While the sister taglines of The Suicide Squad (2021) warn fans, "don't get too attached," and reminds moviegoers of the Squad's goal: "they're dying to save the world," writer-director James Gunn has more plans for the supervillains of the DC Extended Universe.
"I have all sorts of ideas, and we talk about it all the time," Gunn told Entertainment Tonight when addressing possible sequels attached to The Suicide Squad or spin-offs. "So I don't feel like I'm done with this villain-verse yet." Gunn and wrestler-actor John Cena are currently composing Peacemaker (2022-) for HBO Max that ties directly into The Suicide Squad. The series focuses its narrative around Christopher "Peacemaker" Smith and his pursuit of peace - even if it means killing men, women, and children to achieve it.
"When they first came to me, it was really about what DC project I wanted to do. The first thing they brought up was Superman, and the second thing they brought up was Suicide Squad," the writer-director said when recalling on DC's open offer that permitted him to make any movie that he wanted to. "So those were the first two projects, and then I had another project that they never brought up, never thought of, a couple of other ones that we talked about a little bit. People have talked about Krypto [the Superdog], they know that I brought that up at one point."
Each member of the Squad was hand-picked by Gunn and is considered not to be a sequel neither a reboot to Suicide Squad (2016). Director David Ayer is adamant about his cut of the 2016 version to be released by DC Films and Warner Bros. It stands as its own entity when tying characters from the studio's first go-around into their more successful second take.
"...so there's different characters that came up that interested me, and I just took some time and started sketching out what the different stories could be with these different characters. It was obvious from the very beginning that Suicide Squad just captured my imagination. It was the most fun. People are like, 'Why didn't you do Superman or Justice League?' I found this to be the most creatively fulfilling story. I know someone's gonna do a Superman movie again. I don't know that Polka-Dot Man's gonna get his story told if I don't tell it," he concluded when dissecting why exactly he made the film that he did.
Gunn will return to the DCEU through Peacemaker and endorses the possibility for more. Until then, The Suicide Squad is in theaters and can be streamed through HBO Max until September 6.