The Suicide Squad writer-director James Gunn explained how Idris Elba's Bloodsport was changed for the upcoming DCEU blockbuster. In 2018, Warner Bros. tapped Gunn to helm the standalone sequel to David Ayer’s Suicide Squad.

The Suicide Squad stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, and Sylvester Stallone as King Shark. The tenth film in the DCEU will see a group of convicts from Belle Reve Hospital come into conflict with a telepathic alien starfish named Starro while attempting to destroy a Nazi-era prison and laboratory. The original installment grossed $746 million worldwide and was the tenth-highest grossing film of 2016.

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The recently released trailer for The Suicide Squad revealed that Bloodsport, a.k.a. Robert DuBois, was in prison for shooting Superman with a kryptonite bullet. The trained assassin joins Amanda Waller’s team because his daughter is being threatened. In a breakdown of the trailer for IGN, Gunn explained how the character was developed for the screen. In the comics, he could pull weaponry out of thin air, but in the film, his costume is covered with transforming pieces of munitions. “I fell in love with the design, even though it looks very different from Bloodsport’s comic suit, [where he] wears camo pants and a bandana,” said Gunn. The writer-director also noted that he wrote the role for Elba without knowing which character from the comics he was going to use.

Created by John Byrne and Karl Kesel, Bloodsport first appeared in 1987’s Superman vol. 3, #4. DuBois was a Vietnam draft evader who became obsessed with the Vietnam War after his brother went in his place. In the comics, Lex Luthor equipped the mercenary with the Kryptonite gun that he used to injure Superman. Gunn noted that while The Suicide Squad is set within the larger DCEU, Henry Cavill’s Superman will not be featured in the film. Bloodsport made his live-action television debut in Supergirl (played by David St. Louis) and has also appeared in the animated series Justice League Unlimited.

Gunn is currently working on the eight-episode The Suicide Squad spin-off series Peacemaker. The upcoming HBO Max show will focus on his character, Christopher Smith/Peacemaker. According to the official log-line, the title character is a mercenary who “believes in peace at any cost — no matter how many people he has to kill to get it." The ensemble cast includes Danielle Brooks (Orange Is the New Black), Robert Patrick (Terminator 2), and Chris Conrad (Patriot).

Later this year, Gunn will start filming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which is expected to wrap up the titular characters' MCU arcs. The filmmaker was notably reinstated to direct the sequel by Disney after the company had fired him for past Tweets. The Chris Pratt-led film will also star Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Karen Gillan, Sean Gunn, and Elizabeth Debicki.

The Suicide Squad will be available on HBO Max and in theaters starting August 6, 2021.

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Source: IGN|YouTube