The release of the next movie in the Warner Bros. DC Extended Universe is very near, and that being the case, we are getting a whole lot of new details about the upcomingSuicide Squad. The studio is hoping to wash the bad taste out of everyone’s mouth that was left byBatman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, but they are still bringing Batman along for the ride. But the version ofBatmanwe are going to get inSuicide Squadis going to be very different than anything we have ever seen before, according to directorDavid Ayer.
In a new report fromCollider,Ayerrevealed exactly howBen Affleck’s Batman will figure into the plot ofSuicide Squadand how he will be portrayed. The information came during a set visit that happened last summer, but the embargo was just released on all of the information. Here is whatAyerhad to say about Batman inSuicide Squad.
“All the Batman movies have been from Batman’s point of view. He’s the good guy. He’s the hero of his own movie in all the movies we’ve seen. If you look at what Bruce Wayne has done in creating the Batman persona, his idea was toterrorize criminals. It’s sort of psychological warfare against criminals. This wraith that comes in the night and attacks and pulls criminals from society. For the first time, we’re seeing Batman from the point of view of the criminals and he’s freaking scary. He has purpose for what he’s doing, and you couldn’t tell the story of the Suicide Squad, as you mentioned so many of the characters that are in that squad had some interaction with him in order to get into Belle Reve, so you have to deal with that at the very least.”
Batman was in the script from the very get-go. And it was somethingDavid Ayerwanted to implement from the start. About his own personal desire to bring in Batman, he had this to say.
“You apply at a job for a DC Comic movie and it’s like, ‘Come on, let me get the toys, please. Let me get the cool stuff.’ I begged for that. That was really, really something I wanted. There’s a lot of information out there, a lot of false information about how these characters play into the A plot. It’s an incredibly complex story with flashbacks and different convergent storylines and things like that.”
We have known that Batman was going to be featured inSuicide Squadfor a very long time. Shortly after the movie started shooting, set photos and videos leaked which featured Batman on the set, riding on top of the car thatJared Leto’sJokeris driving in the trailers we have seen. We haven’t known exactly how much screen time Batfleck will have or exactly how he figures in, until now withAyer’s latest comments. The director also wanted to assure everyone that even though Batman was revealed early on, there are still a lot of surprises in store for fans inSuicide Squad.
“We have had some material exposed by virtue of being out on the streets and working out on the streets, but it’s a sliver. It’s a fragment and it’s all out of context. For me it’s a lot of fun just to see how people try and assemble these pieces because in their minds, they’re a much larger piece of the film than they’re actually saying. But it takes days and days to shoot a scene so it’s ‘How does all this fit together?’ That’s the big surprise We had to make a choice of do we shoot the movie or don’t we shoot the movie? Do we tell the story we want to tell and block the streets off so the people of Toronto don’t see anything? We just said, ‘OK you’re gonna see what you’re gonna see.'”
There were an awful lot of things that fans and critics really hated aboutBatman V Superman, butBen Affleck’s portrayal as The Dark Knight was one of the bright spots of the movie, so his presence inSuicide Squadis very welcome.Ayer’s comments are perhaps a bit obvious when you think about the plot ofSuicide Squad, which will center on the villain’s perspective. But it is still really exciting and potentially very interesting to see how scary and different Batman seems when viewed through the lens of the bad guys he is after. The use of that perspective will also help to keep the focus on the main characters ofSuicide Squad, as opposed to having a distracting side plot with Batman.
Suicide Squadhas very high expectations placed on it, since it is the first movie to be released in the DC Extended Universe sinceBatman V Supermanand needs to help get the public back on board with Warner Bros.’ DC Comics movie universe. The presence of Batman should definitely help to get more casual fans in the theater, and for more die hard fans, it will be nice to see something totally new with the character.Suicide Squadis set for release on August 5.
