James Gunn almost made Superman the villain of The Suicide Squad

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. gave James Gunn carte blanche to do as he pleased with The Suicide Squad, and Gunn, an avid DC Comics fan, had a whole wide universe of characters to choose from when it came to finding his movie’s villain. During an appearance on the Script Apart podcast, Gunn reveals that he almost made Superman the villain instead of Starro. the giant starfish-like alien our motley crew of antiheroes fight in the climax of the film.

Gunn said that he almost picked Superman as the movie’s main villain because it would have been “a very interesting story” but in the end he picked a villain that gave him a lot of room to play. “When I came up with Starro, he’s a character I love from the comics. I think he’s the perfect comic book character, because he’s absolutely ludicrous but he’s also very scary in his own way.”

Starro was a better choice of villain in The Suicide Squad

Starro’s face-huggers terrified Gunn as a child. But he never thought DC or Warner Bros. would give the giant starfish a chance to shine on the big screen. “I thought he was one of the major, major DC villains that was probably never going to be put into another movie,” Gunn said. “And if they did, they would do it like the black cloud version of Starro. Not a giant walking starfish, a kaiju that is bright pink and cerulean blue, just a ridiculously big, bright bad guy.”

Starro ultimately ended up being the right choice for Gunn’s movie, but the idea of the Suicide Squad facing off against Superman could have presented some interesting possibilities given that, traditionally, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) isn’t a fan of the Man of Steel and all that he represents.

While the Suicide Squad wouldn’t necessarily have beef with Supes (aside from Bloodsport, who ended up behind bars for shooting him), Waller’s control over the team could force them to fight anyone she chooses, even Superman.

After Superman’s deadly turn in Bruce Wayne’s vision of the future at the end of Zack Snyder’s Justice League, it would be very interesting, indeed, to see the members of the Suicide Squad squaring off against the Man of Steel. With Gunn expected to do more in the DC Universe in the coming years, anything is possible.

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h/t The A.V. Club