With the Justice League Snyder Cut in the bag, the big question on DC fans’ lips now is whether Warner Bros. will follow it up by releasing the Ayer Cut of Suicide Squad as well. Thanks to the director, we know that a lot of great material was removed from the theatrical cut that would’ve massively changed, and likely improved, the movie. There would’ve been more Harley, more Joker and even maybe a little bit more Batman, too.
Ben Affleck turned up as the Dark Knight for several scenes scattered throughout Suicide Squad as he arrested Deadshot and Harley in flashback and then appeared as Bruce Wayne in the post-credits scene. According to stunt performer Richard Cetrone though – who doubled for Affleck in all three of his DCEU appearances – he shot some extra action beats as Batman that didn’t make it into the theatrical version.
“There were some things. I did a little more with the car, like trying to get into the car, trying to get through the roof. So I did a little more. There would probably be a little more of Batman in there.”
Cetrone must be talking about the Harley flashback, in which Batman chases the Joker in the Batmobile before hopping onto the roof of the Clown Prince’s car, ultimately leading to the Jokermobile plowing into Gotham harbor. It doesn’t sound like there would be a crazy amount of new Batman material in the Ayer Cut, then, but a slightly extended edit of Batman’s attempt to apprehend his nemesis would still be nice.
Of course, this won’t give fans the Batfleck/Leto Joker standoff that they’ve always wanted to see, but it would come a little bit closer at least. There’s also been some chatter that Affleck could make his version of The Batman for HBO Max if JL is a success, with Leto returning for it, but we probably shouldn’t get too excited for that at this stage. Likewise, it’s hard to tell whether we’ll ever see the Suicide Squad Ayer Cut or not. For now, all fans can do is keep showing how much they want it.