David Ayer's Suicide Squad

"She'll always be alive somewhere in time. Always. Just not for us." ―Flash, The Flash This article is about a project that has been canceled or has otherwise not been in production for a significant period of time.

David Ayer's Suicide Squad, also known as the Ayer Cut, is the director's original cut of Suicide Squad.

David Ayer confirmed there's only some VFX work to be completed in order to finish his vision. Although Ann Sarnoff, the then-head of Warner Bros. claimed that the film would not be put into production, the appointed co-head of DC Studios James Gunn later stated that they were keeping their options open regarding the calls for the release of the film.

On January 4, 2024, Ayer announced that he is no longer pursuing calls for his cut to be released.

History[]

As the Snyder Cut campaign started to build steam, the hashtag #ReleaseTheAyerCut started popping up on social media in support of David Ayer's original version of the film being made available to fans. Due to negative reception to Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and positive reception to early Suicide Squad trailers, Warner Bros. panicked about the more serious tone of the original movie and hired Trailer Park, the editing studio that cut together the trailers, to edit the entire theatrical version of the movie. This resulted in mixed reactions from fans and critics. While an extended cut of Suicide Squad was released, it only restored ten minutes of footage and was seen as a disappointment by many, claiming it wasn't compensation for the injustice done to the director and his original vision of Task Force X.

As steam built up for Zack Snyder's original version of Justice League, however, there is growing speculation that Max will release the Ayer Cut, given that it would earn them a great deal of money for a very small cost, but at this point, only time will tell.

On December 20, 2020, Zack Snyder reported in an interview that he plans to offer support for Ayer's Suicide Squad cut as soon as he's done working on his Justice League cut.^[2]

On March 22, 2021, in an interview with Variety, Ann Sarnoff, the Warner Media Studios CEO stated that they would not be developing David Ayer's Cut.^[3]

On July 29, 2021, on the eve of the release of The Suicide Squad, David Ayer revealed that Lee Smith had edited his cut of Suicide Squad. Lee Smith previously edited the The Dark Knight Trilogy movies under Christopher Nolan.^[4] Ayer also publicly expressed he is "done" talking about the director's cut of the film.

On July 3, 2021, Joel Kinnaman, John Cena and Mayling Ng called for the cut to release. Hours later, Margot Robbie called for it to be released.

On Feb. 10, 2022, Variety released an interview clip of Will Smith giving his verbal support for the release of the Ayer Cut.^[5]

On Feb. 16, 2022, a clip of the Joker berating Harley Quinn was leaked.

On April 10, 2022, TVLine reported that during a Q&A with Jay Hernandez, the actor reaffirmed his support for the cut's possible release. According to Hernandez, co-stars like Leto and Kinnaman and everyone else that he'd talked to were in full support of the release. Hernandez suggested that a streamer like HBO Max should release the cut. TVLine further contacted an HBO Max representative who stated that there were no plans currently to release the cut.^[6]

On October 6, 2022, a fan who ran a Twitter account called ReleaseTheAyerCut was apparently allowed to watch the film on David Ayer's computer. According to the fan, the cut was complete in terms of timeline and sound though it possibly needed a little bit of Visual FX work. The following day, Ayer confirmed the fan's claims that he had been allowed access to the film.^[7]

On November 7, 2022, James Gunn, the new co-head of DC Studios tweeted his acknowledgement of the many calls for releasing the cut as well as fan support for other DC projects, stating that his and Peter Safran's goal would be first and foremost focused on the unfolding new story of the DCU, but that they were open to listening to ideas.^[8]

On August 7, 2023, Ayer confirmed that James Gunn has spoken to him about releasing the cut, stating "it would have it’s time to be shared."^[9]

On January 4, 2024, Ayer announced he is no longer presuring a release of his directors cut, citing "Nothing about the situation feels good" ^[10]

Cast[]

