With a star-studded cast that includes Margot Robbie, Nathan Fillion, John Cena, and more, James Gunn's The Suicide Squad is lined up to be one of the biggest films of the summer.
Following up on David Ayer's moderately successful Suicide Squad, the Guardians of the Galaxy director has soft-rebooted the franchise into an R-Rated epic inspired by some of the biggest war films in history.
The ARGUS-led team of villains will take on Justice League antagonist Starro in a grand battle that is expected to see very few of the supervillain team live to see another appearance.
Following the recent release of the film's final trailer, director James Gunn has unveiled a look at an upcoming magazine cover that reveals new looks at the entire team, as well as some gorgeous artwork from a DC Comics legend.
MAGAZINE COVER HIGHLIGHTS THE SUICIDE SQUAD CAST
In a series of recent Tweets, The Suicide Squad director James Gunn revealed a look at an upcoming set of covers from Empire Magazine that highlight the star-studded DC cast as well as the film's villain, Starro.
The five-cover set will piece together to form one image, with the first featuring Idris Elba's Bloodsport, Daniela Melchior's Ratcatcher 2, and Flula Borg's Javelin.
Within his DC debut, James Gunn will utilize former Guardians of the Galaxy cast members Michael Rooker and Sylvester Stallone, taking on the roles of Savant and King Shark.
Meanwhile, Ant-Man actor David Dastmalchian will debut as Polka Dot Man while Jai Courtney will return as Captain Boomerang, all of whom feature on Empire's second cover.
The third piece of the puzzle highlights DC fan-favorite, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, as well as John Cena's Peacemaker, who will spin off into his HBO Max series next year.
Additionally, the cover features Weasel, a CGI character played by James Gunn's own brother Sean, as well as Pete Davidson's Blackguard.
The squad of villains is joined with ARGUS's Rick Flag in the fourth cover, as well as Alice Braga's Sol Soria, Nathan Fillion's T.D.K, and Mayling Ng's Mongal.
Finally, the fifth cover features some of the film's most mysterious characters, Peter Capaldi's Thinker, the returning Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis, and the squad's main antagonist, Starro.
When pieced together, the images showcase the blockbuster's entire main cast in action as well as its starfish-inspired supervillain, Starro.
Additionally, an alternate cover will showcase a black and white design from DC art legend Jim Lee.
HOW BIG WILL THE SUICIDE SQUAD BE?
More than ever, Gunn, DC, and Warner Bros. are putting a lot of work into the marketing of this film with regular trailers, promotional images, and social media activity from the director himself, which defiantly sets it up for great success.
After recruiting Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn during his brief period away from Marvel, Warner Bros. has certainly gone all-in with The Suicide Squad to make it the company's biggest hit yet. With a popular director, a star-studded cast, returning fan-favorites, and high-budget blockbuster action, DC's latest supervillain team-up could be the biggest film of the summer.
With no major releases surrounding its August debut, aside from Ryan Reynold's gaming-inspired epic Free Guy releasing the following week, The Suicide Squad could be set for a very profitable theatrical run. While the film is R-Rated, which previously would've been considered to hold back a release's potential viewership greatly, Joker managed to cross the billion-dollar mark with the same restriction, so nothing is out the question.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues around the world, limiting theatrical viewership, Warner Bros. won't be wholly relying on theaters to carry the film and will be dropping the highly-anticipated release on HBO Max the same day.
The Suicide Squad will hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6.
