'Suicide Squad' Banner Shrinks Harley Quinn, Highlights The Joker

Consider this a case of one of those things that looks worse than it hopefully is, but should have been noted by someone down the line. This morning saw the release of a new banner for Suicide Squad. The upcoming Warner Bros./ Time Warner Inc. release is a supervillain team-up caper involving a bunch of DC Comics villains being brought together for a very dangerous and important task. And this banner, to its credit, basically shows off every primary cast member of note save for Viola Davis's Amanda Waller. What's weird about the poster is that it presents Jared Leto's Joker as the focal point of the image. That's expected, all things considered. But what's really weird is that it hides its trump card, Harley Quinn, in the corner of the image.

Heck, if I want to be annoying about this, I'll note that it basically takes its three main female characters (Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn,  Cara Delevingne's Enchantress, and Karen Fukuhara's Katana) and puts them in the corner and makes them smaller than the dudes in the group. Putting Will Smith's Deadshot at the center makes sense, both in terms of star power and (likely) character focus among the ensemble cast. But shrinking down Enchantress and pushing two of the three female members off to the right corner of the poster is the kind of thing that just looks bad. Considering that they are facing straight while the men are in a somewhat turned position, they don't even look like proper members of the team but rather stand-alone characters.

We all know that Robbie's Harley Quinn is the best marketing weapon this movie has. With all of the hub-bub over Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and whether it will or will not unleash global interest in the newfangled DC Extended Universe, it should be noted that Suicide Squad is something of a second chance. David Ayer's film may not involve the so-called Holy Trinity, but it is going to have Batman, it's going to have the Joker, and it's going to have the onscreen debut of Harley Quinn. We may all be vastly underestimating this one.

If Batman v Superman is the one we all see out of curiosity and/or professional obligation, then Suicide Squad is the one we all really want to see.  Ms. Quinn is basically the most popular female comic book character in existence right now. If anything, she is the DC Comics equivalent to Deadpool in terms of fandom-friendly characters that are less aspirational and more indulgent. Come what may, the last thing we should want is a Suicide Squad film that basically operates as a glorified backdoor pilot for an eventual Batman vs. Joker stand-alone movie, and I'm hopeful that's not what we're getting.

If this movie gives us a Harley Quinn that fans desperately want to see, one who operates in relation to her history with the Joker and as a stand-alone villainous, DC has an easy mark for a spin-off stand-alone franchise if they so choose.  So yeah, at the risk of making a mountain out of a molehill (and this is my fourth post this morning), I kinda hate the fact that the men dominate this banner while the women merely exist on the fringes. And while I get the desire to highlight Jared Leto's Joker, it concerns me to see him rendered so much larger than the other characters.

I hope that's not representative of the final product, both in terms of general personal preferences and in terms of financial health for this film past opening weekend. I want a Joker who steals scenes, not one who steals the movie, and I want something that turns Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn into a viable character in this new DCEU franchise. Again, that's because of my own personal tastes and because a popular version of Ms. Quinn would make Warner Bros. lots and lots of money, which means more spare change for the likes of Midnight Special and The Intern. So yeah, we should be rooting for this one just as hard as we presumably hold out hope for Dawn of Justice.

Suicide Squad, starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Cara Delevigne, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Jay Hernandez, and Adam Beach among others, opens August 6th. Call it a hunch, but I think it's going to be a biggie.

UPDATE: I am been informed by Warner Bros. that the above material this is not official marketing material for the film and not intended for consumers. Nonetheless, most of what I said above still stands. Suicide Squad is probably going to be huge, Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn is going to be one of the big reasons why, and Warner Bros. may well have a new solo spin-off character on their hands if they so choose. Oh, and that last trailer remains the best of the pre-Star Wars and post-Star Wars tentpole-ish trailers that we happened to get back in December/January.