters are expected to die in short order, given they barely appear in any of the trailers.
It's time for a quick roll-call, as a voice-over from Amanda Waller assures viewers - and, presumably, Bloodsport - that every member has been hand-picked due to their respective skills. The accompanying shots put the lie to her words, suggesting she's simply tossed whatever Belle Reve inmates she happens to have on hand at the moment at Corto Maltese. Flula Borg's Javelin, for example, is a Z-level Green Lantern villain who, well, throws javelins. His costume has been faithfully recreated, and it's safe to assume his non-powerset has been as well.
David Ayer's Suicide Squad may not have been critically well-received, but some of its casting choices were stellar. Gunn has kept Jai Courtney's Boomerang, introduced as a common criminal who fell afoul of the Flash. He always protested his innocence - "Hey, one minute I'm playing Mahjong with me nanna, then this red streak hits me outta nowhere!" - but was found guilty and sentenced to Belle Reve nonetheless, becoming part of the first incarnation of Task Force X. A wanted poster in Birds of Prey confirmed Boomerang subsequently escaped prison, but he's evidently been recaptured and agreed to work for Amanda Waller again.
Pete Davidson plays Blackguard, a common thug who - in the comics - gained access to advanced technology and caused trouble for the time traveling superhero Booster Gold. He was actually recruited to Suicide Squad in the comics as well, but didn't last long before being killed on a mission; he may share a similar fate here. Mayling Ng plays the alien warrior woman Mongal, a genocidal maniac who doesn't look especially impressive in the trailer, and seems to be in fear of her life. Michael Rooker's Savant is only briefly seen as well, a character who's traditionally portrayed as desperately eager to prove himself and could thus be a danger to himself and others on a mission. All of these seem to be members of Bloodsport's team, and it wouldn't be surprising to see these three killed off pretty quickly.
The Suicide Squad trailer then moves on to look at what seem to be members of the other team. First up is Weasel, played by James Gunn's brother Sean, with the trailer re-using a disgusting shot of him licking the prison bars that's been seen before. Then there's Daniela Melchior's Ratcatcher 2, seen with a rat on her shoulder; the rat is called Sebastian, and according to Gunn he wears a little outfit and was played by two real life rats, Jaws and Crisp Ratt. Nathan Fillion's TDK, a man with detachable limbs, is briefly seen. And then there's King Shark and Harley Quinn herself.
Harley Quinn hops aboard the military chopper fashionably late, although she gives a rather inelegant reason for her tardiness. That leads to an entertaining scene in which the various members of the Squad bond over the fact they haven't a clue what Weasel is, with Harley even suggesting he could actually be a werewolf. It leads to an absolutely hilarious moment in which some of the other Squad members freak out, with Rick Flag forced to intervene and confirm he's a weasel. "I mean, he's not harmless," Flag clarifies, "He killed twenty-seven children, but..." Let's face it, nobody on that chopper is harmless.
Harley Quinn is clearly going to steal the show in some major action sequences, several of which are being teased heavily in trailers for The Suicide Squad. An earlier BTS trailer for The Suicide Squad confirmed a major battle on the beach, with Harley enjoying using a rocket launcher. The lighting appears to be the same as in the BTS trailer, suggesting this is from the same scene.
The new The Suicide Squad trailer finally confirms the team's mission; to destroy every trace of something known only as "Project Starfish." This is clearly Starro, briefly seen in previous trailers, a giant telepathic starfish who plagued the Justice League in the comics. "Starro is hilarious because he’s ridiculous," Gunn observed in one interview where he explained why Starro is the perfect villain for The Suicide Squad. "He’s a giant, cerulean blue starfish, but he’s also f***ing terrifying. When I was a kid I thought that was the scariest thing of all time… and I think that exemplifies what this movie is: it is ridiculous and it’s also terrifying, and serious. So he works really well as the villain of the movie—as one of the villains, actually."
Members of the Suicide Squad break into what is presumably a lab complex on Corto Maltese, where scientists working for this regime had either created or were experimenting upon the DCEU's Starro. They're accompanied by Peter Capaldi's Thinker, a different character to the one seen in The Flash TV series, possibly one of Gunn's own creations. Given the Thinker wasn't seen on the military chopper, it's likely he is one of the scientists involved in Project Starfish, perhaps using his own psychic powers to control the creature. It's unclear why the experiments with Project Starfish involve human prisoners, briefly seen in the lab.
