James Gunn's The Suicide Squad was a breath of fresh air for Task Force X, injecting new life into the roguish team following the less-than-stellar critical reception to the 2016 film. However, before the Guardians of the Galaxy director took over the reins, Suicide Squad's sequel was going to be helmed by Gavin O'Connor, who had some ambitious plans that would have pitted the squad against some incredibly powerful forces.
Despite its tepid reviews, Suicide Squad was a financial success for Warner Bros., so the hunt began for someone to direct a sequel almost immediately. The studio cast a wide net, with directors like Mel Gibson and Jaume Collet-Serra up for consideration, but O'Connor was ultimately announced as the movie's director in September 2017. O'Connor even co-wrote the script and intended to feature some significant threats for the squad in the form of several powerful characters from the comics.
While O'Connor's full vision for the Suicide Squad sequel has never been unveiled, bits and pieces of information have found their way online in the years since he left the project, with perhaps the biggest reveal being that Black Adam was going to be the main antagonist. Dwayne Johnson was already cast as the character at the time, and O'Connor was going to make a big statement by featuring a big-name star as his movie's villain. And interestingly enough, a Black Adam solo film would be greenlit with none other than Suicide Squad 2's one-time directing forerunner Jaume Collet-Serra in the director's chair.
But while Black Adam was going to be the movie's main villain, there were also going to be a number of secondary threats to combat the Squad. Reports claim that the terrorist group Onslaught (who have appeared several times in the comic book source material as foes of the Squad) were going to serve as the film's secondary villains, reimagined as a cult that worships Black Adam. The Squad was going to be sent after Onslaught to retrieve a kidnapped child, who would later be revealed as a reimagining of explosive DC villain Plastique.
Other reports have claimed that Supergirl was going to debut in the film, having been brainwashed by Onslaught to serve as an enforcer. Additionally, both Ben Affleck and Jared Leto were intended to return as Batman and the Joker, respectively. As for other returnees from the first film, Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller) and Karen Fukuhara (Katana) were all going to reprise their roles alongside some new recruits for the Squad, including Joe Manganiello's Deathstroke.
Ultimately, O'Connor left the project because DC and Warner Bros. didn't like the more serious tone he was taking, wanting the film to instead focus more on comedy. And the studio ended up getting what it wanted with James Gunn's take on Task Force X, while O'Connor's focus shifted to the 2020 sports drama The Way Back. The Suicide Squad was almost universally well-received, but O'Connor's unmade sequel would have broken new ground by bringing some extremely powerful players to the DCEU.