The Suicide Squad "First Canon Film in The DCU": Gunn on Harley Quinn

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Posted in: Movies, TV | Tagged: dc studios, dcu, The Suicide Squad

The Suicide Squad "First Canon Film in The DCU": Gunn on Harley Quinn

James Gunn offered the final verdict on where The Suicide Squad fits within DC Studios' DCU and touched on the Harley Quinn factor.

Published Thu, 29 Oct 2026 14:38:09 -0500
by Ray Flook
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Article Summary

  • James Gunn confirms The Suicide Squad is fully canon to DC Studios' DCU, calling it the franchise's first canon film.
  • Gunn, Jennifer Holland, and Steve Agee tackled The Suicide Squad canon debate on a special DCU podcast episode.
  • The big caveat involves Harley Quinn, with Gunn saying Margot Robbie's future leaves one small canon asterisk.
  • Gunn says The Suicide Squad fits the DCU timeline more cleanly than Peacemaker Season 1 despite minor continuity issues.

Earlier today, it was announced that filmmaker and DC Studios co-head James Gunn, Jennifer Holland (Emilia Harcourt), and Steve Agee (John Economos, King Shark) were teaming up for a special one-off podcast that would answer the question: Is The Suicide Squad film canon to DC Studios' DCU, or only parts of it? Considering the film came out (much like the first season of Peacemaker) during that weird pre-DC Studios limbo period, it's a question worth answering – and that's exactly what they did. With the podcast releasing a day early, the trio examines various aspects of the film before the final verdict. After Holland and Agee offered their opinions, Gunn declared that not only is The Suicide Squad part of DCU canon, it's "the first canon film in the DCU." Though Gunn did explain why there was "one small asterisk" to it – and it's named Harley Quinn.

Images: HBO Max Screencap; DC Studios

That settles it then. I think that 'The Suicide Squad' is within the canon of the DCU. It's decided. I'd say, we have one small asterisk, which is what exactly is the future of Harley Quinn [Margot Robbie]? I want to be given a little leeway with this by the fans because I'm not sure exactly how that's going to manifest itself. But other than that, I think that we can pretty much say the entire movie is canon. I don't think there's a problem. Now, maybe somebody's going to come to me on Threads, and I accept the challenges in trying to answer them with something that can't be canon within this movie, and that's okay, because we're going to make mistakes. We're going to make mistakes in this movie. We're going to make mistakes in other movies. But for the most part, I think that it's – that it actually fits much more easily into canon than 'Peacemaker' Season One does," Gunn shared. "I think that we can actually say that, yes, not only is it – 'The Suicide Squad' – canon, but it's the first canon film in the DCU – and that everybody should go watch it right now on HBO Max."

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