Despite the divisive reception to 2016’s Suicide Squad, the addition of former Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn as the brains behind Task Force X this time has the sequel suddenly on everyone’s radar.
We also know this will be an almost totally new cast, with the exception of Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, and possibly Viola Davis as Amanda Waller. And now it looks like the original film’s co-lead, Will Smith, is jumping ship, according to a report form Variety. With no Deadshot in the mix, who will now become the male co-lead alongside Harley? We think there are several villains in the DC Universe who would fit the bill perfectly for a James Gunn-directed Suicide Squad movie, and here are our top five picks:
Deathstroke
This one’s pretty much a no-brainer. WB already has a perfect Deathstroke already in Joe Manganiello, who was introduced in the end credits tag in Justice League, and no vehicle to use him in. He serves much the same purpose as Deadshot, as they are both deadly mercenaries that fudge the line between villain and anti-hero. Plus, we think he’d have great chemistry with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Maybe the only drawback is that it’s a bit too close to Deadshot.
Bizarro
DC and Warner Bros. seem to have no current plans to use Superman any time soon (which we think is silly); but if not Kal-El, how about his big dumb lug of a clone, B-Zero? (Or, if you prefer, just Bizarro.) James Gunn’s sense of humor would be a perfect fit for the dimwitted Superman clone, and he we could see him almost as a sort of “pet” for Harley Quinn. Oh, and if Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy buddy Dave Bautista wants to play Bizarro, we wouldn’t hate that casting choice.
Captain Cold
The original Suicide Squad had Captain Boomerang as one of its members, but if you ask us, he didn’t leave a huge impression. So how about another Captain who is a member of Flash’s Rogue’s Gallery: Leonard Snart, a.k.a. Captain Cold. As fans of the TV version of the Flash know, Cold is deadly, but also snarky and kind of lovable in a weird way. We think he could be perfect for the male lead, as the guy who rolls his eyes constantly at all of Harley’s craziness.
Bane
Bane was played rather famously by Tom Hardy in The Dark Knight Rises (and less famously by wrestler Robert Swensen in Batman and Robin). But we’ve never had a comics-accurate version of the villain, who in the pages of Batman, is a Latin-American character from the fictional country of Santa Prisca. While Hardy’s Bane was super serious, we think Gunn would excel at a more comedic version of the character. And if he’s not used as Bizarro, the Dave Bautista would also be perfect as Bane.
Lobo
People keep wondering when the alien bounty hunter and all-around badass Lobo is going to show up on the big screen, and we think Suicide Squad might be the perfect opportunity to introduce “the Main Man” into the DCEU. The intergalactic mercenary has the right amount of black humor ingrained in him to fit exactly in James Gunn’s wheelhouse. He might be a little too crazy himself to counter balance Harley as a lead character, but it could also be the exact ingredient for a super fun movie.
Images: Warner Brother / DC Comics