Even though Warner Bros. and DC might not want you to think of James Gunn’s upcoming The Suicide Squad as a sequel to David Ayer’s Oscar award-winning 2016 film with a similar name, it’s hard not to get that vibe from the movie’s first red band trailer. But there are plenty of fun surprises along the way.
Much noise as there’s been about Gunn’s latest project ever since news first broke that DC poached the director from Marvel back in 2018, the new trailer still goes out of its way to introduce you to its large new cast of criminal rogues who Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller has rounded up for yet another mission that might leave them all dead. Check out the blood and expletive-filled fun below (and the age-restricted YouTube trailer here.)
From the horribly beautiful mind of @JamesGunn. Watch #TheSuicideSquad full trailer online now. In theaters and streaming on @HBOMax August 2021.
*Available on @HBOMax in the US only, for 31 days, at no extra cost to subscribers. pic.twitter.com/6wQNTtwDN8
— HBO Max (@hbomax) March 26, 2021
While this squad’s specific mission in Corto Maltese is rather different than the previous film, everything from the way the trailer explains what the team is to the way Harley (Margot Robbie) brightly introduces herself to Bloodsport (Idris Elba) feel rather familiar. Here, the team’s meant to be on yet another rescue mission, which seemingly goes south in ways that bring the rest of the movie’s characters like Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), Guardian (John Cena), and Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), and King Shark in gory, fantastic ways.
What’s most surprising in this new glimpse of Gunn’s film is the somewhat unexpected character who shows up in the trailer’s final moments — DC villain Starro — in what might be one of the movie’s more outlandish scenes. There would be a lot of wild potential in the mind-controlling Justice League foe as the main villain but it’s unlikely that the studio would show its full hand this far out from the movie.
The Suicide Squad may have a few more tricks up its sleeves it’s yet to reveal ahead of its premiere in Australian cinemas on August 5.
The film also features Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Peter Capaldi as Thinker, Michael Rooker as Savant, Nathan Fillion as T.D.K., Alice Braga as Sol Soria, Storm Reid as Tyla (Bloodsport’s daughter), Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Flula Borg as Javelin, Mayling Ng as Mongal, and Taika Waititi and Sylvester Stallone as King Shark.