It didn’t take long for DC to snap up James Gunn after he was fired by Marvel for some controversial tweets he made many years ago. The former Guardians of the Galaxy director was hired by the Distinguished Competition to helm Suicide Squad 2. The first SS was infamously not a massive critical success, so Warner Bros. is presumably hoping Gunn can sprinkle some of his Guardians magic on the sequel.
If a new rumor’s to be believed though, Gunn won’t just be giving the Suicide Squad franchise a sprinkling of what made Guardians work, but he’ll actually be replicating the tone and style of his Marvel movies wholesale. Industry tipster Daniel RPK tweeted this week that he’s heard what WB’s planning with SS2 and he’s not a fan.
“I’m really mad at the direction they’re heading with Suicide Squad 2,” Richtman wrote. “I loved the first Guardians of the Galaxy, but I don’t want to see that version of the Suicide Squad. I liked the more Mad Max inspired take I heard they wanted to go in before hiring James Gunn,”
When folks pressed him for details on what Gunn’s vision for the follow-up is like, Richtman summed it up as: “Simple, GotG, just not in space.”
Another tweeter argued that just because Gunn’s involved doesn’t mean it’ll be the same as Guardians. Richtman conceded that point then added: “But I did hear that’s what him and the studio want, their own version to [sic] GotG…”
If you’re interested in what that “Mad Max inspired” Suicide Squad 2 would’ve been like, Richtman later elaborated that the earlier version of the film, back when Gavin O’Connor was due to direct, “was about them on a mission in the Middle East saving a girl with superpowers.”
For those wondering whether Dwayne Johnson might finally show up as Black Adam in SS2, Richtman clarified that Shazam’s nemesis was only in the first draft. “He was dropped later on,” he explained, “and it was about them saving the girl from an organization who wants to use her as a weapon of mass destruction.”
Suicide Squad 2 is still in early development, but the first movie’s breakout star will return next year, as Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn leads an ensemble cast in Birds of Prey, arriving in February 2020.