The DC Cinematic Universe first got underway back in 2013 upon the release of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel that was pretty polarizing among moviegoers and comic fans, but things are not truly shifting into gear until next year’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. While that movie is releasing in March, there is another DC movie that some are even more excited about with Suicide Squad, which is taking a very unique approach that not even Marvel has done yet. The question is, just how connected with Batman v Superman is Suicide Squad and when is it set in comparison?
Obviously, Man of Steel is the first movie in the DC Cinematic Universe as said above, with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice rumored to be set two years later. With Batman v Superman coming next March and Suicide Squad coming five months later, one would assume that it would be set after the fact. However, there is a lot of speculation that Suicide Squad might in fact be taking place before the events of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
There wasn’t much discussion about this possibility until Umberto Gonzalez, formerly part of Latino Review, tweeted back in late March that Suicide Squad would be taking place between Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, rather than after the latter. He has been pretty solid on most of his DC movie related news, particularly Suicide Squad, but some have also not come to pass. Plenty of other teases and leaks have come out since that seem to make this timeline all the more possible however.
After the start of the filming for Suicide Squad, we got images of Ben Affleck on the set of the movie, even with his Batmobile as well supposedly. At first, Affleck being there was believed to just be for filming of a rumored flashback for Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, where Joker kills the former Robin, Jason Todd. This is far from confirmed, but multiple reports say this would be in Batman v Superman in some way. Later reports did say that Ben Affleck did in fact film a cameo for Suicide Squad as well, but we still do not know that for sure.
Based on the fact we only ever saw Ben Affleck as Bruce Wayne and never Batman for sure, it is very possible that the character only shows up as Bruce. There are some set images of him under a robe of some sort that could be them hiding the Batsuit, but it could just be them trying to hide Affleck’s appearance period. If Batman himself isn’t involved, it could go with the idea that Batman is kind of a “boogeyman” that many do not know, though he had been operating in Gotham City for a long time. The other possibility is that perhaps the Suicide Squad is put together by Amanda Waller to go after this Batman figure, though it would be hard to believe that Joker and Harley Quinn are at a point to be in jail, but Waller wouldn’t know about who Batman really is at that point with her resources.
Much speculation was that Bruce retired after the events of Jason’s death, which is believed to be the reason Joker is in Arkham at the time of Suicide Squad. Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice could very well see Bruce putting back on the cape and cowl after this retirement, which would be why he might only be seen as Bruce Wayne in Suicide Squad, if rumors are to believed.
The rumored flashback scene could even be a fantastic way to show the tragedy that Batman has suffered, while also serving as an excellent tease to the Suicide Squad by showing us Jared Leto’s likely sadistic Joker for the first time in action. Having that within the movie really does not help us with placement of the two movies however.
While it may seem completely stupid and unheard of to have connected movies like this possibly be so off timeline wise, one must remember that Marvel did the exact same thing. After starting with Iron Man in 2008, they also released The Incredible Hulk later that summer. Two years later they released Iron Man 2, which actually took place before and around the same time as The Incredible Hulk. As long as the timeline is well explained within the movies, I don’t think we really have anything to worry about either way.
With Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice still 10 months away and Suicide Squad 15 months away, many questions could be answered in the meantime. This may be something that DC and Warner Bros. will keep to themselves until the release of the movies next year, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they used a venue like Comic Con to give us more exact details on just how Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad fit together.
Do you like the idea of Suicide Squad possibly being set before Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, or do you prefer to movies to be set in chronological order based on their release date? Also, do you think this is the route they are going or do you believe all of the rumors are false? Make sure to let us know in the comments below.
