James Gunn Defends Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad 2 From Haters
The Suicide Squad director James Gunn hits back against allegations that Warner Bros. forced him to include Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the film.
The Suicide Squad director James Gunn defended the decision to include Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn in the upcoming DC Extended Universe movie. The character will be among a select few from 2016's Suicide Squad set to appear in Gunn's interpretation of Task Force X, scheduled to hit theaters on August 6, 2021.
The Suicide Squad went through a number of changes and options when it came to the director's chair. David Ayer was originally set to return but dropped out in December 2016. The Accountant and Warrior director Gavin O'Connor was then hired by Warner Bros. but he too left the project. James Gunn, fresh off being fired by Disney, was signed in January 2019 and given full creative control of The Suicide Squad.
That creative control included the right for Gunn to include any characters he wanted in The Suicide Squad. In addition to a number of obscure DC villains, The Suicide Squad will also feature one of its most well-known in Harley Quinn. When a fan's comment on James Gunn's Instagram post suggested that Warner Bros. was forcing Gunn to feature Harley in the movie, the director delivered a stern defense. See the exchange, below:
Harley Quinn is among a handful of characters from Suicide Squad returning for The Suicide Squad. The others include Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman), Captain Boomerang (Jai Courtney), and Amanda Waller (Viola Davis). But there is no denying that Harley Quinn is the most popular and Margot Robbie's performance was one of the few bright spots in the 2016 film. The Suicide Squad will mark her third big-screen performance following 2020's Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).
James Gunn has made it clear that The Suicide Squad is very much his movie. Shooting down another hater on Instagram proves once again that Gunn and Warner Bros. were on the same page from the start. Given the studio's public relations nightmare when it comes to meddling with directors' vision, Gunn has indicated that those days are a thing of the past. His defense of Harley Quinn and praise for Margot Robbie also reinforce his collaborative spirit and willingness to fight for those he works with.
DC Comics added Harley Quinn to the Suicide Squad in 2011, so her inclusion was never merely just an attempt at attracting mainstream audiences. And while Gunn has cited the work of John Ostrander in the 1980s as an influence on his film, it combines a number of characters who appear in later iterations of Task Force X, including Harley Quinn. The combined passion of Gunn and Robbie for Harley Quinn should assure fans that she will fit seamlessly in The Suicide Squad and continue to stand out in future DCEU projects.
Source: James Gunn/Instagram