Will Smith Returning As Deadshot In New DC Movie?
Will Smith could be returning as the assassin Deadshot in a new DCEU franchise.
This article is more than 2 years old
Floyd Lawton, aka Deadshot, may not have shown up in The Suicide Squad, but that doesn’t mean the character’s out of the DCEU for good. The assassin Will Smith played in 2016’s Suicide Squad survives the events of the earlier film, and according to a new report, he could be making a comeback.
The unconfirmed report comes from We Got This Covered, who says Will Smith’s sharpshooter is being considered for an upcoming DCEU project but, surprisingly, not a follow-up to The Suicide Squad. Instead, WGTC says Warner Bros. is hoping to bring Deadshot into a film adaptation of Secret Six.
The Secret Six originated in the late ‘60s, but didn’t find a consistent audience until its revival as part of the lead-up to DC Comics’ 2005-6 line-wide event Infinite Crisis. Unlike previous incarnations of the team, the version of the Secret Six that shows up in 2005’s Villains United #1 — including Deadshot, the character Will Smith plays in Suicide Squad — is comprised completely of supervillains.
After Villains United, the team got its own miniseries and eventually an ongoing title. While different artists came and went, most of the stories — including the team’s reintroduction in Villains United — were written by acclaimed writer Gail Simone. Unlike the characters of the 2016 film in which Will Smith appears as Deadshot, the characters in Secret Six aren’t leashed with explosives in their necks and so don’t suffer quite as high a body count.
Along with lesser known characters like Catman, Cheshire, Scandal Savage, and the contortionist Rag Doll, some of the more well-known DC villains to make time with the Secret Six include the Mad Hatter and the Batman back-breaker Bane. Harley Quinn also worked with the team, so if Will Smith were to play Deadshot in a Secret Six adaptation, he might not be the only Suicide Squad alum on the cast.
In their story WGTC doesn’t mention any other characters or actors supposedly being considered for Secret Six. The report also makes sure to note there’s no word on whether or not Will Smith is even interested in reprising the role in a new franchise, or at all.
The notion of Secret Six being adapted to the DCEU at this point does seem a little strange. While The Suicide Squad eventually had difficulties at the box office, per Variety, it was still a commercial and critical hit for Warner Bros. and DC Films. We know James Gunn will be directing more DC adaptations in the future, and in most likelihood a follow-up to The Suicide Squad is among them. It would seem like a much more profitable idea to bring Will Smith back into Task Force X rather than introduce a second franchise whose protagonists are a covert-ops team of supervillains.
Whether or not Will Smith ever plays Floyd Lawton again, it looks like he may be returning to another one of his signature roles soon. According to reports from an insider, Smith will be filming the fantasy action film Bright 2 sometime this fall. Will Smith played police officer Daryl Ward — the first human officer to partner with an orc — in the 2017 Netflix original Bright.
