Superman almost became the big bad of The Suicide Squad

James Gunn ultimately preferred Starro the giant starfish.

DC superheroes are in the spotlight this Sunday on TF1: after Aquamanthe channel will offer The Suicide Squad (2021), by James Gunn. Not to be confused with Suicide Squad tout court by David Ayer (2016).

Interviewed by Script Apart during the summer of its cinema release, James Gunn revealed that “For a time, there was talk of the Suicide Squad taking on Superman.” The superhero film’s writer and director, who has since been hired by Warner Bros. to spearhead the studio’s decade-long revival of comic book adaptations with Peter Safran, detailed that Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and her pals almost faced Clark Kent. On the other hand, he did not specify whether he should be embodied by Henry Cavillwho had been playing it since Man of Steelreleased in 2013 in cinemas, but which will be replaced by David Corenswet in the next film in the franchise, Superman Legacyprecisely designed by Gunn. “At that time, we had a lot of questions about the character. ‘Who is he in the DCEU? Will this film be one of them?’ I didn’t really want to deal with all that.”replied the person concerned.

The creator of the new Suicide Squadwho succeeds David Ayer and offers a blockbuster very different from his predecessor, then tells why he finally chose Starro, a giant starfish, to face his team.

“He’s a character that I love in comics. I think he’s perfect for a comic, because he’s both ridiculous and completely creepy in his own way. What he does is scary. He scared me as a kid when I was little throwing his mini starfish at Superman or Batman’s face. I also thought he would be a major DC super-villain that would never be adapted into another movie. And even if it had been, it would have been a darker version of Starro, not a giant walking starfish, some sort of blue and pink Kaiju, who is absurdly huge and evil.”

Since the release of this blockbuster, Henry Cavill has returned one last time in the Superman costume, time a cameo in Black Adam alongside Dwayne Johnson. This film announced his return to the saga, but since its release, plans have changed and James Gunn is preparing a new superheroic saga detached from “Snyderverse”. Few characters of the initial franchise will return.

The Suicide Squad can be (re)watched on TF1 on Sunday from 11:35 p.m. Here is its trailer:

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