Suicide Squad

It would appear that the likes of Deadpool and Logan, what with all their foul words and visible bloodletting and brief pegging interludes, have changed the game of superhero movies. It was once basic showbiz logic that a massively-budgeted capes-and-tights flick couldn‘t afford to go for the R rating and lose the portion of the audience that’d restrict. More minor one-off projects like Watchmen, Kick-Ass, and Kingsman could take that risk and repeatedly found that it paid off, but now mainstream heroes have adopted this more daring approach and met with attractive box-office receipts. And in keeping with their tried-and-true business strategy of doing everything Marvel does, but a year later, DC Films has no stated their intention to get into more mature material.

The DC Extended Universe may have lost Ben Affleck as a director (and maybe as a star too), but Warner Bros. is looking to gain another big name for its roster. The studio is currently courting Mel Gibson to helm the Suicide Squad sequel, which is definitely not a sentence anyone expected to write today.

If you thought there was only going to be one Harley Quinn figure released from Hot Toys, then you clearly don't know the power of Harleen Quinzel. She was a multimedia superstar well before this film arrived, and her star is only going to shine brighter thanks to Margot Robbie's portrayal and subsequent "solo" film, Gotham City Sirens. Though the more iconic version of the character from Suicide Squad already got her action figure debut, Hot Toys is all about those variants, including this Bell Reve Prisoner iteration.

It’s been six months since Suicide Squad was released in theaters and a collective history is starting to shape up around the film. Despite denials from Warner Bros., it’s now pretty much understood that the studio rushed production of Suicide Squad and backed director David Ayer into a corner about the film’s final cut. Despite these issues, Ayer has remained a loyal solider for the studio, regularly commenting that the film we saw in theaters was his and his alone.

Though Suicide Squad itself may not linger on many "Best of" lists, Margot Robbie's take on the character has drawn enough acclaim to earn her a new movie, and possibly the brightest future of any villain in the DC Cinematic Universe. Now that we know the cinematic version of Harley Quinn isn't going anywhere any time soon, we can settle in for even more merchandise based on the character as portrayed by Robbie. That goes double for merchandise that won't be out for a full calendar year, like Prime 1 Studio's new Harley Quinn 1:4 scale statue.

Not long ago, we published a list of suggestions for how Warner Bros. could fix some of the issues with the DC Extended Universe. To date, the studio has delivered three superhero blockbusters — all of which were massively budgeted and hugely successful at the box office, sure, but they could have performed even better had they been genuinely good films. Although recent comments from WB execs and Ben Affleck imply that the studio has learned a few lessons from its mistakes, new comments from a top DC movies producer prove otherwise.

For the past few years, rumors about what DC Comics property WB Montreal was working on developing a game around have swirled. The Suicide Squad was an early candidate, as were Superman and the Justice League, but nothing had ever materialized from any of those potential titles in the years since WB Montreal wrapped production on Batman: Arkham Origins. Now, according to a new report, it's sounding like we haven't heard much about the Suicide Squad game because it's been canceled all together.

Rob Williams and Jim Lee's Suicide Squad is a perfect example of what DC Comics aimed to do with its Rebirth shake-up. It builds on what made the property popular back in the days of John Ostrander, Kim Yale and Luke McDonnell while embracing the changes that have happened in the decades since, and the end result is a wonderful fusion of everything great about the property. With Suicide Squad #8 out this week, and the Justice League vs Suicide Squad event on the horizon, ComicsAlliance chatted with Williams about his approach to the individual characters, and the punk rock influence at the heart of the title.

While DC Comics has had a great 2016 largely thanks to its DC Rebirth initiative, the success of its updated Hanna-Barbera titles such as Future Quest and The Flintstones has been one of the most surprising hits of the year. Next year, DC is doubling down on its classic cartoon characters by teaming them up with some of the most iconic heroes in the DC Universe in a number of special annuals set for release in March.

Jared Leto’s gritty ’n grilled take on the Clown Prince of Crime was easily the most controversial part of David Ayer’s Suicide Squad. Early photos of Leto’s tatted-up Joker drew heavy criticism from fans and launched a million jokes on social media, where he was compared to everything from a Juggalo to a Hot Topic mascot — and that was before we found out about his wacky on-set “method acting” antics, which permanently cemented his status as a ridiculous human being. But if you thought that version of the Joker was obnoxious, boy do we have some concept art for you.