James Gunn in talks to write and direct Suicide Squad film for DC Comics

Earlier this year, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn was fired by Disney after unsavory tweets were dug up from roughly a decade ago. While Marvel was reportedly keen on still having him around, the House of Mouse was not due to their reputation as a family friendly company.

The acclaimed director helped bring a unique vision to the Marvel Cinematic Universe by introducing a mostly unknown group of cosmic characters to a mainstream audience. His tone, style, and collaborative nature with other Marvel directors helped make him a highly valuable piece of talent at the studio but Disney feared his risque jokes would be damaging to their multi-billion dollar brand.

With Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 having a finished script that’s now stuck in limbo without a director, Gunn is making big moves on his next major project: A take on DC Comics’ Suicide Squad. The film that followed up Batman v Superman in 2016 was a major financial hit for Warner Bros. and DC Comics despite being critically panned, many compared it to Guardians of the Galaxy due to the ragtag team of underdogs having to save the day all set to iconic beats from pop culture.

With that said, it seems like a matchmade in heaven for Gunn to tackle the likes of Harley Quinn, Joker, Deadshot, and more. While the story was broken by The Wrap, The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit notes that his sources are saying the film is NOT a sequel and will be a new take on the IP. No one knows if that implies a total recasting or not but given the immense talent in that cast, that could be a big mistake.

This COULD be a second entry in DC’s off-shoot brand which is not canonical to the mainline series which includes Man of Steel, BvS, Wonder Woman, Justice League, and Aquaman. Warner Bros. and DC have already kicked off this second franchise by beginning production on a standalone Joker film starring acclaimed actor Joaquin Phoenix. This film is totally unrelated to Jared Leto’s Clown Prince of Crime, won’t feature Batman, and is reportedly looking at securing an R-rating.

This DC film franchise looks to do something similar to the Elseworld series of DC Comics which allows writers to bring fresh new takes of characters with radical new stories that aren’t canon to the overall mythology. This is pure speculation on our part but would allow for a new Suicide Squad without recasting the current one.

This all comes after things were seemingly moving swimmingly on Gavin O’Connor’s Suicide Squad 2, Variety’s Justin Kroll has stated that O’Conner has departed the project following frustration. Apparently, his story was identical to the Birds of Prey film that was being developed simultaneously and after Warner Bros. gave that the greenlight, he abandoned Suicide Squad 2.

Birds of Prey has already cast several actresses including the likes of 10 Cloverfield Lane and Scott Pilgrim star Mary Elizabeth Winstead.

We’ll continue to keep you posted as we learn more about this story.