• Will Smith as Floyd Lawton/Deadshot
• Jared Leto as Joker
• Margot Robbie as Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn
• Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag
• Viola Davis as Amanda Waller
• Jai Courtney as Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang
• Jay Hernandez as Chato Santana/El Diablo
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon Jones/Killer Croc
• Cara Delevingne as June Moone / Enchantress
• Ike Barinholtz as Hunter Griggs
• Scott Eastwood as GQ Edwards
• Adam Beach as Christopher Weiss/Slipknot
• Common as Monster T
• Karen Fukuhara as Tatsu Yamashiro/Katana / Enchantress
• David Harbour as Dexter Tolliver
• Jim Parrack as Jonny Frost
• Alex Meraz as Gomez
• Corina Calderon as Grace Santana
• Ted Whittall as Mackenzie Olsen
• Robin Atkin Downes as Angelo
• Shailyn Pierre-Dixon as Zoe Lawton
• Ezra Miller as Barry Allen/Flash
• Alain Chanoine as Gerard Davis / Incubus
• Matt Baram as Van Criss
• James McGowan as Panda Man
• Kevin Vance as Kowalski
• Tyler Grey as Grey
• Aidan Devine as General Edwards
• Daniela Uruena as Martina Santana
• Nicolas Uruena as Daniel Santana
• Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne/Batman (uncredited)

Differences from Suicide Squad[]

The differences aren't anywhere near as extensive as those between Justice League and Zack Snyder's Justice League, mostly impacting the tone and feel rather than the events. Some of the known differences are:

• The music would have been entirely score-based - no "radio songs."^[11]
• The first scene is June Moone discovering and releasing Enchantress in a jungle location. The next scene is an extended assault on Arkham Asylum by Joker's crew then he electroshocks Harley. There was more to the club and an argument between Harley and Joker in his car.^[12]
  • June Moone's discovery of the Enchantress would have been more fleshed out.
• The story of Joker's damaged teeth and "Damaged" tattoo would have been explained; Batman would have beaten Joker in response to the murder of Robin, breaking his teeth, and Joker would have gotten the tattoo as a reminder to Batman of the time he lost control.
• Members of Joker's gang who are not present in the theatrical cut would likely have appeared, including Eyeball Man and Crying Baby Man who showed up in the first trailer; Muscle Man, and a man wearing a light-colored burka. Some are mentioned in the novelization, but all were present during filming and can be seen in behind the scenes videos.
  • There was more footage of Joker's gang attacking Arkham Asylum.^[13]
• Monster T would have killed himself for offending Joker - the easy way out.
• The scene where Batman chased down Harley and the Joker would have been longer.
• Harley would not have been listed as an accomplice in Robin's murder, correcting a timeline issue.
• A scene detailing Slipknot's arrest would have been shown. Wonder Woman was rumored to be the one who captured him in current canon, but she does not make an appearance in Ayer's cut.^[14]
• Griggs' intimidation scene would have been longer, including Joker fondling Griggs' chest and kissing him.
• There would be a scene involving Joker waiting for a government employee, Judge Witman, in his bed in order to get Van Criss Laboratories' name, as they would be able to disable the nano-bomb in Harley's neck.
• Rick Flag and June Moone's relationship would have been developed further.
• Amanda Waller would have released Enchantress intentionally to test her powers, rather than Enchantress escaping on her own.
• Killer Croc would have started a conversation with Deadshot about doing some jobs later in Gotham City, revealing that he had secretly contracted Deadshot to deliver an important man's heart in the past.
• Harley and Deadshot would have hooked up during the mission.
• Enchantress' magical powers seem to be more colorful.
• Katana would have been taken over by Enchantress during the final battle, then turned on the squad. This was shown in the trailers, with Katana's eyes going black and a magic cord tethering her to Enchantress' control as she slashes at Harley.
  • Killer Croc would follow suit, being controlled by Enchantress, but is later freed by Harley.
• Joker would have been present during the final battle.
  • He was to make a deal with Enchantress wherein she would make him King of Gotham. Joker would plan to march on Gotham with Enchantress' army, then make Batman his vice president.
  • Amanda Waller would have been strung up in the room of the final battle, and Joker would have entered with her detonator.^[15]
  • He would fight alongside Enchantress and Harley would have to face him.
• Diablo would have survived the final battle.
• Joker breaking Harley out at the conclusion of the film would have included more antagonistic behavior from the Joker, with David Ayer posting a picture of Joker screaming in Harley's face on his Instagram profile. Joker would have pointed his gun at her.

An early version of the script, as well as concept art, also had Enchantress' strings pulled by Steppenwolf, the former turning humans into parademons instead of Eyes of the Adversary, but this was removed before filming began as the stories of Suicide Squad and Justice League fell into place, and so would not appear in Ayer's version.^[16]

Ayer stated on Twitter that the first 40 minutes of the film were left on the cutting room floor (though he probably didn't literally mean every second of those 40 minutes).^[17]

References[]