The first day of April is almost always a minefield of jokes and fake announcements, but James Gunn delivered some new The Suicide Squad news on Thursday that was very much legit. Fresh off a whole bunch of new posters and a red band trailer from the DC film, the film officially brought a trailer to the mix as well.
Although it’s April Fool’s, the only joke here is on the supervillains who agreed to work for Amanda Waller. Brand new #TheSuicideSquad trailer which dropped last night exclusively in theaters! Meet us in theaters August 6! pic.twitter.com/FwbtANOXEX
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 1, 2021
As Gunn described on Twitter on Thursday afternoon, the trailer is no April Fool’s Day joke. And though it was already out for at least a day, in theaters likely showing Kong vs. Godzilla, not everyone is jabbed and ready to return to the big screen. And so the theatrical trailer is now on Twitter, for the rest of us to enjoy and dissect for clues about the movie’s plot and which actors are involved in which roles.
If you’ve seen the first Suicide Squad or know anything about the concept at all, part of the trailer is just recapping the whole conceit of the film. But there are some small signs of humor in the production: a mention of “suicide” and some views of the more animalistic members of the squad.
“What’s it like living life as a punchline?” a voiceover asks in the trailer, as King Shark peers into an aquarium that looks a lot like a Finding Nemo reference.
There’s also a very vibrant sequence with Harley Quinn shooting some guns while an explosion of color is set off in the background. “They’re dying to save the world” is the main catchphrase from the trailer, a juxtaposition that’s also found when John Cena, as Peacemaker, deadpans how much he “cherishes” peace and the deadly lengths he’ll go to achieve it.
As Gunn explained on Thursday, he didn’t want the two trailers to tell the same story. Hence them dropping around the same time but each having their own details and narratives in place.
I was firm in not wanting to make two trailers exactly the same. That bugs me when they do that. If we’re going to ask fans to watch TWO, let’s give them a reason to do so, focusing on different aspects of our film. #TheSuicideSquad https://t.co/PUM8vfpwG9
— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) April 1, 2021
We’ll see if this version of Suicide Squad really does work better with a “the” at the front of it when it hits theaters on August 6.