Peacemaker is canon to James Gunn’s DCU. So is Amanda Waller, Rick Flag, and possibly, before too long, Polka-Dot Man. But what about the movie that brought them all together, and gave Gunn his first DC directorial credit? Is The Suicide Squad fully canon to the DCU, despite also being canon to DCEU movies Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey? It’s hard to imagine that, for example, DC wants Jared Leto back. Now we have an answer straight from Gunn: Yes, the movie is canon to the DCU. But with a bit of an asterisk, or fine print, if you prefer.
On Spotify’s “The Suicide Squad: Is It Canon?” official podcast, Gunn made the claim. “I think that we can pretty much say the entire movie is canon. I don’t think there’s a problem.” He acknowledges there may be some minor timeline issues that don’t concern him too much, like when it happens relative to Superman. However, it’s still a better fit than Peacemaker Season 1, which was retconned at the beginning of Season 2 to have happened differently in this particular corner of the multiverse. There’s just one big question…
Harley Quinn May Cause a Continuity Issue in the DCU
IMAGE COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.
At this point, Gunn isn’t sure if Margot Robbie wants to continue playing Harley Quinn, and she isn’t contractually obliged to. There’s also no Joker yet established in this DCU, as Gunn says, she “talks about her old boyfriend. That could be the Joker or it could be somebody else.” However, if it’s somebody else, that changes up her origin story in crucial ways. “For me, there are certain things that seem incredibly important to certain characters, you know, now, what I see as important to characters. Maybe somebody else doesn’t.” Most would agree, however, that Joker creating the Harley we know is the definitive origin. Thus far, only Batman: Caped Crusader has disagreed. But given the way Peacemaker retconned certain callback scenes, there’s a precedent set to reshoot Harley flashback moments with a different Mr. J.
Some fans may nitpick the notion of Superman never having lost a fight prior to the Hammer of Boravia, as far as Bloodsport’s Kryptonite bullet backstory is concerned. For Gunn, that’s not an issue — he doesn’t think that being shot necessarily counts as losing a fight. “I don’t necessarily think that flying around nonchalantly, perhaps taking your flying dog for a walk or whatever he was doing, and being taken down with a Kryptonite bullet and going to the hospital is battle,” he said. “It’s not even necessarily defeat. He just was shot.” Does the timing add up? “The movie came out in 2021. That would have been before Superman was on the scene because we know at the beginning of the movie, Superman has only been on the scene for three years…So we would have to push up when The Suicide Squad happened to, you know, ‘23 or ‘24.” That doesn’t bother him, even if some might have issues. “We’re going to make mistakes,” he acknowledges.
As for other characters coming into the DCU, Gunn has an affection for TDK – The Detachable Kid, played by Nathan Fillion. While he doesn’t necessarily have a problem with actors playing more than one role — Michael Rooker has already played two — Fillion is thoroughly established as Guy Gardner, the Green Lantern of our sector. If TDK does return, he will “probably not” be Fillion. Gunn’s not a big fan of Mongal, whom he called, “not my best choice for a character.” Weasel, of course, already returned in Creature Commandos, and King Shark is likely set for the second season of that series. Gunn also clearly loves Ratcatcher II — given everything else, she seems like a contender for recanonization as well.
What parts of The Suicide Squad would you like to see continue? Weasel your way into comments and let it be known.
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