At this weekend's San Diego Comic-Con, Warner Bros Pictures and DC Comics unleashed the mega-sized trailer for their upcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. For Con-goers, it was catnip.

Batman and Superman? Jesus wishes he could command that devotion. And because there are some nine-figure investments going into the March 2016 comic book extravaganza, the two studios threw their audience an extra bone: a first look at the Batman v Superman side-sequel Suicide Squad.

What's a "side-sequel"? In this case, it's all the villains from Batman's books teaming up to fight crime while the Caped Crusader Kryptonite-punches the Big Blue Boy Scout in the face.

Nerd is the new mainstream, if you didn't get that memo.

After 10,000 people leaked the sacred Suicide Squad footage to YouTube, WB and DC decided to throw in the towel and release a pristine version online. A few notable points for those seasoned in Batman (or the Batman cartoon – no judgments):

1 | Viola Davis, first to show up in this snippet, plays Amanda Waller, the Nick Fury of this antihero team. She is wonderful.

2 | Margot Robbie plays Harley Quinn, Joker's clown sidekick who you remember from the aforementioned cartoon.

3 | That's LOST's Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje under the lizard makeup, playing Killer Croc.

4 | Yes, Will Smith stars in Suicide Squad as an elite assassin and, yes, he actually utters ,"We're some kind of... suicide squad."

5 | Whether Ben Affleck appears in the movie or not is unclear, but Batman will make an appearance, riding atop the Joker's sports car.

6 | And the grand finale: the unveiling of Jared Leto's Joker. Unlike Heath Ledger, who won an Oscar for playing the Crown Prince of Crime, Leto is playing it relatively low-key? He's not slobbering. Not putting on a voice. His Joker just wants to hurt people. We get a decent cackle out of him. Will the new take contend with Ledger's work? It's definitely more "comic booky," which could lend itself to some wilder deviations. Like Batman riding his car.

Suicide Squad arrives August 5, 2016. As long as it finishes shooting. The amazing fact about this footage: it's mostly raw. The films wraps production in September.

This article was originally published on Esquire.com


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From: Esquire UK