Yo Adrian! Sylvester Stallone joins all-star cast of James Gunn's The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad ensemble just got a little bigger with addition of Rocky Balboa himself: Sylvester Stallone. Writer-director James Gunn confirmed the actor's involvement with the project in an Instagram post today, writing: "Always love working with my friend @officialslystallone & our work today on #TheSuicideSquad was no exception. Despite Sly being an iconic movie star, most people still don’t have any idea what an amazing actor this guy is."

It's unclear what role Stallone will be playing, but given the fact that production on the DC film wrapped months ago, we'd guess that he was either brought in for reshoots or asked to film a short sequence that will appear during or after the movie's credits. In any case, Gunn likes to re-team with actors he's worked with in the past, and Stallone is no exception after playing Stakar Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

"Working with this incredible director on this astounding project has made this an amazing year. I am a very lucky man to be surrounded by such talent!" Stallone wrote in a post of his own.

Stallone joins an already impressive ensemble that includes: Idris Elba ("Bloodsport"), John Cena ("Peacemaker"), Nathan Fillion ("T.D.K."), Taika Waititi (his role is TBD), Pete Davidson ("Blackguard"), Peter Capaldi ("The Thinker"), David Dastmalchian ("Polka-Dot Man"), Alice Braga ("Sol Soria"), Storm Reid ("Tyla DuBois"), Sean Gunn ("Weasel"), Steve Agee ("King Shark"), Michael Rooker ("Savant"), Daniela Melchior ("Ratcatcher 2"), and Flula Borg ("Javelin").  Margot Robbie ("Harley Quinn"), Viola Davis ("Amanda Waller"), Joel Kinnaman ("Rick Flagg"), and Jai Courtney ("Captain Boomerang") are back to play their established characters from the 2016 the 2016 Suicide Squad movie written and directed by David Ayer. 

A soft reboot of its predecessor, The Suicide Squad plans to go in a completely different direction with Task Force X. "It does not contradict the first movie. I don't think. It might in some small ways...I dont know," Gunn recently said. Whether it does or doesn't contradict what's come before, the quasi-sequel definitely veers away from the supernatural threat of the first movie by sending the titular crew on a much more grounded black ops mission. Their objective? To destroy Jotunheim, a prison on the fictional Latin American island of Corto Maltese, where gruesome Nazi experiments once took place.

The Suicide Squad (and its record-breaking number of practical sets) is currently slated to hit theaters everywhere on Aug. 6, 2021. A TV spinoff centered around Cena's character is about to kick off production in Canada. That project, which just announced its supporting cast earlier this week, will debut on HBO Max.