Among the juicy tidbits from yesterday’s plethora of Suicide Squad news was that The Joker, being played by Jared Leto, would be one of the three most important characters in the film. It was also mentioned, however, that his main nemesis, Batman, would only be referenced - which made sense considering that supervillains in the story are the main players. Now new information has come out, though, suggesting that Ben Affleck's Dark Knight will fill the 2016 blockbuster’s superhero void, and his presence will involve his white-skinned arch-villain.
According to a report from Forbes, Batman might appear at some point during an "in-story" scene concerning The Joker. This would then set the stage for the Clown Prince of Crime being a possible villain for the Batman solo film, which would be partly inspired by Frank Miller’s 1986 story The Dark Knight Returns, a work that is also strongly influencing Suicide Squad’s predecessor, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Fans of the graphic novel will remember that the third issue in the arc featured Batman chasing after the recently escaped Joker and ended with Joker snapping his own neck to frame Batman as a murderer. If this information turns out to be true, this would be the fourth live-action film featuring the duo, the first three being 1966’s Batman, 1989’s Batman and 2008’s The Dark Knight.
Aside from Lex Luthor’s possible involvement, there haven’t been many details regarding how Suicide Squad connects with DC’s other upcoming films, so Batman’s possible presence in the movie would serve both as a way to set up a future solo adventure and provide connective tissue between David Ayer's movie and the rest of the DC Cinematic Universe. It’s also worth noting that Batman’s involvement would only boost Suicide Squad’s box office numbers. Although the film has star power on its side by including the Oscar winning Jared Leto, Will Smith and possibly Viola Davis, aside from Joker, most of the general public doesn’t know about characters like Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and Amanda Waller. Regardless of whether you believe Batman is being over saturated in the media, the fact is that he would be an enormous draw for most comic book fans and regular moviegoers, even if he is only showing up for a couple minutes. Word of mouth is a powerful thing!
From this rumor, it sounds like a Batman appearance in Suicide Squad would be something like DC’s equivalent to the Nick Fury cameos in the early Marvel movies, so it’s unlikely he would overshadow the titular team of incarcerated criminals. The Caped Crusader may be popping by for a brief visit, but it’s the super villains that are leading this bizarre adventure.
Suicide Squad will hit theaters on August 5, 2016, and is scheduled to go into production in the next few months.
