James Gunn's 'The Suicide Squad' shows off first behind-the-scenes footage at DC FanDome

The entirety of The Suicide Squad showed up at the DC FanDome, including new helmer James Gunn. Did fans get a little better understanding of what exactly this movie is going to be? And how it relates to the first film, Suicide Squad? Well, since all that was really concrete about the new movie was that it was going to be funny (it's a Gunn film after all) and include some Dirty Dozen-inspired key art, it was hard to say fans didn't learn something.

Gunn brought out almost the entire cast — which, in this huge ensemble, included returning Squaddies Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Joel Kinnaman, and Jai Courtney alongside Will Smith replacement Idris Elba and newcomers John Cena, Storm Reid, Nathan Fillion, Peter Capaldi, Taika Waititi, Pete Davidson, Alice Braga, Flula Borg, and Michael Rooker — after a lengthy video cleared up who everyone was playing (including some true D-listers from the DC Comics canon). So what do these newly revealed supers do now? Test their comic knowledge and prove to fans that these actors take their Squad status seriously, of course.

But the real treat here was seeing some behind the scenes action showcasing Harley Quinn with a bazooka and a whole load of super baddies in action:

Yeah, we're with Idris Elba on this one: that definitely looks like a "twisted fantasy."

"It's gonna be different from any superhero movie ever made," Gunn said, even when some characters are "crappy through-and-through." And uh, did Cena call his character a “douche-y Captain America?" Incredible. This '70s war movie with a dash of Gunn humor looks exactly as we'd expect — and fans should know "don't get attached" to this big group of characters. It's the Suicide Squad after all. Bombs in the head tend to be a recurring narrative tool.

Gunn had previously teased a massive showing on his social media, where he also hinted that those like Cena should be working out hard to make sure their skulls don't explode. Hints for the future? That is an awfully large cast to make it through an entire movie called The Suicide Squad, after all. Gunn kicked things off with fan questions. He noted that he's still working hard on the film, from morning to night, during quarantine — and he noted the team's similarity to The Dirty Dozen, from which his film's titles take their art style.

"We have about as many explosions and crashes in this film as in any film ever," Gunn said, explaining that there are more bombastic FX in this film than all those in his team's filmography combined. Yeah, very easy to believe.

The Suicide Squad looks to hit theaters on Aug. 6, 2021.

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