A trifecta of superhero movies are on the horizon—"Ant Man," "Black Panther" and "Suicide Squad"—and while no one is entirely sure what, exactly, they will look like, tidbits and rumors abound.
"Ant Man"
Directed by Peyton Reed and starring Paul Rudd and Evangeline Lilly, "Ant Man" took some heat in the Twitter-verse last year when slated director/writer Edgar Wright left the project due to "creative differences" with Marvel. The studio, despite Wright's departure, has repeatedly assured fans the film, which will hit theaters on July 15, will not disappoint.
Journalists from Empire Magazine (via CBM) saw one of "Ant Man's" scenes as it was being filmed. The scene, they wrote, "takes place in the basement gym of Hank Pym-or, in Rudd's words, "the Pymnasium"- where Empire is about to witness a class training montage. Fake sunlight is streaming through the windows. Then a fist socks Rudd in the face, and he goes down hard. 'Ooh... Aaah... It hurts...' he moans into the mat. His opponent is Hope Van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), who follows her finishing move by dancing around her flattered foe. As the camera keeps rolling, Rudd attempts to get up, his knee squeaking against the mat ... that sounds a lot like prolonged flatulence. 'Sorry,' he says. 'I'm on a very restricted diet.'"
"Black Panther"
Star Chadwick Boseman recently told CBR that he's in "the brainstorming phase" of character development.
"I think right now, it's just going through the possibilities of what he can do," Boseman said. "[What] it looks like and what it should feel like in certain moments. But [I'm] just going through [the material], because there's always a difference from one story to the next of who he is -- trying to find a way to merge those things together. Because I think that's always fun when these movies work: it's when people see several things satisfied at one time."
Asked if he's been studying the comic books, Boseman said, "Yeah. Really, all of it. It's just difficult with this particular character, because there are a lot of things in that time when it was written that did not exist but do exist now, so trying to figure out how would that work now. How is it special now in terms of technology and whatever -- but that's all I can say!"
"Suicide Squad"
Somebody is getting some pretty cool guns—but they're not nearly as cool as the guns Deadshot (Will Smith), is getting.
Tuesday, director David Ayer tweeted a photo of one of the squad member's "tools," aka a rifle, a scope and some ammo. Asked by a fan if the hardware was to be used by Deadshot, Ayer responded, "No sir. Deadshot gets the good stuff."
So, drawing up to the end of these profiles (two left after this one, saving the best til last), comes (Captain) Boomerang. This guy sounds a bit lame as a villain, clearly, but he is actually quite cool. He is most notably an enemy of The Flash, but more on that later. So, the character:
Real Name: George "Digger" Harkness/Owen Mercer (Mercer is Digger's son)
Alias: Boomerang/Captain Boomerang
Age: Variable (as usual), but I'd say mid 30's, or possibly even late 20's.
Appearance: Muscular, slightly intimidating. Blue/black trenchcoat, with boomerangs in pockets.
Supernatural Abilities: None. (In one iteration of the character, he was able to produce boomerangs out of energy). Throws boomerangs with high accuracy.
Equipment: Various boomerangs (Explosive, acid spewing, bladed, incendiary, electrified, etc).
This character may sound a bit poorly thought out, however he is also quite badass. Sure, he may not be able to go toe to toe with the likes of Deathstroke of Deadshot, but his boomerangs, and his accuracy at throwing them, make him quite a lethal character.
Boomerang has also appeared on the TV show Arrow, in the second Arrow/Flash crossover, as the Digger Harkness version of the character. There he faced off against The Flash and Arrow, and even got into A.R.G.U.S and terrorized the entire facility. He was portrayed by Nick Tarabay.
Boomerang in Arrow
My hopes for him in this movie.
I really liked the version of Boomerang that appeared in the Arrow/Flash crossover. If they could make the character somewhat similar to that iteration, I believe that this character could be quite good on the whole. Jai Courteneyhas been cast for the part. His Australian accent should suit the character, as the character is, actually, Australian (as is Deathstroke).
I think it would be nice to see some form of competition between Boomerang and Deadshot, in terms of accuracy, or the amount of people they could take out, kind of similar to Legolas' and Gimli's competition in the Lord Of The Rings, though far more serious and sinister. They are both assassins, after all.
Big picture, but worth it.
How will this character fit into the plotline? Well, as with the usual plot rumours, there was no mention of Boomerang in the plot rumour, so he's not likely to be a major player in the movie. he will probably be already on the Squad, in a detention cell commissioned by Viola Davis' Amanda Waller, only to be let out as he has "certain skills" that are of use to the mission.
Jai Courteney has been completely confirmed as the character, and I believe as always, that if DC have confidence in Courteney for the role, then we should too. I mean come on, who'll disagree with DC? We'll probably all really enjoy the movie anyway, no matter how bad it may seem now.
So, this is my last Suicide Squad profile post, so i thought I'd make it a bit different, by doing Harley Quinn and The Joker and the same time, because they're a couple. A slightly dysfunctional couple, but a couple all the same. I will be reviewing each character, then commenting on their relationship, how I think it will work in the movie, and my hopes for them in the movie. Sound good? Ok...
