James Gunn Reread “Every Single” Suicide Squad Comic Before Starting Development

Making comic book movies can be a tricky thing for many reasons, one of them being that they frequently are telling stories with beloved characters that not only have rich, sometimes complicated histories but devoted fans expecting filmmakers and actors to get things just right. That can mean a lot of research on the part of writers and directors and when it comes to the upcoming The Suicide Squad, James Gunn certainly put in plenty of that, going so far as to read “every single Suicide Squad comic” before he started working on the film’s script.

During a question and answer session on Instagram Monday night, Gunn revealed that before he even began working on the story for The Suicide Squad, he went back and reread the comics — all of them, apparently — as part of his research for the film.

“Well before writing Suicide Squad I reread every single Suicide Squad comic,” Gunn said in response to a fan who asked how much research he does before writing the script for a movie.

Going back and rereading every single issue is something that would certainly give Gunn a lot to work with in terms of stories and understanding of the characters. It also is something that shows his dedication to the project and Gunn’s overall dedication to his work is something that WWE star John Cena recently praised. While Cena’s role in The Suicide Squad remains a mystery, Cena told Collider in January that Gunn’s dedication is something that he genuinely admired and impressed him.

“You want to work with people who jump out of bed every day and want to go to work,” Cena said. “[Gunn] is the epitome of that. He cares so much about what he’s doing and I think especially when he’s put in a position to write, develop, and do this by his rules essentially. He chose the franchise. He kind of dictated his terms and now he’s really betting on himself and I hope everybody enjoys seeing it as much as we’re enjoying making it because it’s awesome.”

Gunn’s film is expected to earn an R-rating. The film is a follow-up, but not a sequel, to David Ayer’s 2016 Suicide Squad movie. In addition to Cena, the film’s cast also includes returning stars Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag) and Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), and newcomers Peter Capaldi, Idris Elba, Michael Rooker, Nathan Fillion, Sean Gunn, David Dastmalchian, Storm Reid, Pete Davidson, and Taika Waititi.

The Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 6, 2021. Other upcoming DC Films movies include Wonder Woman 1984 on June 5th, The Batman on June 25, 2021, Black Adam on December 22, 2021, Shazam! 2 on April 1, 2022, Super Pets on May 20, 2022, The Flash on July 1, 2022, and Aquaman 2 on December 16, 2022.