Suicide Squad has been slowly gathering pace, with director David Ayer and star Jared Leto happily tweeting pictures from the set and so on.

Although Jake Gyllenhaal was the frontrunner to replace Tom Hardy, it now appears that Joel Kinnaman is the likely replacement for Hardy's character.

Kinnaman will play Rick Flagg, the hardened ex-soldier and leader of Suicide Squad. Oh, are you out of the loop and who / what Suicide Squad is?

Let's do a quick recap.

Suicide Squad is based on DC Comics' anti-heroes forming together to save the world. Think The Avengers, or the DC counterpart Justice League - except with villains.

The Joker (Jared Leto), Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Boomerang (Jai Courtney), Deadshot (Will Smith), Rick Flagg (was Tom Hardy, now Joel Kinnaman) and Enchantress (Cara Delevigne) are the main players, with government handler Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) being their sort of Nick Fury-type leader.

Again, we know we're using Marvel to compare with, but let's face it - people are more familiar with it than DC counterparts.

Anyway, Kinnaman will be replacing Hardy as Flagg and it now appears that another character will be joining the Squad - Deathstroke.

If you've played Batman: Arkham Origins, you'll know who he is. Or, indeed, if you watched the TV series Arrow, you'll also be familiar with him.

For those that aren't, Deathstroke is basically the most dangerous assassin who's ever lived - and he's got one and two swords. Which is pretty cool, we think.

As for who'll be playing him, it's understood that Magic Mike's Joe Mangianello will be stepping into the role. You may also know him from How I Met Your Mother and the fact that he's married to Sofia Vergara.

So, do we think Mangianello's a good choice? Well, no, to be quite honest.

It strikes us that A LOT of those that have been cast have been picked because they're instantly recognisable. Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie - they're all household names and Ayer is no doubt banking on their starpower to attract the average cinemagoer into watching it.

Hardcore fans will turn up regardless but trying to get the crossover appeal is what Ayer and Warners / DC are after.

Whether it works out or not is another story. Suicide Squad is set for an Irish release date of August 5th, 2016.

 

Via Cinemablend.com