Suicide Squad Director David Ayer Wanted a Different Opening Scene

David Ayer intended for his Suicide Squad movie to open differently. The director has been interacting with fans via Twitter ever since Warner Bros. announced Zack Snyder’s Justice League will land on HBO Max in 2021. One fan mentioned to Ayer that they appreciated how the government seemed aware of the existence of superpowered beings in the film. The fan assumed that Ayer intended to begin the movie with a three-minute sequence showing June Moone discovering Enchantress before the opening credits rolled. Ayer said that was indeed the case, also stating that “Enchantress / June Moone were more solidly arced out in my cut.”

Suicide Squad underwent extensive reshoots before it opened theaters in 2016. The Snyder Cut announcement has fueled fans’ hopes that Ayer’s original vision for the film will see the light of day. Ayer seems skeptical.

“It is simply not my call or my IP,” Ayer tweeted. “I love WB – it’s always been my’ home studio’ I fully respect and support the incredible path the DCU is taking under their stewardship. My cut of Suicide Squad may always be just a rumor. And that’s just fine.”

The director did reveal some of the changes made between his version of the film and the theatrical release. He wanted Diablo to survive the movie, and Deadshot and Harley Quinn to fall for each other. There was also a cut scene where Joker drove Tattoo Man to suicide. Despite the changes, Ayer backed the theatrical cut of the film at the time it opened in theaters.

“This cut of the movie is my cut. There’s no sort of parallel universe version of the movie, the released movie is my cut,” Ayer said in 2017. “And that’s one of the toughest things about writing, shooting, and directing a film, is you end up with these orphans and you f—ing love them and you think they’d be amazing scenes and do these amazing things but the film is a dictatorship, not a democracy, and just because something’s cool and charismatic doesn’t mean it gets to survive in the final cut. The flow of the movie is the highest master.”

Warner Bros. hired James Gunn to take a new approach to DC Comics team in The Suicide Squad. Margot Robbie will return as Harley Quinn along with a few other stars from the original film, but those involved say the film is not a sequel to Ayer’s movie. The Suicide Squad opens in theaters on August 21, 2021.