Despite Suicide Squad being one of the biggest hits for the DC Extended Universe, we have spent the years since its release wondering when we would be getting a sequel - mostly because the franchise hasn't been big on slate announcements. That changed in a major way today, however, as in addition to revealing scheduling news for Matt Reeves' The Batman (which will not star Ben Affleck), it has also been confirmed that Suicide Squad 2 - which will be titled The Suicide Squad - is going to be coming out on August 6, 2021.
News about this development comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which adds that Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn - who became attached to the project last fall - is now in talks to direct the film. The trade report adds that the project is more of a "relaunch" than it is a sequel, with Gunn using his opportunity at the helm of the film to carve out a different vision for the property than the one we saw from writer/director David Ayer in the summer of 2016.
With its 2021 release date, The Suicide Squad will be one of three DC features to be released that year, and it is scheduled to be the third to hit theaters - all of them arriving during the same summer. The studio is preparing a DC Super Pets movie that is now going to arrive on May 21, 2021, and Matt Reeves' The Batman has been set for June 25, 2021. It's little surprise that The Suicide Squad is coming out in August given that its predecessor did the same thing and managed to make $750 million worldwide.
James Gunn even has some positive history of his own with the weekend as the first Guardians of the Galaxy also came out in the first week of August, and it pulled in nearly $775 million globally.
While James Gunn's involvement with the DC Extended Universe has only officially existed for a few months now, the filmmaker's interest in this kind of storytelling goes back a few years, as he expressed that the existence of Suicide Squad prevented him from working with Marvel on a Thunderbolts movie - which is a title from the comic book company with a similar premise to the DC property. Now he has his chance to tell the story of bad guys doing good for bad reasons, and according to the new trade report "the project is also very much rooted in Gunn’s vibe."
There is a history of DC Extended Universe movies starting production as much as two years in advance of a release date, so it's possible that we could see The Suicide Squad gearing up for production before the end of the year. Obviously we will be paying very close attention to the development of the project, so be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates.
