James Gunn On What Differentiates ‘The Suicide Squad’ From ‘Guardians Of The Galaxy’

Regardless of how it appears The Suicide Squad will be totally different than Guardians of the Galaxy.

James Gunn The Suicide Squad Guardians of the Galaxy

James Gunn revealed what he was most excited about when working with DC Films and how The Suicide Squad will be different than Guardians of the Galaxy.

The Suicide Squad is set to be released a month from now and the excitement surrounding the project is insurmountable. The supervillain team-up flick looks like a ton of fun and is probably the most colorful thing that DC Films has on its slate, with director James Gunn having the time of his life with the project. But with the color and fun came the comparisons to another one of Gunn’s films: Guardians of the Galaxy.

Back in 2019, Heroic Hollywood visited the set of The Suicide Squad and talked with James Gunn about how he came aboard the project as well as those Guardians of the Galaxy comparisons. “Well, I mean, it was, you know, basically DC came and said, ‘Hey, what do you want to do? Anything?’ And at first, I really honestly didn’t think it was going to be Suicide Squad,” Gunn told reporters on set. “I was playing with a few different ideas of a few different DC properties, and this was the one that just took off and I just fell in love with this particular story that we’re telling right now. And I fell in love with some of the characters and the way we can do it and being able to tell a supervillain film like this in a completely different way.”

With James Gunn helming both a Marvel and DC Comics film there were bound to be some comparisons between The Suicide Squad and Guardians of the Galaxy, but don’t worry because the two are totally different things. While on set, Gunn revealed what makes the two films different. “It really is a war film. I mean, it is just a more grounded story. It’s a sad story. And one of the most fun things I think at the end of the day, even though we do kill in Guardians of the Galaxy, in this movie, it really is about you don’t know who’s going to get killed,” said Gunn. “And I think with the Guardians, you start out sort of knowing these are, you know, guys that may have different problems, but at the end of the day, they’re all really good people. And that isn’t the case with this. This is a much more complicated story. Some of these characters may end up being good, some of them are definitely not good, and some of them – most of them — are somewhere in-between different shades of grey.”

What do you think about James Gunn’s comments? Are you worried that The Suicide Squad will be too similar to Guardians of the Galaxy? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!

You can check out the synopsis for James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad below:

Welcome to hell—a.k.a. Belle Reve, the prison with the highest mortality rate in the US of A. Where the worst Super-Villains are kept and where they will do anything to get out—even join the super-secret, super-shady Task Force X. Today’s do-or-die assignment? Assemble a collection of cons, including Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Captain Boomerang, Ratcatcher 2, Savant, King Shark, Blackguard, Javelin and everyone’s favorite psycho, Harley Quinn. Then arm them heavily and drop them (literally) on the remote, enemy-infused island of Corto Maltese. Trekking through a jungle teeming with militant adversaries and guerrilla forces at every turn, the Squad is on a search-and-destroy mission, with only Colonel Rick Flag on the ground to make them behave…and Amanda Waller’s government techies in their ears, tracking their every movement. And as always, one wrong move and they’re dead (whether at the hands of their opponents, a teammate, or Waller herself). If anyone’s laying down bets, the smart money is against them—all of them.

Written and directed by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad stars David Dastmalchian, John Cena, Jai Courtney, Joaquín Cosío, Nathan Fillion, Joel Kinnaman, Mayling Ng, Flula Borg, Sean Gunn, Juan Diego Botto, Storm Reid, Pete Davidson, Taika Waititi, Alice Braga, Steve Agee, Tinashe Kajese, Daniela Melchior, Peter Capaldi, Julio Ruiz, Jennifer Holland, Viola Davis, Idris Elba, Margot Robbie, and Michael Rooker.

The Suicide Squad is currently scheduled to hit theaters and HBO Max on August 6, 2021. Stay tuned for all the latest news on James Gunn, The Suicide Squad and be sure to subscribe to Heroic Hollywood’s YouTube channel for more original video content.

Nathaniel Brail

Nathaniel Brail

Running things at HH. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram @NateBrail