David Ayer’s Suicide Squad remains one of the most fascinating comic book adaptations of the modern era for reasons both good or bad, but the filmmaker’s initial hubris has secured one particular quote of his a spot in the hall of infamy.
Prior to the first footage from DC’s all-star antihero ensemble being showcased to the world – and then immediately leaked online – at San Diego Comic-Con, Ayer proudly proclaimed “F*ck Marvel!!!” for all the world to hear, and it would be an understatement to say that came back and bit him in the ass when the film was wrenched out of his grip, recut into something he didn’t want it to be, then ended up as the franchise’s worst-reviewed entry of all-time.
The campaign to see his cut rumbles on, and having already laid his issues bare that Warner Bros. trying to turn Suicide Squad into Deadpool still stings, the filmmaker has been offering his own two cents on how to remedy the various issues that plague DC.
He’d then go on to make an excellent case for how a balance can be struck between the grimdark SnyderVerse aesthetic and a more hopeful take on Superman, something James Gunn is hopefully seeking to nail.
This being the internet of course, the lifelong comic book aficionado was then called out for his supposed lack of knowledge, leading to a curious response that many are intimating to be a subtle shot at Marvel’s rampant reliance on goofy humor and low stakes.
Whether it was intentional or not, Ayer has continued stoking the flames of the Marvel vs. DC rivalry, one that he would have contributed to in a much more meaningful way had Suicide Squad not been butchered beyond belief.