A Villains Time To Shine (Opinion)

The rivalry between DC Comics and Marvel Comics has been going for years. Friendly as the competition has been, both companies have tried to one up each other on many different aspects. One such aspect would be film and television. Now DC (in my opinion) is winning the battle on the small screen with awesome shows like Arrow and The Flash. Marvel, however, has dominated the big screen with Iron Man through The Avengers. Marvel’s supremacy is only growing with some of their comic properties (Blade, Punisher are examples) reverting back to Marvel Studios. This allows Marvel to produce movies under their own banner and connecting all their films into one ‘Universe’. DC, on the other hand, has always had a partnership with Warner Bros., but really hasn’t capitalized on what they could do on the big screen… until now.

On October 15^th, DC released a list of their upcoming slate of films (check out the list here courtesy of Comingsoon.net). A few of the films were already expected like the sequel to Man of Steel, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25, 2016) and Justice League (Part 1 out 2017). There were a couple of surprises from the list like a big screen version of The Flash (2018) and Aquaman (2018). One intriguing film this list is Suicide Squad.

A comic book started in the late 50’s that is focused on incarcerated villains sent on governmental black ops missions in hopes of sentence reductions. Suicide Squad has also has had as many different ‘team’ members as the Avengers, so I was really curious as who would be in the first cinematic line-up. Thanks again to Comingsoon.net; DC has released not only the characters, but the actors that will be playing each character. After seeing the list, I have to say DC is serious about the quality of their upcoming movies. Here are some thoughts on the cast:

Will Smith (Men In Black)—Deadshot: Flyod Lawton is an expert marksman/assassin/mercenary who is primarily a nemesis of Batman, but is known to make appearances throughout the DC Universe. Being a constant member of Suicide Squad, I expected Deadshot’s inclusion. Casting Will Smith was a good choice. Gives the film “star power” and I think it will be interesting to see Smith as a “bad guy” since Smith isn’t known for being a villain. Smith’s casting also begs the question; will Smith be cast as Deadshot in other DC films as a villain?

Jai Courtney (A Good Day to Die Hard)—Captain Boomerang: It is unknown of which incarnation of Boomerang we will see on screen (multiple people have taken the name), but Boomerang is known to be a Flash villain. Courtney has dabbled a little with being an antagonist recently in Divergent and did a decent job. I think he was a good choice and with the help of director David Ayer (Fury) he could be much better. With Courtney’s youth, don’t be surprised to see him in future Flash films.

Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street)—Harley Quinn: Another Batman villain and girlfriend to The Joker, Quinn has been another constant on the Suicide Squad recently. Quinn is a psychopath that shares Joker’s love for chaos. Robbie’s casting was a fascinating one to say the least. Robbie won wide spread acclaim for her role in The Wolf of Wall Street, but is still fairly new to American audiences. Quinn is a very popular DC character and I think Robbie needs to play Quinn just a tad less crazy than The Joker to do her any justice. Think Gogo Yubari (played by Chiaki Kuriyama) in Kill Bill: Vol. 1.

Jared Leto (Dallas Buyer’s Club)—The Joker: Supervillain #1 for Batman and recently portrayed on screen in The Dark Knight. The addition of this character raised a couple questions. First, what in the world is The Joker doing in this movie? Joker has never been associated with the Suicide Squad. Second, is Leto’s Joker a one-time deal or is Leto going to be in other DC films? I wonder this because DC has followed suit with Marvel and decided to connect all the films in the DC Universe. Here’s my (maybe flawed) theory: I think Leto’s Joker will be the main villain of the Suicide Squad film and will be the bridge to either the Justice League film or future Batman films. Pushing Heath Ledger’s performance from my mind, I do believe Leto will do an outstanding job. Leto has proven with his award winning performance in Dallas Buyer’s Club that he has incredible depth and range. Leto just has to sprinkle A LOT of crazy on that depth and range.

Tom Hardy (Locke)—Rick Flagg: One of the founding members of the Suicide Squad, Flagg is and ARGUS (DC’s equivalent to Marvel’s SHEILD) operative and actually one “good guy” on the team. Flagg acts as a liaison of ARGUS to the imprisoned villains. I am a huge fan of Hardy and I am so happy he is coming back to the DC film universe. Hardy will give Flagg a gritty exterior, while keeping him human on the inside.

 

Viola Davis (The Help)—Amanda Waller: Leader of the Suicide Squad and high ranking member of ARGUS, Waller is a no nonsense type of woman. Waller is willing to take legal or illegal steps to get the mission complete. Viola Davis is the perfect actress to bring Waller to the big screen. Waller is a lot like Davis’ character on How To Get Away With Murder. Very excited about this casting announcement.

Cara Delevingne (Anna Karenina)—Enchantress: Okay so I have saved the “odd ball” for last. Enchantress (powers of magic like Marvel’s Scarlet Witch) has been in and out of DC comics for many years, so there is limited information on who the character is.  Enchantress has crossed the line of good and evil a few times, flipped out on Green Lantern, and has actually been a member of the Suicide Squad. Waller her let join the team as a sort of therapy when Enchantress revealed that she didn’t want to be evil anymore. I know just as much about English model/actress Cara Delevingne. All I really know is that she will be expanding her film resume in the coming years. I can’t give an educated opinion on this casting, but because Enchantress is an obscure character it will be exciting to see what they do with her.

I think David Ayer has his work cut out for him, but knowing his work (Fury, End of Watch) he will make this a tough and gritty film, very different from what audiences expect from a popular comic book movie. With this high caliber cast, Ayer’s job just got a little easier.

Suicide Squad comes to theatres on August 5, 2016