‘The Suicide Squad’: James Gunn On His Favorite Character, Where Film Fits In The DCEU

James Gunn has two big franchises of similarly offbeat tone on the way, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and The Suicide Squad. While the Marvel film will probably occupy a special place in his heart, Gunn is clearly digging his chance to play around with the DC heroes, too. In particular, he’s found a new favorite character with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, and talked about her with fans during his latest Instagram Q&A…

“Oh, I love the Joker, but Harley is one of my favourite characters I’ve ever written. In fact, she’s probably my favourite comic character whose personality was well-defined before I wrote her for the screen. She’s an incredible companion to have while writing her insane actions and dialogue. Did I say I LOVED her?”

It’ll be interesting to see how Gunn approaches the Harley Quinn character after what happens to her in Birds of Prey. Although he has said in the past, and says again that you don’t need to have seen Suicide Squad to understand his film, he does confirm it takes place after the recent spinoff…

“TSS takes place in the year it comes out”, was his response to a question about The Suicide Squad’s place in the DCEU timeline. That means at some point after riding off into the sunset following her defeat of Black Mask, Harley Quinn will get into trouble again and be at the mercy of Amanda Waller (a returning Viola Davis).

The Suicide Squad opens August 6th 2021 and has not been affected by the pandemic. It appears to be one of the few Warner Bros. films that isn’t.

SOURCEJames Gunn
Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.