Harley Quinn
Real Name: Dr. Harleen Frances Quinzel
Alias: Harley Quinn
Age: mid to Late 20's to mid 30's
Appearance: Dresses similarly to a court jester. Depicted a lot of the time in a more alluring manner. Not at all intimidating. White makeup, red lips, black mask/smudged eyeliner.
Supernatural Abilities: Immunity to most poisons (due to Injections from Poison Ivy), Trained psychiatrist, Gymnast, Enhanced agility, strength, intelligence. Martial artist. Also complete disregard for human life, apart from the Joker's.
Equipment: Often depicted using a sledgehammer or a baseball bat. Also uses guns.
She's completely and utterly devoted to The Joker. You could say that she is his biggest fan. She's in love with him deeply, and will do anything to be with him. Merciless to anyone who tries to kill him.
Harley Quinn has never been portrayed in a live-action movie as of yet, so Suicide Squad will be the character's first appearance on screen. The character first appeared in Batman: The Animated Series in the early 90's. She is now a fan-favourite.
Badass.
And now, the main event....
The Joker
Real Name: ???
Alias: The Joker
Age: 30's
Appearance: Green hair, bleached white skin, bright red lips, eyeliner. Like a demented clown. Purple suit, green under clothes(?). Bow tie, Flower on his lapel (depending on which version of the character).
Supernatural Abilities: None. Genius-level intellect, expert chemist and engineer. Also skilled in hand to hand combat.
Equipment: Various. Poison, bombs, gas, guns, acid, etc. Whatever gets the job done, or whatever he can get his hands on.
He is completely crazy, yet is also a genius. Batman's greatest and most iconic villain, he is said to be the exact opposite of Batman. He has no problem with killing people, however many are needed to get the job done. His relationship with Harley Quinn is often abusive, however he does have a deep seated affection for her. The Joker's origin has been told and retold, but they generally follow the same story: The Red Hood was a villain Batman was pursuing. Red Hood falls into a vat of acid. Red Hood "dies". The acid bleaches his skin white, turns his hair green, and his lips red. Thus, The Joker is born.
SMIIIIIIILE
The main misconception, I feel, about this character, is that he wants to kill Batman, which, of course, he doesn't. He says Batman is way too much fun, and that he would have no one if Batman weren't around.
Harley Quinn may not have made her big screen debut yet, but The Joker has been depicted frequently in live action. He was first depicted in the 1960's by Cesar Ramero, then again in the 1989 movie, Batman , portrayed by Jack Nicholson. His latest portrayal is considered to be iconic, and was performed by Heath Ledger (RIP), in the 2008 Batman movie The Dark Knight. In this movie, The Joker is portrayed as being an agent of anarchy and chaos, performing acts of crime because he enjoys it, and wants to "watch the world burn".
Heath Ledger's Joker. An iconic performance.
The next Joker in Suicide Squad will be portrayed by Jared Leto, with Harley Quinn being portrayed by Margot Robbie.
My hopes for these two characters in the movie.
If rumours are true, the script will mainly focus on Will Smith's Deadshot andMargot Robbie's Harley Quinn, however this will also be (and I certainly hope there is) a constant "Joker overtone" to the movie. This I genuinely hope for, as I think it would add a certain intensity to the whole movie, especially if there were constant references to The Joker, finally ending with a Joker jailbreak. If the plotline is done properly, I expect to see each character get a chance to shine.
A poisonous relationship.
I also hope that The Joker and Harley's relationship is either explored in this movie, or if it is set up in this movie. I certainly hope for the latter, as The Joker could be broken out of prison by them all, because one of them other than Harley has been told to do so. This would also provide an excellent way to introduce Deathstroke as the one who needs their help to break out The Joker, as he had a business deal with him. We'll also get to see Deathstroke in action if that happens, as well as a bunch of villains working together, and pulling off an amazing jailbreak. I personally think this would be best, as then we'd have The Joker and Harley meeting for the first time, as well giving the audience a relationship that will follow through almost all the DC movies that contain The Joker, or Harley.
A poisonous relationship?
So, that's the Joker and Harley. We'll just have to wait and see what DC do with the characters, and also see if Jared Leto will provide a performance to match Heath Ledger's. And, as usual, if DC have confidence in these actors, then so should we.
So, to conclude all these Suicide Squad Profile posts (which took a lot of my time to make, thanks for reading them if you did), I believe that with these characters and an excellent script, DC could make an excellent Suicide Squad movie. There is, as always, a slight issue with the actors, mainly fan complaints, however I can't wait to see the actors portray their own versions of each character, because with writing all these articles, I really want to see them in a proper, guns blazing, heist/jailbreak movie. And it's going to be AWESOME.
Remove Tom Hardy, and that's your cast.
So, to summarise the cast:
The Joker: Jared Leto
Harley Quinn: Margot Robbie
The Enchantress: Cara Delevingne
(Captain) Boomerang: Jai Courteney
Deadshot: Will Smith
Deathstroke: Joe Mangianello (rumoured) (my preferred candidate)
Rick Flag: No one confirmed as of yet (Tom Hardy passed the role)
Amanda Waller: Viola Davis
Suicide Squad is slated for the release date of August 5th, 2016 (USA).
(Point of Information: The reason I have not done an article on Rick Flag is because I don't see him as particularly villainous, he is a government agent after all)
I really hope you enjoyed reading all these articles I've put so much time into. Thanks for reading them.
