There has been a recent new trailer posted for Warner Brother's big-screen adaptation of DC Comic's Suicide Squad, and it reveals a little more of what the film is about, but not too much. That film is not due out until the summer, but DC already has a big master stroke plan for its connected Cinematic Universe with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, which may have already revealed too much. The big question is how will these two films fit together, and the answer will make Warner Brothers a lot of money and finally catch up with what Marvel is doing in their movies.
As seen in the recent trailer for Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, there is a lot going on. There have been all kinds of versions that have shown snippets of what the film can be about, and the story looks like it could be deliberately full of holes. For example, there are shots of Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) approaching what looks to be a burned-out Wayne Manor, and there is what looks like a Robin costume with the words "Who Laughs Last" written on it.
Did the Joker burn down Bruce Wayne's mansion, and kill Robin? There is a famous storyline from the Batman comics where the Joker killed Jason Todd, one of many who has assumed the mantle of Robin. Is it possible that this Batman decided to put aside being the caped crusader for a while?
Perhaps it is something about the nature of Superman that drives Batman out of hiding. It looks like Superman (Henry Cavill) is going to be held accountable in a trial for events that happened in Man of Steel, as his battle with General Zod (Michael Shannon) destroyed the city of Metropolis. From there, it looks like Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) gets involved and he is attempting to get the two titans to fight each other like dogs.
Mixed in with this is just about everyone in the DC Universe, as Gal Gadot will be Wonder Woman, Jason Momoa will be Aquaman, Ray Fisher is Cyborg, and Ezra Miller is rumored to be The Flash (different than the one on the CW TV show). How these characters are going to even be introduced without being shoehorned in is up to the writing, and there are also non-superhero DC characters in the mix like Martha Kent (Diane Lane), Lois Lane (Amy Adams), Perry White (Laurence Fishburne), and Alfred (Jeremy Irons).
There is even more opportunity to introduce famous DC comics characters in Suicide Squad. Instead of sporadically introducing heroes, it appears that we are given villains. There is no shortage of talent, with Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jared Leto (The one and only Joker), Cara Delevinge (Enchantress), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Karen Fukuhara (Katana), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), Adam Beach (Slipknot), as well as the team's leaders, Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) and Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman).
The new trailer seems like a confusing introduction, but only if you aren't familiar with DC comics. The Joker and Harley Quinn are pretty infamous Batman villains, but some of the others are quite obscure. After all, this isn't like Marvel's Avengers, where all of the characters were formerly introduced in previous films, and then grouped together for a single movie. This is an X-men movie of introducing all of these super-powered characters all at once.
Even if you aren't familiar with these characters, the new trailer for Suicide Squad has a pretty simple set-up for the story. It looks like some big emergency has gone down, and the only solution to stop the big bad is to use super-villains. What the "big bad" is has yet to be revealed, but it could be the Joker himself. The issue is he doesn't seem to be a villain powerful enough to summon a whole group of villains to combat, honestly.
Just to let you know, Batman is in the film, according to the imdb page. It is possible that the Joker is has taken over Gotham somehow killing Robin and burning down Wayne Manor. If that is the case, then the Suicide Squad has to stop him, which means that events in Suicide Squad actually take place before Batman v. Superman, even though the former has a release date of August 5th while the latter is March 25th.
The issue is that these characters are going to need more backstory than their films can possibly have the time to carry. There is a simple solution for that, as DC does make comics. For example, if you want to see how Deadshot, Killer Croc, and the other villains came to be, then DC is probably planning special event comics that will tell their stories, making them official DC Cinematic Universe canon. In short, DC has a real chance to shine this year with their connected storyline films, provided they don't drop the ball here. If so, then all the other films planned could be doomed.
