David Ayer Regrets His “Soulful” Cut Of ‘Suicide Squad’ Was “Beaten Into A Comedy”

Warner Bros. opened the Pandora’s Box when they greenlit Zack Snyder’s Justice League for HBO Max, and ever since fans have been begging for more. Next film they’ve targeted is David Ayer’s original cut of Suicide Squad, which was heavily edited in post-production to create something unrecognizable by the director. Ayer has been pretty vocal about wanting to see his vision of the film finally revealed, and has been responding to fans’ calls for its release.

In one such exchange, Ayer referred to the Comic-Con trailer released way back in 2015. A fan told him that was the movie’s “greatest isolated piece” of promo material (I concur, by the way), and Ayer was quick to jump in and talk about how the movie was taken out of his hands and pounded into something other than what he intended..

Here is that Comic-Con trailer, just to refresh your memory because it has been a while…

Now look, I don’t know how much of a “soulful” film Suicide Squad was ever going to be, but the tone of this trailer suggests it very well could’ve been. Instead, what we got was something that desperately wanted to be Deadpool meets Guardians of the Galaxy. I think it’s still mostly successful as an edgy R-rated comedy, and it went on to be a box office hit (and Oscar winner), but if Ayer’s version fixes problems with the final act then it needs to be seen.

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.