Superman was almost the villain in The Suicide Squad

The suicide squad introduced many characters who hadn’t had the chance to shine onscreen, Peacemaker To Polka Dot Man. But perhaps the biggest surprise for DC fans was seeing Starro The Conqueror as the villain who the squad is fighting. James Gunn has proven that a giant starfish can actually be quite intimidating – and its inadvertent inclusion gave the very timely message that if you just cover your damn face, you won’t die (… of having Starro’s hugs sucking on your face to mentally control you). However, he it appears that Gunn initially wanted a very different “villain” to face the team: Superman.

During the podcast Script apart, The suicide squadThe writer and director of explained how, before choosing Starro as the villain, he thought the Suicide Squad should fight Superman. He thought he would “a very interesting story.” Ultimately, he gave up on the idea when he realized Starro would make a much better villain to fight.t. “When I invented Starro, he’s a character I love in comics. I think he’s the perfect comic book character because absolutely ridiculous but he’s also very scary in his own way,” he said. he explained.

Gunn read the comics growing up and remembers thinking that Starro and his mind control powers were terrifying at the time. “What he’s doing is scary,” Gunn said. “He used to scare me when I was a kid, putting those hugs on Superman and Batman and stuff. So I thought he was one of DC’s major villains that was probably never going to be put in another movie. And if they did, they would do it like the dark cloud version of Starro. Not a giant walking starfish, a bright pink and cerulean blue kaiju, just a ridiculously tall and shiny villain.

Having Superman as a villain wouldn’t be a bad thing; if anything, it would be to feel reminiscent of criticism acclaimed Harley quinn animated series. But Starro forces the team to prove their abilities, with an intense and highly entertaining one-on-one in the final moments of the film.