James Gunn Reveals Warner Bros Said He Could Kill Anyone He Wants In Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad director James Gunn has revealed that Warner Bros. Pictures gave him free rein to kill any characters in the film that he wanted to. That’s a pretty big blank check to hand any director – but especially the twisted mind behind Super, The Belko Experiment and Guardians of the Galaxy. Gunn has repeatedly shown that he will gladly stick a dagger in fans’ collective hearts and twist the knife, by killing off beloved characters (We are still Groot!). That’s an ominous legacy to have in a movie like The Suicide Squad, which is chock-full of DC Comics characters – many of whom are the epitome of the word “expendable.”

Here’s what James Gunn told Games Radar about the carte blanche attitude Warner Bros. had about him killing off characters in The Suicide Squad:

“They said I could keep [all the characters] or do away with them all,” Gunn recalls. “I could do a completely new squad – which I considered – and they said, ‘You can kill anyone.’ Warner were pretty much on board [with the story] from the beginning – it was pretty much firmly in place from the inception of me taking on the project. They were very trusting of me throughout the entire process, almost to the degree to which I was frightened, because it really is all me, 100 per cent – there’s no one to blame if something goes wrong, except for myself!”

There’s no mystery why a statement like this from Gunn is resonating and getting a lot of attention right now. Moviegoers have seen the trailers and promos for The Suicide Squad, along with the long marquee of big stars that are in the movie. That includes Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Idris Elba (Bloodsport), John Cena (Peacemaker), Sylvester Stallone (King Shark’s voice), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Pete Davidson (Blackguard), Michael Rooker (Savant), Nathan Fillion (T.D.K.) and Sean Gunn (Weasel). Killing any of those actors and/or characters onscreen would be enough to give a lot of comic book movie fans a shock; James Gunn can literally wipe all of them out, one at a time, and probably will annihilate about 60-80% of the names mentioned above.

So what would be the biggest shock Gunn could throw at fans? Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn has been largely carrying the DC Movie franchise for the last half-decade – seeing her die in The Suicide Squad would be a major twist. Idris Elba dying would be a major mind-screw to his legion of fans – and John Cena’s Peacemaker would also be a twist, as he already has a spinoff series in the works (albeit a prequel series).

Who are you placing your bets on to survive The Suicide Squad? Let us know in the comments!

The Suicide Squad hits theaters and HBO Max on August 6th.