The Suicide Squad members have good reason to be unimpressed with the name "Project Starfish." Delightfully, Peacekeeper interrupts Amanda Waller's briefing to ask if there's any connection between the project name and the slang term for a butthole. He seems to actually be being serious, but the rest of Task Force X are clearly amused. No doubt there'll be a hilarious dynamic between Peacekeeper and Harley Quinn, who'll love to have fun with this straight-laced vigilante.
The Suicide Squad trailer shows a brief montage of shots, with a mysterious party - possibly in Corto Maltese - followed by King Shark lunging to attack. Next is Harley Quinn in action, spinning round in a circle of death, gunning down soldiers as they rush at her from all sides. This was previously teased in The Suicide Squad's BTS footage, and it looks to be a highlight of the film. Two later shots from this trailer are from the same scene; putting the pieces together, it looks as though Harley will briefly be captured by enemies, only to break free using hand-to-hand skills and then steal weapons in order to go on a killing spree.
Technically Task Force X is on a narrowly defined mission, to destroy a single laboratory and experiment. But all evidence suggests they'll wind up taking part in a coup, helping to overthrow a dictator General Silvio Luna; Alice Braga's Sol Soria is the leader of this resistance movement, and likely to be a key ally. The Suicide Squad trailer shows some major explosions taking out some of the Corto Maltese military, and their leaders watching in horror.
Daniela Melchior's Ratcatcher promises to be one of the most sinister members of Task Force X, and she's shown using lights to manipulate the rats around her. It's easy to underestimate Ratcatcher, but in the comics various iterations of the villain have proved to be a terrifying threat; any version of the Ratcatcher is virtually unbeatable on their home turf, simply because of the army they command.
Given the mismatched nature of Task Force X, it's no surprise their mission goes badly wrong - and the villain Starro is unleashed. The scale of the threat is perfectly displayed in a shot in which Starro swats King Shark about with ease, before the rest of the team launch themselves into action as buildings collapse around them. "That's suicide," the Thinker protests, seeming to confirm he's not part of Task Force X.
David Dastmalchian's Polka-Dot Man is one of the more bizarre members of the Suicide Squad, a Batman villain whose suit conceals countless mini-devices - ranging from transportation portals to flying saucers, from light flares to gas bombs. He seems overjoyed to be part of Task Force X, proclaiming himself a superhero, before there's a shot of Polka-Dot Man in action - unleashing a salvo of polka-dots at some soldiers in a call center. Trailers conceal as much as they reveal, so that particular shot may be a flashback to how he was captured in the first place.
Many shots in The Suicide Squad trailer are still inexplicable, but one of the most intriguing shows the Squad break open an aquarium. This presumably fits with previous trailers, which showed members of Task Force X struggling to run from the floodwaters, or else to stay above the surface and keep alive. It's possible the aquarium has been breached to give King Shark a home field advantage against the forces of Corto Maltese, but the rest of Suicide Squad will struggle to survive that strategy.
One thing's for sure; The Suicide Squad will be unlike any superhero film ever made. That truth is perfectly demonstrated by an insane shot showing a submerged Harley Quinn surrounded by rats - the rodents presumably controlled by Ratcatcher. The rats appear to be wrapping red fabric around Harley, perhaps to then combine their efforts and drag her to the surface. It's an oddly beautiful and serene moment, perfectly in keeping with Gunn's oddball approach.
It seems Task Force X don't just need to worry about the giant Starro; the creature unleashes miniature versions, and it's possible these will latch on to people's faces to control them, something that's been seen in the comics before. Amusingly, one such miniature Starro actually became an ally of the Justice League in the comics, so who knows? Perhaps Belle Reve will get a miniature Starro survivor as an inmate. First they'll have to survive Suicide Squad, though, whose black ops mission has now drawn the attention of the entire world. Meanwhile, notice they're emerging from what appears to be a gash in Starro's skin; expect the butthole joke to return in this scene.
The battle between metahumans and Starro is televised across the planet, and captures the attention of Tyla, who watches in shock as her father runs from Starro's wrath. It seems Amanda Waller's Task Force X is in danger of becoming public knowledge, because she never factored on a relative of one of her inmates realizing what missions she was sending people on.
The Suicide Squad trailer follows the traditional Marvel formula, ending with a moment of humor; in this case, King Shark is supposed to be keeping lookout but has gotten distracted with a bird. It's an amusing moment, pointing to the insanity that is Suicide Squad; a mismatched team of superhumans who are attempting to go against their own natures and save the world.
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