Suicide Squad reviews range from 'cringe-worthy' to 'a hoot'

Suicide Squad: Is Jared Leto's The Joker actually Robin?

14 June

The Joker has long been set up as Batman's arch-nemesis – the head honcho of an impressive pantheon of characterful super-villains.

But according to a new theory, the upcoming superhero caper Suicide Squad may see him turn out to be none other than Bruce Wayne's trusty sidekick, Robin.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The theory, proposed by Imgur user JaxDagger, finds "hints" in a number of promotional images from the film indicating the Joker's true identity.

The first is a still from a trailer which offers a clear view of The Joker actor Jared Leto's tattooed upper body. On his right arm, JaxDagger notes, is a bird that appears to be a robin.

The user also points to a promotional poster in which the villain, holding a cane, stands apart from the rest of the cast. His stance mirrors the defaced armour of Robin that Ben Affleck's Batman sees earlier in the clip.

"Hence why Joker doesn't really look like the Joker… or act like him. In the trailer he is angry and frustrated, constantly punching things especially his car interior roof," JaxDagger says.The theory has found support. One poster suggests "this is new Canon/universe, and the Joker is actually Robin gone mental".

Others offered different ideas, however. "Or Joker got a Robin tat after killing him because that's the kind of sh** he would do," says one.

Suicide Squad will be released in the UK on 5 August.

Batman finally appears in a Suicide Squad trailer

10 June

With three months still to go before Suicide Squad hits cinemas, promotion for the film is already underway – and last night proved a particular treat for fans.

Warner Bros revealed its latest trailer and for the first time, DC Comics fans were given a glimpse of Batman, confirming once and for all that the Caped Crusader will appear in the film.

Rumours have been circulating that Ben Affleck's superhero would make some kind of appearance in Suicide Squad since the film was announced. This seemed even more likely after the actor was spotted on set, but was never officially confirmed until now.

[[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"93341","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

The new trailer, which aired during the NBA Finals on Thursday, offers a couple of very short shots of Bruce Wayne's alter ego, "but we feel good just knowing he’s around", says Yahoo.

Villains-turned-heroes Harley Quinn, El Diablo, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Slipknot, Enchantress, Killer Croc, Katana and the Joker all feature in the short clip as well.

Suicide Squad will be released in UK cinemas on 5 August.

Is Harley Quinn spin-off on the cards after Suicide Squad?

17 May

Warner Bros is developing a spin-off movie based on the anti-hero Harley Quinn from Suicide Squad, the Hollywood Reporter has claimed, before her first big-screen appearance has even been released.

Margot Robbie will reprise her role as Quinn – and will also produce the movie, says the magazine. The film would not be a one-woman show but will feature a host of female DC characters alongside Quinn.

According to the magazine, characters including Batgirl and Birds of Prey will appear alongside the Suicide Squad villain. Other female characters from DC comics include Poison Ivy, Katana and Bumblebee.

The movie has not been confirmed but is said to be a passion project driven by Robbie herself. According to the Hollywood Reporter, she "dove deep" into DC comics to research her role in Suicide Squad and fell for the female characters.

Robbie has apparently brought on board a female writer – her identity a "closely guarded" secret – to work on the project.

So will it actually happen? The idea of a Harley Quinn movie is a "no-brainer" for Warner Bros, says the magazine. DC comics feature a "strong stable of heroines and villainesses" and have a rising female readership and fan base.

DC recently introduced a line of comics specifically targeting younger female readers, DC SuperHero Girls.

The character of Harley Quinn was originally created as a sidekick – and sometime lover – for Batman villain The Joker in an animated TV series, but proved so popular she became a villain in her own right.

As well as Suicide Squad, Robbie also appears in another big Warner Bros release coming out this summer, The Legend of Tarzan, in which she plays Jane.

Will Suicide Squad reveal the Joker's origins?

27 April

After years of mystery, rumours are swirling that the upcoming superhero film, Suicide Squad, will finally reveal the truth about the Joker's past.

DC Comics announced that Batman's arch-nemesis will be getting a definitive backstory in issue 50 of the Justice League comics, prompting fans to wonder if Jared Leto's take on the character will also get a point of origin in this summer's film, says Nerdist.

ComingSoon put the question directly to the actor himself. "I don't think I'm allowed to talk about that so much," he replied. "But we walked in a completely new direction. I think we knew that we had to do that. It was important to do that.

"When the Joker has been done and done so well, it gives you a bit of an indication of where you shouldn't go. There's a bit of a map there. That's the good part about it."

The Joker's origins have always been shrouded in mystery. The closest fans get to an explanation for his criminal ways is a speech he gives in Alan Moore and Brian Bolland's one-off graphic novel, Batman: The Killing Joke.

