James Gunn delivers message to Marvel and DC fans as 'The Suicide Squad' assemble for photo

James Gunn has kicked off production on The Suicide Squad and marked the occasion with a string of social media posts.

The director started by sharing a collage book filled with pictures from his time making the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, which was a gift from various members of the Marvel Studios team.

“Starting production on #TheSuicideSquad, I received perhaps the coolest & sweetest start-of-production gift ever, along with a note of how excited they are for the movie from Kevin, Lou, Victoria, Mary & Jonathan at @marvelstudios,” he tweeted.

“They made me this incredible scrapbook of our journey so far on #GuardiansoftheGalaxy. It’s a thick tome packed with memories that brought a tear to my eye.”

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Gunn will be returning to direct Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 after completing work on The Suicide Squad. He took this opportunity to try and bridge the divide between Marvel and DC fans.

“As I’ve said so many times, at the end of the day, Marvel & DC fans have a lot more in common than they do not (sic),” he tweeted. “I am now & have been for almost all my life, both.

“Maybe you like one more than the other - that’s cool - but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy them all or that you have to tear the other down.

“I know I & my partners at both Marvel & DC believe what’s good for one studio is generally good for all: spurring each other on daily with heartfelt, spectacular & innovative entertainment that keeps audiences around the world loving movies based on or inspired by sequential art.”

Continuing the Marvel and DC solidarity, Gunn was joined by Mantis actor Pom Klementieff with his new squad of antiheroes.

Daniela Melchior, Peter Safran, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Steve Agee, Maling Ng, Pete Davidson, Sean Gunn, Joel Kinnaman, Flula Borg, and Nathan Fillion could be seen with Gunn and Klementieff in the photos taken after a screening of Joker and posted to Instagram and Twitter.

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The filmmaker had revealed the ensemble cast a few weeks earlier which means Idris Elba, Peter Capaldi, John Cena, Michael Rooker, Taika Waititi, David Dastmalchian, Storm Reid, Alice Braga, Joaquín Cosío, Juan Diego Botto, Tinashe Kajese, Julio Ruiz, Jennifer Holland, and Viola Davis may not be filming just yet.

Robbie, Courtney, Kinnaman and Davis will be reprising their roles as Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Rick Flag and Amanda Waller, respectively, while the other actor’s roles are yet to be confirmed, though it has been reported that Dastmachian will play Polka-Dot Man, Cena will play Peacemaker, Melchior will play Ratcatcher and Agee will play King Shark.

We know King Shark will be in the movie because Gunn himself confirmed it. Responded to a comment on Instagram, the filmmaker revealed his approach to the story and how he would be bringing together the best bits of the original ‘80s comic books, created by John Ostrander and Kim Yale, and the later ones featuring different villains.

“Ostrander in the 80’s introduced the idea of the Dirty Dozen with disposable, second rate supervillains (sic),” he said. “King Shark didn’t enter the team till the 2000’s.

“Our movie takes elements from all those timelines but is especially indebted to Ostrander (and Kim Yale).”

The Suicide Squad is expected for release on August 6th, 2021.