Storyline: Being bad feels good. Amanda Waller, a U.S. intelligence officer, gathers a team of the world's most dangerous and incarcerated supervillains, equips them with the government's strongest weapons, and sends them on a mission to defeat an unbeatable entity. She believes only a group of desperate and disreputable individuals who have nothing to lose will succeed. But when they realize their selection is based on their blame-worthiness for failure, will the Suicide Squad choose to fight to the end or every man for himself?
Director James Gunn managed to secure Sylvester Stallone for the voice role of Nanaue/King Shark with ease. Gunn explained the part to Stallone, saying, "I wrote this role for you in The Suicide Squad. It won't take much of your time." Stallone replied, "Really?" and Gunn added, "Yes. It's a large, somewhat chubby, human-eating shark." Stallone then stated, "Sure, I'm in. No problem."
James Gunn chose to cast lesser-known and obscure villains in The Suicide Squad, in order to stay true to John Ostrander's original concept of the Squad as a group of second-rate antagonists. Gunn commented, "I wanted to maintain John Ostrander's original vision of featuring mostly second-rate bad guys. There's a certain tragedy in supervillains who aren't even very good at being evil."
Joel Kinnaman viewed the film as a chance to start fresh with his character, Flag, and described him as being sillier, less jaded, more innocent, and funnier than his portrayal in the first Suicide Squad (2016).
In one scene, Margot Robbie performs a stunt as Harley Quinn, killing one of her captors and then using her feet to retrieve the keys and unlock her handcuffs. Robbie executed the stunt herself, without the use of a stunt double, impressing Director James Gunn. However, Gunn regrets that Robbie's costume covered her face during the stunt, making it unclear that it was her performing it. Gunn said, "Margot Robbie is like a human Swiss Army knife and watching her perform that backward flip was incredible. But I was disappointed when I saw the footage in the editing room and realized that the cuff on her outfit covered her face, making it look like a stunt person instead. That's my biggest regret."
Margot Robbie's new costume for the film features Harley's signature red and black color scheme, inspired by her costume in the video game Batman: Arkham City. Gunn wanted the jacket to have a "motorcycle gang style" writing on the back and chose "Live fast, die clown" over other possibilities such as "Clown AF" and "World's Best Grandpa." Gunn also removed Harley's "Rotten" facial tattoo, which appeared in previous DC films, as both he and Robbie did not like it.
John Cena described Peacemaker as a "jerk Captain America."
Director James Gunn's favorite shot in the film is when King Shark tears a man in half. The character of King Shark was created using CGI, while his victim was a dummy with prosthetics.
