The Suicide Squad Hits the Beach in Latest Look at James Gunn's DC Movie

The Suicide Squad is beach-body ready in the latest look at the newest not-so-super heroes from Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn. A new photo from Fandango's 2021 Summer Movie Preview shows the armored assassin Bloodsport (Idris Elba), the peace-keeping Peacemaker (John Cena), ex-exterminator Ratcatcher 2 (Daniela Melchior), the pessimistic Polka-Dot Man (David Dastmalchian), and the shorts-wearing, man-eating King Shark (voice of Sylvester Stallone) on the shores of the dictator-controlled Corto Maltese, where the Task Force X recruits join Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) on a mission handed down by all-seeing Amanda Waller (Viola Davis).

"This one is completely unique," producer Peter Safran said in a sizzle reel released during last year's virtual DC FanDome event. "This is a gritty, 1970s war movie combined with the brilliance of James Gunn's characters and comedy."

Gunn's ensemble of expendable Task Force X recruits — which includes Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), T.D.K. (Nathan Fillion), Weasel (Sean Gunn), Mongal (Mayling Ng), Javelin (Flula Borg), Blackguard (Pete Davidson), and Savant (Michael Rooker) — are up against the forces of dictator Silvio Luna (Juan Diego Botto) and his right-hand man Mateo Suarez (Joaquín Cosío) in the action-comedy Gunn teases is an "explosion extravaganza."

"I cannot confirm the exact amount of explosions and crashes, but I will say that we have about as many explosions and crashes in this film as in any film ever," Gunn said during DC FanDome. "In fact, the guy who did all of our special effects on this film — Dan Sudick, who has done almost all of the Marvel movies, great movies — says there are more effects in this film than all of those movies he's done combined. So we have a huge special effect explosion extravaganza for you guys."

Welcome to hell — a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today's do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone's favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and- destroy mission with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave...and Amanda Waller's government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they're dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone's laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

The Suicide Squad releases in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6.