‘Suicide Squad’ Director Reveals Original ‘Justice League’ Ties and Steppenwolf Boss Fight

Suicide Squad originally contained direct ties to Justice League and would have pit the team of costumed criminals against that film’s villain, Steppenwolf (Ciarán Hinds), in its final “boss fight.”

Responding to fan inquiries on Twitter Saturday, director David Ayer noted Suicide Squad‘s big bad, witch Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), would have been under the control of a Mother Box, the immensely powerful energy matrixes sought by Apokolips’ Steppenwolf in Justice League.

The warmonger would have prepped an alien invasion of Earth with a Boom Tube, the extra-dimensional portals Steppenwolf used to transport himself and his Parademon army in Justice League, but Ayer was forced to lose those connections when story arcs belonging to the Zack Snyder-directed superhero team-up “evolved.”

In a subsequent tweet, Ayer said Steppenwolf was “the original boss fight,” replacing the climax battle that saw Deadshot (Will Smith), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and the Squad do battle with Enchantress and brother Incubus (Alain Chanoine, Robin Atkin Downes).

Yet another tweet confirmed Enchantress’ nondescript minions — corrupted civilians transformed into alien-like creatures — were originally supposed to be Parademons, the flying foot soldiers first glimpsed in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Ayer, who previously defended Suicide Squad more heavily, has since walked back some of his comments — previously reiterating on Twitter that the released film was “very different from original assembly.”

In a series of September tweets, Ayer remarked Harley’s arc was “vastly simplified” in the version of Suicide Squad released to theaters, before writing directors today are “treated as figureheads and actually have very little say over the final product. We just don’t talk about it.”

A 2016 exposé by THR reported trailer cutting company Trailer Park assembled a different cut for Warner Bros. that strayed from Ayer’s original vision, and that multiple editors were involved in forging the version of Suicide Squad ultimately released to theaters.

Ayer appeared to again back away from ownership of the critically-mauled film and hint at his changed stance on Suicide Squad in a telling Nov. 23 tweet. When asked about his thought process for the “awful outcome” of Suicide Squad, Ayer replied: “This was my thought process: Ahhhhhhhhhhwtf!!?? Got it?”

Studio Warner Bros.’ oft-talked about invasive involvement is frequently pointed to as one of the weights that sunk Justice League, handed over to The Avengers writer-director Joss Whedon after Snyder had to step away from the project following a family tragedy.

Aquaman director James Wan, meanwhile, has since said he was allowed his freedom on the Justice League spinoff centered around the aquatic superhero portrayed by star Jason Momoa.

Ayer has long been attached to Suicide Squad spinoff Gotham City Sirens, said to center around Harley Quinn and Batman baddies Catwoman and Poison Ivy. Development on that project has been quiet — Robbie next headlines Birds of Prey (and the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) — and Warner Bros. has yet to stake a release date for Ayer’s Squad followup.