Suicide Squad

Jared Leto is the second name on the poster for Suicide Squad. The only actor to get billed above him is Will Smith. Leto is listed ahead of actors like Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, and Viola Davis, who, unlike the Joker, are all actual members of the Suicide Squad. Despite Leto’s billing, though, and despite the large amount of publicity surrounding his unusual version of the character (not to mention his unusual preparations to play the role, which included sending disgusting “gifts” to his colleagues), Leto has very little screentime in the final film. He’s featured mostly in flashbacks about Robbie’s Harley Quinn and her time before she was captured by Batman. When he finally appears in the contemporary story, he shows up to “rescue” Harley, fails, and crashes in a helicopter. Then he doesn’t show up again until the very last scenes of the movie, when he tries to break her out of prison.

Despite receiving overwhelmingly negative reviews, Suicide Squad opened with record-smashing numbers, obliterating the record set by Guardians of the Galaxy back in 2014. And yet, the box office of summer 2016 has taught us one thing: anything can happen after that opening weekend and it probably will. This certainly looks like a huge victory for Warner Bros. and their DC Extended Universe right now, but who knows what next week will bring?

By now you’re very familiar with the big Robin easter egg in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — you know the one: Robin’s suit covered in neon graffiti that reads, “Ha ha ha, joke’s on you, Batman!” The culprit seemed obvious at the time, but thanks to a blink-and-you-might-miss-it easter egg in Suicide Squad, Robin’s real killer might not be such a joker after all…or maybe they are.

How was the Joker? Is Ben Affleck’s Batman a welcome addition? What about the other surprise DC cameo? Does Amanda Waller’s plan make any sense at all? Who the heck is Slipknot? How does Harley Quinn fit into the rest of the Suicide Squad? Why did they introduce Katana so late in the movie? What the hell was going on with the Enchantress? Did they really just rip off Ghostbusters with that ending? All of those topics and more are on the table for our FULL SPOILERS discussion and review of Suicide Squad.

Today in “news that is hardly surprising,” Zack Snyder directed a scene in Suicide Squad, and no, it wasn’t any of the stuff involving Ben Affleck’s Batman. It was, however, one of the later additions to David Ayer’s super-villain team-up, and it has something to do with that other big DC superhero cameo. Spoilers ahead, obviously — unless you don’t mind that sort of thing.

When a movie gets bad reviews, it must mean something is wrong with the critics, right? Those darn critics, they don’t like anything!

This looks like a job for Superman. Too bad he’s dead.

If you liked the scene in Batman v Superman where Bruce Wayne watched YouTube videos about the future members of the Justice League, you'll love Suicide Squad. Instead of just one scene of plot-stopping fan service, Suicide Squad delivers an entire first act of soul-deadening exposition. The movie spends nearly 30 story-free minutes with a Machiavellian bureaucrat while she sits in a restaurant discussing a top secret personnel file. Here is Deadshot, the world’s greatest assassin; this is Harley Quinn, the Joker’s psychotic girlfriend. Oh, and have you heard about Captain Boomerang? And on and on and on.

Odds are you’ve probably rolled your eyes more than a few times after hearing Jared Leto’s approach to playing the Joker in the upcoming Suicide Squad. We’ve talked here before about the actor’s refusal to break character and his uncomfortable gifts to his costars; what we should also remember is that Leto’s Joker seems to be the perfect version of that character for Zack Snyder and David Ayer's vision of the DC universe. If Leto’s take on the Joker proves the quiet optimists like me right, DC Films would do well to give audiences a chance to see Ben Affleck’s Batman and Jared Leto’s Joker in action.

Yesterday, the cast and director of Suicide Squad took to Twitter to answer fans’ questions about the upcoming movie. And while many of the questions were geared towards the actors’ relationships with the superhero franchise — their favorite characters, superpowers, or questions as to who would win in a fight between the various heroes and villains of the DC universe — there were a few questions that offered the cast and a crew a chance to either dive deep into the filmmaking experience or just have some fun with the answer. I’ve listed a few of my favorites below, but you can view the full Q&A at the official Suicide Squad Twitter page.

If there’s one thing superhero movie fans know, it’s that you don’t leave your seat once the credits start rolling.

Suicide Squad is a film about DC super-villains tasked with defeating something more evil than their sinister forces combined, so we weren’t exactly expecting a bunch of those pesky superheroes to show up and spoil their fun. We already knew that Ben Affleck’s Batman has a small role in David Ayer’s movie, but apparently there’s another DC superhero making a surprise appearance. Spoilers ahead, obviously.