The San Diego Comic-Con treats just kept coming over the weekend. Though Warner Bros and Fox may be somewhat miffed that their exclusively screened trailers for 2016 releases, Warners' Suicide Squad, an ensemble piece featuring some of DC's best loved/hated villains including The Joker (now played by Jared Leto, but looking and acting remarkably similar to the late Heath Ledger's much loved interpretation) and Harlequin (Margot Robbie), and Fox's Deadpool, the first Marvel Universe film to carry an 'R' certificate since 1998's Blade, have both been leaked online.
As a responsible news organisation, we’re not sharing the leaked footage, but the audience reaction to both was ecstatic.
Suicide Squad appears set to continue the dark tradition DC has set with films like Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy and the forthcoming Batman vs Superman, which was also exclusively previewed at Comic-Con.
Deadpool, meanwhile, looks like it's sticking faithfully to the sweary, irreverent, ultra-violent template set by the comic book. Ryan Reynolds, who plays the title character, said while introducing the trailer in San Diego: "[It's] the most faithful adaptation of a comic book to a movie I've ever seen. For one I think it's an absolute miracle that a studio let us make Deadpool, let alone a Rated-R Deadpool."
Reynold's previously starred in the disastrous Green Lantern movie, and he added mockingly: "I've only ever done one other proper — actually not proper — superhero movie."
2016 is shaping up to be a great year in cinemas for comic book fans. All we need now is for someone to act on the fan clamour for a Dredd sequel ...
cnewbould@thenational.ae
