(There will be spoilers for “Suicide Squad” below.)
Nearly every movie, of course, has a bevy of deleted scenes. Not all deleted scenes are created equal. Some movies are improved by the omission of important scenes, and others end up hampered.
Like “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” before it, “Suicide Squad” is a movie that has left a lot of audience members scratching their heads simply because it feels like something’s missing.
It’s a feeling that can be difficult to articulate without greater context. With “Batman v Superman,” that context was provided by an extended cut that reincorporated a lot of “glue” scenes — the kind of stuff that can seem small on their own but, as part of a whole, end up holding the whole thing together.
We might end up with a similar situation with “Suicide Squad,” should Warner Bros. decide to release an extended version on video. But that’s a discussion for a different day.
For now, we can look at a list compiled by a redditor of scenes (via Heroic Hollywood) that were in trailers or reported by test screening audiences that ended up not being in the theatrically released cut. It’s not comprehensive — this list is largely Joker-focused. Still, it’s worth examining, even though much of this stuff is unconfirmed and should be taken with a grain of salt until you see the scenes in question with your own eyes.
Here’s the rundown:
“In early cuts, the movie’s opening detailed June Moon’s possession by Enchantress in real tome. Reshoots reshuffled the scene to be later in the movie in flashback form in favour of a new opening centered on Deadshot.”
“Deadshot in the prison cell, watching the rain fall and thinking about his daughter.”
“El Diablo observing the flame of a lit match, before putting it out due to his vow to no longer use his powers.”
“El Diablo being escorted to a training center by being placed in a tube that fills with water to quell his flames, and then unceremoniously dropped onto the ground.”
“Early interviews showed Captain Boomerang’s racism and sexism, but the movie is light on examples of such behavior, which have apparently been deleted. Most of them were reportedly directed at Katana, to whom Boomerang is attracted to.”
“Early reports indicated more backstory for Killer Croc, revealing that he entire life as a social outcast due to his physical appearance and has convinced himself that he is beautiful in his own way. Croc crossed paths with Batman while working as muscle-for-hire for numerous Gotham’s crime bosses, while secretly planning to take over one day. There were also scenes displaying his affinity for making sculptures out of discarded materials. Aside from jokes about Croc viewing himself as ‘beautiful,’ one of these were retained in the final cut.”
“Also deleted was a scene where he becomes sick at the helicopter escort to Midway City, throws up half-digested pieces of goat, and then eats them again, disgusting the nearby Navy Seals.”
“Early cuts reportedly included a passing reference to Slipknot being serial rapist, likely to further paint him as unsympathetic to the audience ahead of his own death.”
“More scenes of Rick Flag and June Moon’s romantic relationship, including him reading the files of the Suicide Squad recruits after Waller delivers them to him.”
“Another scene where Flag and Moon are out on a date.”
“Extended scene of Joker interrogating Captain Griggs, including the line, “I can’t wait to show you my toys,” which was in every trailer, but was removed from the movie.”
“Joker and his men escaping after shooting up a restaurant. Harley, who is already affiliated with the Joker, follows them on a motorcycle and intercepts their car. Joker bangs his head against the glass in frustration.”
“Joker and Harley then get into a fight, which ends with Harley pointing a gun at Joker’s head. Joker sweet-talks Harley into lowering the gun, charming her, then backhands her across the face. Afterwards he sweet-talks her again and they kiss.”
“Extended Ace Chemicals scene where Harley jumps into the chemicals. More bits of dialogue from Joker.”
“Extended Batmobile chase scene with more interaction between Joker and Harley. One of the examples, presented in all the trailers, is the Joker punching the roof of his car.”
“Harley using her baseball bat as a mock gun to play shoot at invisible foes.”
“Extended scene of Joker breaking into the nanobomb manufacture facility to arrange for Harley’s neck-bomb to be disabled.”
“More interactions between Harley and Boomerang. Early cuts apparently included her really disliking him despite growing affectionate to all the other members of the squad.”
“Extended bar scene with Harley taking everyone’s orders. Deadshot calls for a shot, Katana wants whiskey, Croc and Boomerang settle for beer, Harley asks Diablo wants and he prefers water which she jokes, “is a good idea.” The scene was featured in the trailers, but in the movie it cuts directly to Deadshot’s speech about them all almost pulling the mission off.”
“Removed several scenes with the Joker to repaint his relationship with Harley as more loving rather than abusive.”
“Joker and Harley get into an argument after he rescues her in the hijacked helicopter. In early cuts he reportedly pushes her out to kill her, then the helicopter gets shot down. This was apparently reworked into the helicopter getting shot down first and Joker pushing her out to save her.”
“Joker returns during the final battle in the subway station, face half-burnt from the helicopter crash, which apparently leads to a brief altercation with the Squad. He calls for Harley to escape with him but she refuses for once in order to help her friends, and the Joker escapes after throwing a live grenade at the group to cover his own escape.”
The bit I find the most interesting here is the claim that Enchantress’ early scenes were moved from the beginning to later on — that stuff did feel bizarrely out of place in the movie itself.
Should an extended cut be assembled, it’s impossible to know whether any of this will be included. So I’d recommend preemptively not getting excited about seeing any of these scenes.
But start the countdown for home video: the “Batman v Superman” extended cut hit streaming retailers just over three months after its theatrical release.