David Ayer Says His ‘Suicide Squad’ Has ‘Never Been Seen’
If you thought Warner Bros. finally acquiescing to fan demands and releasing a director’s cut of Justice League would be the end of social media campaigning for new versions of widely disliked films, you would be wrong. With a Snyder Cut of Justice League in the offing, DC fanboys are now turning their attention to another recent movie that was only shown in theaters in butchered form: Suicide Squad.
Released before Justice League in the summer of 2016, Suicide Squad was an enormous financial success — grossing almost $750 million worldwide — and hated by critics and many readers of the original comic books. On ScreenCrush’s entirely scientific ranking of every DC Comics movie ever (seen below), Suicide Squad ranked third from the bottom, below infamous stinkers like Steel and Green Lantern. It is not good.
But Suicide Squad director David Ayer says that is not his version of the story. Responding to growing calls to release his preferred cut of Suicide Squad on HBO Max like Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Ayer says his cut of the film “would be easy to complete” — and that his concept of Suicide Squad “has never been seen.”
Fans hoping for a #ReleaseTheSnyderCut 2.0 should know that there is a big difference here. Justice League was basically dead in the water right now. Unlike Suicide Squad, that movie flopped, and the odds of getting a sequel in the near future were slim and none. WarnerMedia has nothing to lose there, and a lot to gain; Synder’s Justice League can be a big ticket item for HBO Max at relatively low cost, and it might even restart the franchise.
Suicide Squad, as crappy as it was, made money. And there’s already a sequel on the way: The Suicide Squad from director James Gunn. Debuting a new version of the old film might remind folks how much they disliked the first Suicide Squad and keep them away from the second. It could also make the continuity between films even more confusing. Plus, Warner Bros. already released an “Extended Cut” of Suicide Squad on Blu-ray — and it was even worse than the theatrical version.
In other words, a #ReleaseTheAyerCut movement seems like a long shot, if not a Deadshot. (Sorry.) Then again, a lot of people claimed Snyder’s Justice League would never get release, so who knows?
Gallery — Every DC Comics Movie, Ranked From Worst to Best: