Following his firing by Disney from Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Warner Bros. almost instantly swooped in to offer James Gunn any property of his choosing. While the studio were keen to nudge him in the direction of Superman, the filmmaker settled on The Suicide Squad instead, and the reviews would indicate it was a smart choice.
As it turns out, though, one of the earliest ideas Gunn toyed with involved pitting Task Force X against the Man of Steel, which would have been fascinating to see. In the end, we discover Idris Elba’s Bloodsport has hospitalized the Big Blue Boy Scout after shooting him with a Kryptonite bullet, but in a new interview translated from German to English, The Suicide Squad‘s architect admitted he toyed with having the team fight the all-powerful superhero.
“When I started writing The Suicide Squad, one idea was that they would fight Superman. The Suicide Squad has to catch Superman for some reason. That was all, just a vague idea. It’s gotten out of hand or is being controlled by someone. And then this group of lousy super villains has to face the most powerful hero in the world.”
It’s an intriguing prospect for a number of reasons, not least of all whether it would’ve seen Henry Cavill reprise his role as the DCEU’s canonical Superman. Recent reports have claimed the actor isn’t under contract at all, and that may have informed Gunn’s thinking as he pivoted away from the concept and onto the notion of Corto Maltese and Starro.
Another roadblock may have been the R-rating, because fans are still debating Man of Steel‘s ending that saw Kal-El snap Zod’s neck eight years ago, and given the name of the film, The Suicide Squad would have required several members of the roster to meet a grisly demise at Superman’s hands, something that would have stirred up even more debate, discussion and arguments. As it stands, everyone’s perfectly happy with what we ended up with, but maybe the pitch will circle back around eventually.