"What made you what you are? Girlfriend killed by the mob, maybe? Brother carved up by some mugger? Something like that happened to me, you know. I'm not exactly sure what it was. Sometimes I remember it one way, sometimes another. If I'm going to have a past, I prefer it to be multiple choice!" says the supervillain.

Some fans would prefer it if the backstory stayed under wraps, feeling that removing the mystery could ruin the character. Perhaps it's better never to truly know the story of how the Joker came to be and how he really got those scars.

Suicide Squad: Leto met with psychopaths for Joker role

18 April

Oscar winner Jared Leto spent time with "people who had committed horrendous crimes" to help develop his version of the Joker for the upcoming DC Comics film, Suicide Squad.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the actor says he went in search of people who could aid the "discovering, the uncovering and the building of a character".

He added: "I did meet with people that were experts, doctors, psychiatrists that dealt with psychopaths and people who had committed horrendous crimes, and then I spent some time with those people themselves – people who have been institutionalised for great periods of time."

The revelation is the latest insight into the lengths to which Leto went in order to create a Joker who could live up to previous incarnations, played by the likes of Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger.

Actress Viola Davis, who plays a government agent in charge of the anti-hero team, spoke about Leto's on-set antics in an interview with Vanity Fair.

"[His] henchman came in with a dead pig and plopped it on the table and then he walked out. And that was our introduction to Jared Leto," she said.

He also sent Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn, a live black rat, she added.

Leto told Entertainment Weekly that he felt a "responsibility" in taking on the character, and his co-stars can attest to just how seriously he took that duty. In a BBC Radio 1 interview, Will Smith, who plays Deadshot, said he had "never actually met" Leto per se.

"We worked together for six months and we've never exchanged a word… I've only ever spoken to him as Deadshot and him as the Joker. He was all-in on the Joker."

Suicide Squad: New trailer plays it for laughs

12 April

Stars from the upcoming film Suicide Squad visited the MTV Movie Awards on Saturday night to unveil the blockbuster's new trailer.

Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie and Cara Delevingne joined forces to promote the David Ayer-directed film, which is based on the eponymous DC Comics team and scheduled for release on 5 August.

The cast are currently doing re-shoots, says Vanity Fair, but took a break for the awards show, which was taped on the Warner Brothers lot in Burbank, California, where Suicide Squad is being made.

The trailer almost caused a riot, says LA Times, with fans nearly breaking through the barriers holding them back.

All four stars seemed delighted with their reception. [[{"type":"media","view_mode":"content_original","fid":"93341","attributes":{"class":"media-image"}}]]

"I need to see some chaos in the streets," shouted Smith.

While the previous trailer was funny, the new one has "even more jokes", says Vanity Fair, backing up rumours that the film-makers want to put more emphasis on humour.

It's been rumoured that the re-shoots are extensive and are intended to make the film funnier, albeit in a dark way.

Thank goodness for that, says Deadline, which "found the unrelenting bleakness of Batman v Superman tiresome". This looks like just the thing, it adds: "It's not Deadpool levels of absurd but it looks like a blast."

Smith plays the antihero Deadshot, while Robbie is Harley Quinn. The rest of the "good guys" are Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc and Delevingne as The Enchantress.

Leto, meanwhile, plays The Joker – and joyfully told the MTV crowd: "Sweat, blood and semen… It's all in the movie."

Suicide Squad: 'World stops' when Jared Leto comes on set

24 March

Jared Leto's performance as the Joker in the upcoming super-villain film Suicide Squad is so powerful it halts work on the set, claims director David Ayer.

Remembering when the actor first arrived to perform the DC Comics part, Ayer told Total Film: "When he steps onto the set, the world stops. Everything stops."

He continued: "What Jared has done is absolutely incredible. What he's done is so powerful, so menacing, so palpable, you can feel him. The crew stops working and just watches him. I have to get everybody going again because he's so fascinating."

Method actor Leto, who won an Oscar for his role in Dallas Buyers Club, has spoken colourfully of his experience playing the Joker. "I took a pretty deep dive," he told Empire last year. "But this was a unique opportunity and I couldn't imagine doing it another way. It was fun, playing those psychological games. But at the same time, it was very painful, like giving birth out of my p***k-hole."

His Suicide Squad co-star Will Smith said last October that Leto had never spoken to him out of character because he was "all in" as the Joker during filming, reports Vanity Fair.

In an eccentric twist, last summer it was reported that Leto had showered his co-stars with unusual presents, including a dead hog, a live rat and bullets.

Suicide Squad is scheduled to hit the big screens on 5 August 2016.

Suicide Squad: Margot Robbie is 'gloriously unhinged' in first official trailer

20 January

Suicide Squad's first official trailer has been released. The film, which stars Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto, is due out later this year.

