The Suicide Squad Trailer Reveals Bloodsport Put Superman in ICU with Kryptonite Bullet

When James Gunn told us several months ago that The Suicide Squad is “less sentimental” than Guardians of the Galaxy, he wasn’t kidding. You can see that for yourself by watching the latest trailer for The Suicide Squad.

While the latest round of sizzle reel footage is not as foul-mouthed or gruesome as the early red-band trailer we got—which featured King Shark, an anthropomorphic Great White, eating a man whole—the new trailer reveals we’ll be diving deeper into DC Extended Universe lore. Hence at the very top, Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller coolly intones, “Robert DuBois. He’s in prison for putting Superman in the ICU with a kryptonite bullet.”

James Gunn has hinted about this before—including to us when he said “how cool is that?” about the kryptonite bullet. But as he added, “Also what a dick.” 

We’re getting quite a bit of Idris Elba as Bloodsport, alias DuBois, in the new trailer as well, with a focus on the character’s family life taking centerstage as he’s reluctantly recruited into joining Waller’s team. On the surface, the character may resemble some of the background details of Will Smith’s Deadshot in the first Suicide Squad movie, however there’s something more tragic and pronounced about this DC baddie.

“He’s the unsentimental portrayal of a 1960s action hero but without the moral repercussions of those characters,” Gunn previously said. Drawing parallels between the character and Steve McQueen in The Great Escape (1963), Gunn thinks he’s the stoic alpha who’s torn apart by the promises he’s kept… and the ones he hasn’t.

And something delightful we’ve been repeatedly promised by the trailers, including the one below, is Starro the intergalactic alien creature from early comic book lore who, among his other things, is able to dissemble himself into smaller facehugger-sized creatures that can take control of their victims. In the latest trailer, he’s seen as a giant Godzilla-like beast of destruction, throwing King Shark away like he were a goldfish. But rest assured, the character  is one of the main villains of the film and Gunn says we will see things from Starro’s point-of-view. Presumably via some twisted gag.

Watching the new trailer, it’s interesting to note how the movie unapologetically echoes elements of the 2016 Suicide Squad movie directed by David Ayer. There’s another subplot about an imprisoned villain with a daughter; a sequence where Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag introduces the Squad to a strange new character—here a child-kiling CGI creature named Weasel.

But then it’s worth remembering Gunn is quick to praise aspects of Ayer’s movie. He doesn’t mind taking what he likes from it, including stellar casting choices, not least of which includes Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. But if there’s any doubt that he’s not making it is own, only look at how the trailer ends with King Shark, voiced by Sylvester Stallone, being distracted by a birdie. Yeah, this is going to be weird. Thank Kal-El.

The Suicide Squad opens in theaters and on HBO Max on Aug. 6.