Harley Quinn Not Returning for New Suicide Squad movie?

David Ayer’s Suicide Squad was an epic fail to say the least. Sure, it may have done well at the global box office ($US 746 million), but the film certainly didn’t sit well with a lot of DC fans and critics (27% on Rotten Tomatoes). After the disappointing Batman V Superman, Suicide Squad became further proof that Warner Bros had no idea what they were doing with the DC characters and storylines. It was a total clusterfuck. However, when it came to the David Ayer movie, there was one thing everybody agreed on: Harley Quinn was absolutely awesome!

So it will no doubt be disappointing to fans to learn that Harley Quinn (portrayed wonderfully by Margot Robbie) will most likely not be in the new Suicide Squad movie. But first, a quick recap on the goings-on at DC. The new Suicide Squad film will be helmed by James Gunn, known for his stellar work on the Guardians of the Galaxy movies over at the Marvel camp. Not only that, this movie will not be a direct sequel to Ayer’s movie, rather a soft reboot of sorts.

While we weren’t entirely sure the exact nature of this ‘soft reboot’, I think it’s safe to say that with Harley Quinn’s omission, the James Gunn film will be a complete departure from its predecessor. Forbes reports that Gunn is taking the film in a fresh direction and this will be a “rethinking of the property.” The site also goes on to say that the film will also comprise a new set of characters and that “Harley Quinn is not expected to return.”

But before we start to panic or get upset, let’s look at the glass half full. With the critical and financial success of Wonder Woman and Aquaman, and some of the more recent announcements (i.e Matt Reeves’ Batman films), it looks like Warner Bros has finally gotten their shit together as far as the handling of DC characters goes. In fact, a few weeks ago, Warner Bros also released a statement saying that they’re done trying to follow the Marvel template and instead will do their own thing and allow directors to make the films they want to make.

While it may be a bummer that we won’t be seeing Harley Quinn or Will Smith’s Deadshot for that matter in James Gunn’s Suicide Squad, slowly shying away from the shitty DC movies — or unofficially ‘erasing’ them from canon — could be great for the DC universe in the long run. Besides, it’s not like we won’t be seeing Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn anymore. Harley will be returning alongside a bunch of other cool characters in Birds of Prey.