Let's get this out of the way. Talk of The Suicide Squad 2, a sequel to James Gunn's film, isn't exactly heating up Hollywood. Unfortunately, the movie is seen as having "underperformed" at the box office, taking in $26.5 million in its first three days, which was short of the already-low $30 million-plus estimated.
That said, if there's anything James Gunn's The Suicide Squad taught us, it's to expect the unexpected. And there's reason to believe that Warner Bros. Pictures may be more optimistic about the film than you might think. We already know that James Gunn's considering it. Here's what we think we know about a potential The Suicide Squad 2.
Of course, beware spoilers for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad!
- How to watch Batman movies in order
- Marvel movies in order: Chronological and theatrical lists
- Plus: Marvel’s What If...? release date and time for episode 1 on Disney Plus
The Suicide Squad 2: How likely is it?
Right now, we're sad to say we wouldn't bet money on a sequel coming out. The Suicide Squad's low box office numbers are hard to ignore. That said, there may be reasons why the movie didn't do well that are unrelated to the quality of the film, and the financial viability of a follow-up.
The first, and most obvious, is that The Suicide Squad barged into theaters right as conversation around the Delta variant of Covid-19 have seemingly started to spike. This could have made audiences more trepidatious about going back to the cinemas.
Also, you can watch The Suicide Squad on HBO Max, and it seems like a lot of people did. HBO Max chief Andy Forssell, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, claimed that The Suicide Squad had the second-most viewed opening of all of HBO Max's movies that arrived the same day and date as in theaters. That figure was not disclosed, though, and neither has any impact the movie made on subscriber count.
But if enough people streamed The Suicide Squad on HBO Max, Warner may see the reason to order a second shot from director James Gunn. The sequel will hopefully come out at a point in time when we're no longer dealing with Covid-19 variants, and have better odds of earning big at the box office.
And maybe it would have a title that's not as easily confused with the critically derided 2016 film. If you didn't know the title "The Suicide Squad" was originally a joke from Gunn, one that executives liked.
The Suicide Squad 2: Release date speculation
After years of internal struggle to figure out how to succeed David Ayers' 2016 Suicide Squad, James Gunn was hired in October 2018, to write and possibly direct. The Suicide Squad came out in August 2021.
Based on that, we'd expect a Summer 2024 release date at the earliest. And it will likely be later, as Gunn's about to be busy with production on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 starting in November 2021.
Nobody seems to be in a rush to ask for more, either.
The Suicide Squad 2: Cast
A lot of people died in The Suicide Squad, so there's not a whole lot of the main cast we can bring back. That said, there are seven familiar names and faces we expect to see back, were Warner Bros. Pictures to green-light the film. They are as follows:
- Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn
- John Cena as Peacemaker / Christopher Smith
- Idris Elba as Bloodsport / Robert DuBois
- Sylvester Stallone as (the voice of) King Shark / Nanaue
- Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
- Steve Agee as John Economos and the physical actor for King Shark
- Jennifer Holland as Emilia Harcourt
- Sean Gunn as Weasel
And it doesn't sound like James Gunn would erase the existing survivors for a new team. When asked about a sequel by Entertainment Weekly, the director stated "I've had ideas, actually," and that "If I did a sequel, it's not like, 'Hey, let's assemble another team and let's do this!' It would be very different."
One team member Gunn may consider recruiting was Calendar Man, who was last seen mocking Polka-Dot Man. The Calendar Man reveal was something of an Easter egg for eagle-eyed DC Comics fans, as the only clues to his identity were the letters scrawled on his forehead "FEBMARAPR" — the abbreviations for the second, third and fourth months of the year — which wrapped around his dome with the rest of the months.
The Suicide Squad 2: Potential plot
As you'll remember, Peacemaker killed Rick Flag — the most internally-beloved Suicide Squad member — and earned himself the ire of the rest of the crew, and a very tiny bullet from Bloodsport, that went into his neck. And as The Suicide Squad's post-credits scene revealed, Peacemaker is still alive.
Wounded at the moment, and about to get his own HBO Max show, Peacemaker could return in The Suicide Squad 2 as the coworker that everyone really doesn't want to work with. Or he could go rogue and they all need to bring him down. Either way works for us.
Based on the film's ending, it seems like Waller's got more missions for The Suicide Squad, and we hope to see them in the coming years.
- Read next: The best streaming devices right now
