Suicide Squad Producers Say Movie is Incredibly Fun, Big Sense of Humor

Fans of DC's still-young "Extended Universe" are likely already tired of hearing about how Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice didn't have enough humor.

DC fans on ComicBook.com's Facebook page frequently turn this criticism around, arguing on behalf of that more serious, Christopher Nolan-inspired tone, but of course Warner Bros. and DC have already started making films that don't feel quite as dour as director Zack Snyder's Superman movies.

One such film is Suicide Squad, which from the beginning has been promoted with a series of musically-charged, one-liner-filled trailers.

"The sense of humor, that's one thing also I could just mention about the movie and hopefully the Comic Con piece gave hints of that, if not more than hints, is this movie is incredibly fun," said producer Richard Suckle during a conversation with reporters on the film's set. "I think it's going to really surprise people. At least people who may not have expected that before they saw the Comic Con piece. The movie has a fantastic sense of humor all the while being serious when it needs to be serious. It delivers on the action, but the sense of humor is something that I found went well in the script, but now you see it on camera...it's a great cocktail I guess is the way to describe it."

"In order to have outrageous characters, I think they have to be able to say outrageous things," Suckle added (a sentiment that fits Harley Quinn's talk about "the voices," seen in most of the movie's trailers). "I always find, when you have a serious situation, it always accentuates the drama and the tension and you can offset it with a joke, [as long as] that joke fits within the tone and the context of the movie."

"Look at the characters that are all together," added producer Andy Horwitz. "I think just organically comedy comes out of these people being together and having such different temperaments and different attitudes and different outlooks on life, and just the group itself, comedy just comes out organically. It's amazing how the delivery of lines and how much fun they have. David, of course, is coming up with things on set. Everyone laughs about it and of course is probably some of the funniest stuff in the movie."

"These are characters that don't necessarily want to be a team but don't have a choice, and how do you deal with that? Comedy is going to naturally emanate from that place," said Suckle.

Of course, every comedy troupe needs a straight man -- and as you can tell from the ads, Suckle says that's Rick Flag in Suicide Squad.

"Joel Kinnaman is a great actor," Suckle said. "Joel's presence and really being the straight man of this group and the kind of wrangling he has to do. He, like the rest of the Squad, doesn't necessarily want to be here but he works for Amanda Waller, which means he has to do whatever Amanda Waller says. Not necessarily an A-level assignment on the surface, but he's playing the parent to the class of clowns and the unruly kids, and Joel plays it beautifully. He's just got an incredible presence and has to deal with each of them in their own way because the way you would deal with Killer Croc would be completely different than the way you would talk to Harley Quinn. He has to be able to manage all those relationships and personalities, and trying to direct their energies and attitudes in a way that ultimately will get the job done, which makes his job very difficult."

It feels good to be bad…Assemble a team of the world's most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government's disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren't picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it's every man for himself?

Suicide Squad hits theaters August 5, 2016.