And what to expect from 'Peacemaker,' coming soon to HBO Max.
Major spoilers below for The Suicide Squad.
And when I say major spoilers, I'm talking who lives, who dies, spoiling-the-end-of-the-movie MAJOR spoilers. So, I'm taking another line to warn you that if you have not seen The Suicide Squad yet and want to remain unspoiled, this is not the post for you.
For everyone who had money on Pete Davidson's Blackguard being the first to die, turns out we were technically correct! Although Weasel (Sean Gunn) appears to meet his demise before the mission begins, the first of The Suicide Squad's two post-credits scenes reveals he is one of the movie's few survivors.
By the time the credits roll, the only Task Force X members to make it out alive are Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), Bloodsport (Idris Elba), Ratcatcher II (Daniela Melchior) and King Shark (Sylvester Stallone). Until we cut back to the beach of the opening scene bloodbath and see a drowned Weasel suddenly come to life and scurry off into the jungle to-- Well, I don't know, but it's probably not good for the children of Corto Maltese.
The second tag is the meatier one, and answers a question we had about the upcoming spinoff series for John Cena's Peacemaker: Does having his own show spoil that he survives the movie? Or if he dies, is Peacemaker a prequel set before the events of The Suicide Squad? We now have our answer.
Peacemaker is K.O.ed during The Suicide Squad -- shot down by Bloodsport when Peacemaker makes it clear he will kill anyone in his way of completing a separate, morally murkier mission -- but he doesn't die. Instead, the scene shows Amanda Waller's lackeys, Emilia Harcourt (Jennifer Holland) and John Economos (Steve Agee), at a hospital, where a nurse informs them somehow Peacemaker's heart was still beating when his body was pulled from the rubble.
So, what do John Economos and Emilia need Peacemaker for? "Just to save the f**king world, that's all." (Interesting, while we now know Peacemaker is a true villain, the nurse mentions she heard he was "heroic" in Corto Maltese, so in-universe, his reputation isn't completely shot.)
James Gunn told ET's Ash Crossan why he wanted to continue the jingoistic soldier's storyline in his own TV show, saying, "In the movie, Harley gets a complete arc. Bloodsport gets a complete story. Rick Flag gets a complete story. Ratcatcher II gets a complete story. They all learned something about themselves -- sometimes good things, sometimes bad things -- but Peacemaker is a douche and he stays a douche. He is an a**hole in the movie. But I think there's something below that."
"Also, I think Peacemaker has a lot to do with where we are politically in this country right now, and that's part of what this show is about," he continues. "We have Danielle Brooks, who in this show is very, very different from Peacemaker, and a lot of the show is about their friendship, or lack of a friendship."
Peacemaker is set to premiere on HBO Max in Jan. 2020, with Cena, Holland and Agee all reprising their roles from The Suicide Squad alongside co-stars Danielle Brooks as Leota Adebayo, Freddie Stroma as Vigilante, Nhut Le as Judomaster and Robert Patrick as Peacemaker's father. "There's a ton I can say [about the show]," Cena deadpanned to ET, "It's just Warners and HBO Max will storm through this door and string me up to the ceiling, so I can't say anything at all."
"I think people will get an idea for what they're in for when they see The Suicide Squad," Cena teases. "The best way to explain it is The Suicide Squad is a 2 hour and 20-minute film that dives into 25 main characters. Peacemaker is an eight-episode episodic for HBO Max about Peacemaker, and you're going to get to lean into those nuances and Peacemaker's surroundings. So, if you like what you see, it's a great extension."
Gunn adds, "Peacemaker is a very, very different show from anything that's ever been done in the superhero realm. It is about a guy, first and foremost, and very, very much secondarily a superhero. But it's still a big science fiction movie with more action scenes than any superhero show ever."
The Suicide Squad is now in theaters and streaming on HBO Max.
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