Suicide Squad cast: Will Smith, Jared Leto and Tom Hardy to star as antiheroes

All-star cast will play team of DC Comics supervillains

Jared Leto will play The Joker in Suicide Squad (Getty Images)

Some of Hollywood’s biggest names are shunning traditional superhero roles, with the likes of Will Smith, Jared Leto and Tom Hardy to star in a new supervillain movie. The confirmation of the line-up for Suicide Squad, made by Warner Bros today, comes after months of speculation. The movie, which brings together some of the best known villains from DC Comics, is the antithesis of the hit film Avengers Assemble, by Disney-owned rival Marvel Studios.

In contrast to the superheroes who make up the Avengers, Suicide Squad is based on the exploits of a team of supervillains who are recruited to take on suicidal black-ops missions for the US Government in exchange for shorter prison sentences. Jared Leto will play the Joker – in one of his first roles since winning the best supporting actor Oscar for Dallas Buyers Club – and will be the first actor since the late Heath Ledger to play the character. Will Smith will star as hired assassin Deadshot, while Tom Hardy will play military expert Rick Flagg. Margot Robbie has been cast as Harley Quinn, an ally of the Joker, while model Cara Delevingne, in her biggest acting role to date, will portray magical villain Enchantress. And Australian actor Jai Courtney will play Boomerang, an enemy of comic book superhero the Flash.

Jesse Eisenberg – Lex Luthor in the forthcoming Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – is understood to be in talks about joining the cast. And US chat show host Oprah Winfrey, along with Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, is in the running to play the team’s boss, Amanda Waller. Directed by David Ayer, shooting begins in Toronto next April, while the film is slated for release next August.

“The Warner Bros roots are deep on this one, David Ayer returns to the studio where he wrote Training Day and brings his incredible ability to craft multidimensional villains to this iconic DC property with a cast of longtime Warner collaborators Will Smith and Tom Hardy, and other new and returning favorites: Margot, Jared, Jai and Cara,” said studio president Greg Silverman in a statement. “We look forward to seeing this terrific ensemble, under Ayer’s amazing guidance, give new meaning to what it means to be a villain and what it means to be a hero,” he added.

This week’s announcement is part of an ongoing battle for box office supremacy between Warner Bros, which owns the film rights to DC Comics, and Disney, which owns Marvel Studios. It is one of more than 20 superhero films announced by the rival studios in recent weeks. Wonder Woman, Captain Marvel, Black Panther and Doctor Strange are among a slew of comic book characters featuring in movies scheduled for release by the end of this decade. Others include new Superman and Batman films, as well as movies based on superheroes like The Flash, and Aquaman.

And other actors are choosing to take on the roles of supervillains, with Dwayne Johnson to star as Black Adam, the villain in Shazam – another DC Comics adaptation being made into a film.