James Gunn Considered Superman For ‘The Suicide Squad’ Villain

There’s a scene during the introduction of Bloodsport in The Suicide Squad where Amanda Waller says he’s locked up “for sending Superman to the hospital from a Kryptonite bullet.” It’s a cool way to show how badass the character is, but it could’ve been more than just a single line. It could’ve been the whole damn plot.

Director James Gunn appeared on the Script Apart podcast and revealed that Superman was nearly the foe for Task Force X to defeat, and not Starro.

“…there was a time when I thought The Suicide Squad should fight Superman”, Gunn said.

You can probably guess why he didn’t go that route, though, and it mostly has to do with all of the questions swirling around the use of Superman over at Warner Bros…

“At the time, there were a lot of questions like, ‘Who is Superman in the DCEU? Is this movie outside the DCEU?’, and I just didn’t want to deal with it all that much,” Gunn said.

I think it turned out for the best. The Starro fight is the best villain showdown of any DCEU movie, and while it would’ve been cool to see what Polka-Dot Man could do against Superman, the Man of Steel probably should get figured out first.  And who knows? Maybe Gunn will be the guy to figure that out? He’s turned down a Superman movie in the past but that could change.

 

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.