Set to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, the two minute and 31 seconds teaser features the full team, with Leto as The Joker and Robbie as Harley Quinn, "gloriously unhinged as The Joker's accomplice and on-off lover", says The Independent.

It includes clips of spectacular car chases, furious gun battles, explosions and scenes of urban desolation, with Cara Delevingne's Enchantress calling: "Let's do something fun," in a gloriously sinister tone.

Based on the DC Comics hit, the film, directed by David Ayers, focuses on a group of jailed baddies who are hired by a secret government agency to tackle high-risk black-op missions in exchange for their freedom.

The Daily Telegraph says it is "wise-cracking", the Wall Street Journal thinks it assembles "the worst heroes ever", and Forbes says "it's dirty, it's violent, it looks entirely unlike any other mainstream comic book superhero movie we've seen up to this point".

Suicide Squad is out in cinemas on 5 August.

Suicide Squad: who is The Joker's sidekick?

22 July

Warner Brothers caused quite a stir at Comic-Con 2015 by revealing the first glimpse of its Suicide Squad film, including the first on-screen portrayal of The Joker since Heath Ledger's Oscar-winning performance in 2008.

The film, set to be released in August 2016, is based on the DC Comics Suicide Squad series and although details of its plot are yet to surface the release of the trailer has given fans plenty to think about.

What is the Suicide Squad?

In the comic books, Suicide Squad is the nickname given to Task Force X, an elite group of supervillains who work for the government following their incarceration. The group's nickname is derived from the incredibly dangerous operations they are forced to do in return for reduced sentences.

As part of the DC Comics universe, many of the Suicide Squad villains are associated with famed crime-fighters Batman and Superman. Warner Brothers has another DC Comics film out next year involving the two heroes, and rumours abound that it might also commission an expanded canon of films to rival the Disney Marvel universe.

What's the film going to be about?

Cast and crew have remained tight-lipped about how exactly the film will pan out. At Comic-Con, director David Ayre gave the biggest hint yet that the film would be unlike most previous superhero fare. "All this 'good v evil' is kind of played out right now," Ayre said. "It's time for 'bad v evil' right? Time for a movie about bad guys. And who's got the best bad guys out there? DC Comics. Best villains ever."

Ayre also described the project to Empire as "a Dirty Dozen with supervillains". He highlighted the dark and gritty nature of the film, saying: "The mythology that these characters represent – the idea of them as fallen gods on Earth – is intriguing to me. I can't wait to start exploring those corridors." Many fans have taken this to mean the film will feature the squad's origin stories, something the trailer seems to confirm.

Who's in it?

The full cast list is yet to be released but those known to be appearing include Jared Leto as The Joker, Will Smith as Deadshot and Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. Tom Hardy was initially billed to appear as Suicide Squad leader Rick Flag but dropped out of the project last year. Although it is yet to be officially confirmed, a leaked video from the set shows Ben Affleck making a cameo appearance as Batman. Time magazine says Jessie Eisenberg, who plays opposite Affleck as villain Lex Luthor in next year's Batman vs Superman: Dawn Awakens, has also been linked to Suicide Squad.

How did fans react to the trailer?

Reaction has been mixed. The first-look trailer takes on a "decidedly creepy tone (complete with even creepier soundtrack)", reports E!Online. But the problem is that the audience "just doesn't really know what the heck is going on", it says. Others have been more positive, such as Erik Kain at Forbes, who says the trailer is "perfect" except for one thing: The Joker. Kain wonders if another airing of the character so soon after Ledger's performance in The Dark Knight is wise. "It's not that I'm bored with the super-villain, it's just that we've had so much of him in recent years," he says. "The Joker always seems to suck all the air out of the room, snatch up all the attention. I'm not sure that's a positive for an ensemble villain movie. But I hope I'm wrong."

Who is the Joker's sidekick Harley Quinn?

Dr Harleen Quinzel, played by The Wolf of Wall Street's Margot Robbie, is one of the newest villains from the Batman universe to appear in film. Better known as Harley Quinn, she was created in 1992 to feature in Batman: The Animated Series and quickly became a fan favourite due to her complicated relationship with The Joker and her intriguing backstory. Her popularity meant she was quickly canonised into the DC comics, and pop superstar Madonna was even believed to have been cast as Quinn in the live action film Batman Triumphant before it was scrapped.

In the animated series, Dr Harleen Quinzel falls in love with The Joker after serving as his psychiatrist, and she is then persuaded by him to terrorise Gotham city. Fans have deduced that this backstory might play a part in the film as the trailer shows the Joker torturing Robbie's character while she is dressed in medical clothing. Director David Ayre, in a rare tweet about his upcoming film, seemed to confirm this by claiming Quinn’s "madness defines her".