#The Suicide Squad Has a Ridiculous Yet Terrifying Main Villain Teases James Gunn

Ever since it was officially announced that filmmaker James Gunn would be helming the new Suicide Squad movie, fans have wondered who Gunn would pick to be the main villain of the story. The trailer for Gunn’s The Suicide Squad revealed that villain to be Starro, the World Conqueror. The character is a continent-sized alien starfish that takes over entire worlds by sending its smaller starfish minions to take control of a planet’s sentient population. In an interview with Den of Geek, Gunn explained that his version of Starro is equal parts funny and scary.

“Starro is hilarious because he’s ridiculous. He’s a giant, cerulean blue starfish, but he’s also f*cking terrifying. When I was a kid I thought that was the scariest thing of all time… and I think that exemplifies what this movie is: it is ridiculous and it’s also terrifying, and serious. So he works really well as the villain of the movie- as one of the villains, actually.”

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Hollywood is seeing something of a resurgence in the popularity of big monster movies, especially with the recent success of Godzilla vs. Kong. It will be interesting to see how the main group of B-list villains turned government agents in The Suicide Squad deal with such a massive threat, especially since their last movie outing was on a much smaller scale, in David Ayer’s 2016 feature Suicide Squad. According to Gunn, the purpose of his movie is not to improve upon Ayer’s work but to create something closer in spirit to the comics.

“It wasn’t something to contrast the first movie. It wasn’t about going through a checklist of this is good, this is bad, this works, this doesn’t… but the concept that [Suicide Squad creator] John Ostrander started with in the comics, that these are B-grade, shitty superheroes who are considered disposable by the U.S. government and are sent out on these black-ops missions, where they probably won’t make it but who gives a shit because they’re pieces-of-shit prisoners without many skills?”

Even though 2016’s Suicide Squad was not a hit with critics, it made a killing at the box office. Fans are hoping Gunn’s upcoming film will take the stock of the franchise even higher. Considering the success of the filmmaker’s last major movie series about a gang of superpowered misfits reluctantly saving the day in Guardians of the Galaxy, the Squad seems to be in good hands.

Written and directed by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad stars Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Michael Rooker as Savant, Flula Borg as Javelin, David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, Mayling NG as Mongal, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Alice Braga as Solsoria, Sylvester Stallone as King Shark, Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Nathan Fillion as TDK, Sean Gunn as Weasel, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, John Cena as Peacemaker, with Steve Agee, Taika Waititi and Storm Reid.

The film arrives in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6. This news originated at Den of Geek with additional reporting from ComicBook.com.

Topics: Suicide Squad 2, Suicide Squad