David Ayer's Suicide Squad

"She'll always be alive somewhere in time. Always. Just not for us." ―Flash, The Flash This article is about a project that has been canceled or has otherwise not been in production for a significant period of time.

For other uses of Suicide Squad, see Suicide Squad (disambiguation).

David Ayer's Suicide Squad
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Director(s)	David Ayer
Writer(s)	David Ayer
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David Ayer's Suicide Squad (unofficial title) is the director's original cut of Suicide Squad. There's no official plan to release it at the moment, but David Ayer confirmed there's only some VFX work to be completed in order to finish his vision, which makes it a possibility for an HBO Max release.

History

As the Snyder Cut campaign started to build steam, the hashtag #ReleaseTheAyerCut started popping up on social media in support of David Ayer's original version of the film being made available to fans. Due to negative reception to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and positive reception to early Suicide Squad trailers, Warner Bros. panicked about the more serious tone of the original movie and hired Trailer Park, the editing studio that cut together the trailers, to edit the entire theatrical version of the movie. This resulted in mixed reactions from fans and critics. While an extended cut of Suicide Squad was released, it only restored ten minutes of footage and was seen as a disappointment by many, claiming it wasn't compensation for the injustice done to the director and his original vision of Task Force X. As steam builds for Zack Snyder's original version of Justice League, however, there is growing speculation that HBO Max will release the Ayer Cut, given that it would earn them a great deal of money for a very small cost, but at this point, only time will tell.

On December 20, 2020, Zack Snyder reported in an interview that he plans to offer support for Ayer's Suicide Squad cut as soon as he's done working on his Justice League cut.

Cast

• Will Smith as Floyd Lawton/Deadshot
• Jared Leto as Joker
• Margot Robbie as Doctor Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn
• Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag
• Viola Davis as Director Amanda Waller
• Jai Courtney as Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang
• Jay Hernandez as Chato Santana/El Diablo
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon Jones/Killer Croc
• Cara Delevingne as Doctor June Moone / Enchantress
• Ike Barinholtz as Captain Hunter Griggs
• Scott Eastwood as Lieutenant GQ Edwards
• Adam Beach as Christopher Weiss/Slipknot
• Common as Monster T
• Karen Fukuhara as Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana / Enchantress
• David Harbour as Dexter Tolliver
• Jim Parrack as Jonny Frost
• Alex Meraz as Gomez
• Ciarán Hinds as Steppenwolf
• Corina Calderon as Grace Santana
• Ted Whittall as Admiral Mackenzie Olsen
• Robin Atkin Downes as Angelo
• Shailyn Pierre-Dixon as Zoe Lawton
• Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/Flash
• Alain Chanoine as Gerard Davis / Incubus
• Matt Baram as Doctor Van Criss
• James McGowan as Panda Man
• Kevin Vance as Kowalski
• Tyler Grey as Grey
• Aidan Devine as General Edwards
• Daniela Uruena as Chato Santana's Daughter
• Nicolas Uruena as Chato Santana's Son
• Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman (uncredited)

Differences from Suicide Squad

The differences aren't anywhere near as extensive as those between Justice League and Zack Snyder's Justice League, mostly impacting the tone and feel rather than the events. Some of the known differences are:

• Joker would have been present during the final battle.

The Joker after surviving the helicopter crash

• • He was to make a deal with Enchantress wherein she would make him King of Gotham.
  • He would fight alongside Enchantress and Harley would have to face him.
• Joker's helicopter escape would likely have been shown similarly to how it was detailed in the film novelization.
• A deleted scene involving Joker waiting for a government employee in their bed in order to get Van Criss Laboratories' name, as they would be able to disable the nano-bomb in Harley's neck.
• Monster T would have killed himself for offending Joker.
• Griggs' intimidation scene would have been longer, including Joker fondling Griggs' chest and kissing him.
• Members of Joker's gang who are not present in the theatrical cut would likely have appeared, including Eyeball Man, Crying Baby Man, Muscle Man, and a man wearing a light-colored burka. Some are mentioned in the novelization, but all were present during filming.
  • There was more footage of Joker's gang attacking Arkham Asylum.
• The story of Joker's damaged teeth and "Damaged" tattoo would have been explained; Batman would have beaten Joker in response to the murder of Robin, breaking his teeth, and Joker would have gotten the tattoo as a reminder to Batman of the time he lost control.

Joker holding a gun to Harley

• Harley would not have been listed as an accomplice in Robin's murder, correcting a timeline issue.
• The scene where Batman chased down Harley and the Joker would have been longer.
• Joker breaking Harley out at the conclusion of the film would have remained in the movie, but with more antagonistic behavior from the Joker, with David Ayer posting a picture of Joker screaming in Harley's face on his Instagram profile.
• Harley and Deadshot would have hooked up during the mission.

Katana is taken over by Enchantress.

• Katana would have been taken over by Enchantress during the final battle, then turned on the squad. This was shown in the trailers, with Katana's eyes going black and a magic cord tethering her to Enchantress' control as she slashes at Harley.
• Diablo would have survived the final battle.
• A scene detailing Slipknot's arrest would have been shown. Wonder Woman is the one who captured him in current canon, but she does not make an appearance in Ayer's cut.
• Rick Flag and June Moone's relationship would have been developed further.
• June Moone's discovery of the Enchantress would have been more fleshed out.
• Amanda Waller would have released Enchantress intentionally to test her powers, rather than Enchantress escaping on her own.
• The music would have been entirely score-based.
• The first scene is June Moon discovering and releasing Enchantress in a jungle location. The next scene is an extended assault on Arkham by Joker’s crew then he electroshocks Harley. There was more to the club and an argument between HQ and J in his car.

An early version of the script, as well as concept art, also had Enchantress' strings pulled by Steppenwolf, the former turning humans into Parademons instead of Eyes of the Adversary, but this was removed before filming began, and so would not appear in Ayer's version. Ayer stated on Twitter that the first 40 minutes of the film were left on the cutting room floor (though he probably didn't literally mean every second of those 40 minutes).