James Gunn has spoken about the future of the various characters in his 2021 “The Suicide Squad” film, and how they would fit into his DC Universe that began with the animated “Creature Commandos” and last year’s “Superman”.
The DC Studios co-head has done a podcast titled “The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?” in which he and his wife/co-host Jennifer Holland answered fan questions. Though originally slated to release tomorrow, the full episode was released by Spotify, which labelled it as a trailer.
First up, it’s confirmed that the film is now officially canon and, retroactively, the first film in the DC Universe:
“I think that The Suicide Squad is within the canon of the DCU. It’s decided. I’d say we have one small asterisk, which is what exactly is the future of Harley Quinn. I want to be given a little leeway with this by the fans because I’m not sure exactly how that’s going to manifest itself. But other than that, I think we can pretty much say the entire movie is canon. I don’t think there’s a problem.”
Maybe somebody is going to come to me on Threads, and I accept the challenges in trying to answer them…we’re going to make mistakes in this movie and in other movies, but for the most part, I think it actually fits much more easily into canon than Peacemaker Season 1. Not only is The Suicide Squad canon, but it’s the first canon film in the DCU.”
He then goes on to talk about the future of these characters within the DC Universe. Here’s a breakdown of his plans for certain characters:
Harley Quinn
With “The Suicide Squad” now canon, does that mean Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn in the DCU? That’s up to the actress.
He admits: “Harley is actually one of the more difficult things in this to justify as being canon in the DCU,” especially as her relationship with The Joker is very specific and the DCU’s take on The Joker hasn’t been established.
That said, he calls Robbie “one of my favorite actors to work with” and that “she is so good in the movie. I love her as Harley. I don’t know if she wants to play Harley again. She may be over that.”
He continues: “I don’t know where Margot’s head is with all of this. Harley is a character I’m almost certainly going to use in the DCU, and if Margot wants to play her, then I’ll bend over backwards to explain that in the world. But if she doesn’t, then I might go with somebody else, where I don’t have to be attached to what happens to Harley in this movie.”
Polka-Dot Man
He confirms a prequel TV series about David Dastmalchian’s Abner Krill/Polka-Dot Man has “been discussed” but is “not in active development”. He says the show would’ve been about his family – a S.T.A.R. Labs scientist mother who made her many children superpowered.
He adds that “we’ve talked about it because I think it would be interesting to see what happened to the rest of his family. Where did they go, and what were they like back then?”
Amanda Waller
A “Waller” series was previously announced as being in development, but there’s been no real update in years. Gunn gave one today, saying actress Viola Davis would like to return and the project is still (barely) alive: “Viola would like to continue. We were strongly developing a Waller show that we never greenlit because it didn’t get to where we wanted it to be. That doesn’t mean it’s totally out of development.”
Finally, Gunn says the DCU Batman casting process is moving quickly and the character will be the same age as David Corenswet’s Superman.
