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The release of Zack Snyder's Justice League on HBO Max was an unprecedented event in the film world, and showed how truly powerful the fandom's voice can be. Shortly after the movie was announced to have a streaming home, fans began hoping that 2017's Suicide Squad would get the same treatment. After all, that filmmaker's vision was similarly altered as a result of studio interference. David Ayer recently reacted to the first trailer for James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, while also explaining how the Ayer Cut could still work.
There was a ton of excitement around Suicide Squad, but unfortunately the theatrical cut failed to resonate with audiences. In the years since, David Ayer has been open about how Warner Bros. altered his blockbuster, pushing for more comedy after the success of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool. That property is being restarted thanks to James Gunn's upcoming R-rated blockbuster The Suicide Squad, and Ayer responded to the first trailers in a cryptic way. Check it out below.
Is David Ayer excited or heartbroken over The Suicide Squad? It's currently unclear, although he and director James Gunn have a mutual respect for each other. And in the meantime, fan will keep hoping that the Ayer Cut of 2017's Suicide Squad could become a reality.
David Ayer's response to The Suicide Squad's trailer came from his personal Twitter page, and is sure to turn a few heads. James Gunn's upcoming DC debut is a strange project because it's a mixture of a reboot and a sequel. And the project seems vastly different from Ayer's original. But there are a number of returning characters including Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis).
The original Suicide Squad is currently available on HBO Max, which will also be the home of James Gunn's upcoming movie this summer. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.
In the months since Zack Snyder's Justice League was announced, David Ayer has addressed the possibility of an alternate Suicide Squad cut a number of times. Sometimes the Bright filmmaker makes it sound like it could be a breeze, while other times it feels like a possibility. Ayer recently spoke to EW about the ongoing campaign fro the Ayer Cut, explaining how it could happen:
I think the studios see now that there can be canon, there can be non-canon, the fans just want to touch it. They love the characters, they just want to spend more time with it. And people are way more sophisticated about how movies are made and want to be participants in the journey. There's room for different things, different versions, different assets being shared with the audience. I think it just helps strengthen the community. But absolute credit to Warner Bros. for supporting Zack and having the courage to explore that.
The man's got a point. Warner Bros. has been taking advantage of the multiverse quite a bite lately, allowing for multiple versions of the same characters to exist on the big screen. For instance, Joker and Matt Reeves' The Batman are both set outside of the main DCEU timeline. The Snyder Cut is also similarly in its own pocket of the franchise, and isn't officially canon. So an alternate cut of Suicide Squad could seemingly function within the same parameters.
Funny enough, James Gunn seem to think that his upcoming movie The Suicide Squad could actually help the campaign for the Ayer Cut. As the filmmaker recently put it on social media,
Another solid point made. When The Suicide Squad is released this summer, there's obviously going to be a renewed interest in the property. Plenty of HBO Max subscribers will no doubt re-watch the 2017 original, and wonder what David Ayer's vision could have accomplished without being altered. The Snyder Cut's inclusion of Jared Leto may drum up more interest in Suicide Squad as well.
Jared Leto's Joker was one of the characters that suffered the most from the studio's interference in Suicide Squad, and he was left largely on the cutting room floor. But Leto was able to reprise his role for the Knightmare sequence in Zack Snyder's Justice League, and fans no doubt want access to the unseen footage from his DC debut.
The Suicide Squad will hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6th. In the meantime, check out our 2021 release list to plan your next movie experience.
