James Gunn Reveals if Batman Will Appear in The Suicide Squad

Man fans are eager to see what James Gunn has in store for his superhero movie debut in the DC Comics universe, and the director will be doing some sort of reboot or sequel of The Suicide Squad, depending on who you ask. It’s all confusing at this point because Idris Elba is one of the main characters in the ensemble film, but there are also returning actors like Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, meaning there’s some continuation from the previous film.

And because of that, fans are wondering if Batman will appear in the film, especially now that the character has been re-cast with Robert Pattinson under the cowl for the upcoming solo film The Batman. Well, James Gunn has some bad news for those who are hoping for an appearance from Batman, as he explained in his Instagram story.

“You can check out Batman in #TheBatman, June 2021. #TheSuicideSquad will feature mostly, you know, The Suicide Squad,” Gunn wrote in response to one fan basically heckling him to include the Caped Crusader.

Now, this isn’t a definitive denial that Batman will not be included in the film, but it seems highly unlikely considering this is a soft reboot of the concept that will seemingly take place in the same continuity — given all of the actors returning for Gunn’s movie — but that a much younger version of Batman has been cast in the film. Sliding timelines be damned, it just wouldn’t make sense.

Gunn was asked to specify if The Suicide Squad was actually a reboot or a sequel, and he dodged the question and cautioned fans to wait and see.

“You know, these terms are all so narrow. There are so many terms,” Gunn explained to Entertainment Tonight. “It is what it is. You’ll see in two years when it comes out.”

Producer Peter Safran spoke with JoBlo on the press tour for Aquaman and went against Gunn’s assertions, claiming it’s an all-out reboot.

“First of all, we don’t call it Suicide Squad 2 ’cause it’s a total reboot,” Safran explained. “So it’s The Suicide Squad and I think people should be extremely excited about it. It’s everything you would hope from a James Gunn script and I think that says a lot and that promises a lot and I know that we will deliver a lot.”

The Suicide Squad is set to premiere in theaters on August 6, 2021.