As you may have inferred from the title, The Suicide Squad isn’t going to be one of those comic book blockbusters where the main cast emerges relatively unscathed from the multiple action sequences, with only a few cuts and bruises to show for it. That’s become even more apparent now that James Gunn’s soft reboot has been officially rated R for strong violence and gore, among other things.
Of course, we can’t overlook the fact that David Ayer’s Suicide Squad didn’t really live up to its billing, with only secondary characters like Slipknot and Diablo meeting their demise. However, Gunn did reveal that Warner Bros. afforded him complete creative freedom to kill off whoever he wanted, and the filmmaker appears to have taken that sentiment and run with it.
In a recent social media exchange, he was asked how many members of his ensemble would fail to see the end credits, and the Guardians of the Galaxy architect was pretty forthcoming in his response, as you can see below.
Looking at the roster, they’re pretty much all expendable with perhaps the exception of Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, who remains a popular and highly marketable commodity even if Birds of Prey underperformed at the box office. John Cena’s Peacemaker might be getting his own HBO Max show, but it’s a prequel, so there are no guarantees he’ll survive, while even Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller isn’t safe despite spending almost her entire time as part of the DCEU sitting in darkened rooms and barking orders at her underlings.
Suffice it to say, the trailers have promised that whoever bites the dust will do so in pretty spectacular fashion when The Suicide Squad comes to theaters and HBO Max on August 6th.