David Ayer hoped to include Steppenwolf in his cut of Suicide Squad that WB sabotaged
The 2015-2017 period is a dark spot in DC film’s history. Troubled by the reception they received by Batman Vs Superman, they thought that the only way to make money was to follow Marvel’s family-friendly approach. They thought David Ayer’s Suicide Squad wouldn’t connect with the audience so they took matters into their own hands with his movie, let’s take a look at how it all unfolded.
Watch: SUICIDE SQUAD Ayer Cut Breakdown
Warner Bros’ initial plans for the DCEU
Hard to believe but Warner Brother studios actually had a well-thought-out plan on creating their interconnected cinematic universe. Starting with Man of Steel, the plan was to introduce Batman in Batman vs Superman. Then gradually we will be introduced to other members in the Justice League, which was supposed to be a 3 part movie trilogy, rivaling epics like Lord of the rings.
And along with a plan for the superheroes, DC had also planned along with Zack Snyder on for the villains. Joker was meant to be introduced in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad while other antiheroes were to be introduced in other solo movies. King Orm from Aquaman, Doctor Poison from Wonder Woman, Deathstroke from Batman, and Lex Luthor were supposed to form an Injustice League in Justice League 2 & 3.
What was David Ayer’s Suicide Squad actually meant to be?
According to David Ayer, his version of Suicide Squad was meant to be a lot darker, grimmer, and a heavy movie in terms of tone and story. The film was also meant to be heavily reliant on the score, instead of pop songs which we see in the theatrical release. He had even mentioned on his Twitter account that the studio took out the first 40 minutes of his cut, which drastically changes the tone of the film. The Cut parts were supposed to feature long backstories for all the characters including Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Diablo, and others.
The studio even cut out a lot of a portion of Jared Leto’s Joker, which was originally supposed to be around 30 minutes’ worth of footage. That’s why the Joker’s part in the Suicide Squad seems like an extended cameo at best. David Ayer confirmed that Justice League villain Steppenwolf would also make an appearance in the final battle against the squad.
One more change was that EL Diablo was not supposed to die. As we can see from all the things the studio cut out, Ayer’s Suicide Squad was meant to be something entirely different. “I know it’s a controversial film, I really tried to make something different, with a look and feel of its own,” the director says.
However, after the release of Zack Snyder’s four-hour cut of Justice League, the landscape of Hollywood has changed forever. Now directors can revisit their older cuts and make improvements or re-edit them without studio interference, with the vision they originally envisioned for their film. It is a sad reality in Hollywood that studios interfere so much with a creative vision of a director. Let’s hope #ReleaseTheAyerCut is as successful as #ReleaseTheSnyderCut.
