The Suicide Squad First Look, Characters Revealed at DC FanDome

The Suicide Squad has arrived. At DC FanDome, writer-director James Gunn and The Suicide Squad cast unveiled the first look and the characters for Gunn's reimagining of the Suicide Squad, which mixes new and old stars. They include Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, Nathan Fillion as T.D.K, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, Flula Borg as Javelin, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Alice Braga as Solsoria, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Peter Capaldi as Thinker, Michael Rooker as Savant, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Juan Diego Botto as Silvio "El Presidente" Luna, Storm Reid as Bloodsport's daughter Tyla, and Steve Agee as the voice of King Shark. In addition, there are as-yet undisclosed roles on The Suicide Squad for Taika Waititi, Joaquín Cosío, Tinashe Kajese, Julio Ruiz, and Jennifer Holland.

Gunn also unveiled a behind-the-scenes look at his take on The Suicide Squad, which includes a first look at the characters and the action set pieces, which producer Peter Safran described as a "gritty 1970s war movie". Gunn claims The Suicide Squad is the biggest movie he's ever done, "by far".

Though The Suicide Squad is being described as a sequel to the 2016 original, it's more of a soft reboot — Safran went so far to call it a “total reboot” — given the number of changes Gunn has made to the team and the tone of the film. It wasn't always going to be this way.

Suicide Squad director David Ayer was attached to a direct sequel for a time before exiting. By September 2017, Warrior director Gavin O'Connor had come on board and brought in writers who finished the script by next September. But Warner Bros. deemed it too similar to Robbie-led Birds of Prey and was dropped, with a frustrated O'Connor walking away.

After Disney (temporarily) fired Gunn from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 over controversial tweets, Warner Bros. immediately jumped to get Gunn for the DC film universe. Gunn picked Suicide Squad and was offered to both write and direct the film.

Charles Roven, Simon Hatt, and Safran are producers on the new Suicide Squad movie. The Suicide Squad is a production of DC Films, Atlas Entertainment, The Safran Company, and Troll Court Entertainment. Warner Bros. Pictures is the global distributor.

The Suicide Squad is currently slated to open August 6, 2021 in cinemas worldwide.