After Will Smith left the film earlier this year, Deadshot’s role in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad was seemingly up in the air. However, nearly immediately the role was filled by Idris Elba, hinting that the sharpshooter was a major player in the sequel.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, that is the case as The Suicide Squad will focus heavily on Deadshot. Apparently, this screen adaptation will “draws from Jon Ostrander and Kim Yale’s ’80s run, rather than the more recent New 52 iteration that inspired” the first film. That version of Deadshot is very different from Smith’s version in Suicide Squad. Ostrander and Yale’s Deadshot wasn’t a family man driven by the need to provide for his daughter. Instead, Deadshot was a man with a death wish, some would even say suicidal tendencies, as he risked his life needlessly on the regular.
In those stories, Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, grew up in an abusive home with his brother Edward. At one point, Edward and Floyd try to assassinate their father but Floyd tries to back out, accidentally killing his brother in the process. From then on he lived on the edge as the cutthroat hitman with no regard for any life, especially his own. It’s a far cry from the family man we saw in Suicide Squad but considering the trainwreck that movie was, maybe that’s a good thing.
The Suicide Squad hits theaters on August 6, 2021.
