While the entire cast of Marvel’s ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ movies voiced their support for fired director James Gunn when Disney cut him loose after offensive old tweets surfaced, Dave Bautista, who portrays Drax in the franchise, has remained Gunn’s staunchest supporter, going so far as to hint that he won’t return for ‘Guardians, Vol. 3’. Whether that happens or not, Gunn knows loyalty when he sees it and has a plan for them to work together again, this time in a DC Comics movie. Gunn wrote the screenplay for and will direct ‘The Suicide Squad’, and he has a role for Bautista.
Reportedly, Gunn wrote in the character Peacemaker with Bautista in mind. Peacemaker is a bizarre creation, who originally debuted in Charlton Comics in 1966, around the rise of the flower child movement. Christopher Smith was a pacifist and created special non-lethal weaponry to try and bring peace to humanity by taking on various dictators and warlords.
When Charleton went out of business in the 1980s, their characters were acquired by DC who introduced them in ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths’. In the grimdark ’80s, Peacemaker, despite his name, was revised as a brutal and bloody vigilante, who “loved peace so much, he’d kill for it.”
He was reinvented as The Comedian for Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s legendary series ‘Watchmen’.
The latest buzz on ‘The Suicide Squad’, which is being viewed as a reboot to the 2016 film ‘Suicide Squad’ rather than a straight-forward sequel, is that Idris Elba might be signing on to replace Will Smith as Deadshot, after it was announced that Smith would not be able to return due to scheduling conflicts. It was also seemingly revealed that Joel Kinnaman‘s Rick Flag will not be in the new movie.
Reportedly, Peacemaker is just one new character that Gunn wrote into his script, along with King Shark, Ratcatcher, and Polka Dot Man.
‘The Suicide Squad’ is expected to begin filming later this year, as it is already scheduled for release on August 6, 2021. Bautista is attached to star in Denis Villeneuve’s ambitious ‘Dune’, so here’s hoping that his schedule can accommodate ‘The Suicide Squad’ as well.
Check back for updates. Would you like to see Bautista working under Gunn again?
Source: Collider
