DC comics has had their share of recent movie hits, and the Christopher Nolan Dark Knight Trilogy and Man of Steel will give way to the Superman v Batman: Dawn of Justice movie of 2016.  DC is trying to create its own cinematic universe like Marvel has with Avengers, X-men, and Spider-man films, and August 5, 2016 (5 months after the Superman and Batman movie) is the projected date of another film based on its comic-book characters: Suicide Squad.  The film has a star-studded cast including Will Smith, Tom Hardy, Margot Robbie, Cara Delevingne, Jai Courtney, and Jared Leto playing one of DC's most iconic villains, the Joker. 

For those unfamiliar with the source material from DC, Suicide Squad is a comic book about a team of super-heroes.  Of course that has been done before, but what made Suicide Squad different was the team was not super-heroes, but actually super-villains.  These super-villains were required to go on secret missions in exchange for a reduced prison sentence.  This kind of explains why super-villains in comic books often make returns. 

The one actual good guy on the Suicide Squad is Rick Flagg, who has his hands full being the team leader.  He will be portrayed by Tom Hardy, who has some DC film experience playing the villain Bane from The Dark Knight Rises.       

Will Smith will play Deadshot, a sharpshooter of the team.  Considering the flop that After Earth was, perhaps this can set the megastar's career back on its path. 

Other characters include Jai Courtney (Divergent) as Boomerang, who wields trick boomerangs.  Cara Delevingne (Anna Karenina) as the Enchantress, a sorceress who was known to go crazy on several occasions.  Speaking of crazy, Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) will portray Harley Quinn, the famed Batman villain who adores the Joker. 

The casting call was that the Joker will return to film, this time played by Oscar-winner Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club).  Considering that the last actor who played the Joker, Heath Ledger, won a posthumous Oscar for his portrayal, it will be interesting to see how Leto will portray a villain made famous by other screen performances like Mark Hamill and Cesar Romero. 

While we are on the subject of famous villains from DC comics, there is a rumor that Jesse Eisenberg could also be in the Suicide Squad film playing Lex Luthor.  This is only a rumor according to the imdb page. 

The film is being written by David Ayer (Fury), who will also direct the 2016 film.  It is not known what the long-range plan for Suicide Squad is in this DC cinematic universe.  There is already a Suicide Squad on the DC/CW TV show Arrow, but it seems like the DC cinematic universe will not be in continuity with the DC TV universes created by Arrow and The Flash.