The Suicide Squad canon podcast: is Harley Quinn in the DCU?

DC Studios' next project is a podcast. According to a report from Josh Wilding, James Gunn is launching The Suicide Squad Is It Canon podcast, which will reveal how much of his 2021 film The Suicide Squad, starring Margot Robbie, Idris Elba and John Cena, is official DCU canon. The first instinct in our discussion was simple: why does this need to exist?

Gunn will be joined by his wife and Peacemaker star Jennifer Holland, along with his longtime friend, the actor Steve Agee. The announcement has drawn mixed responses online. Most of the conversation around it seems to come down to one question: whether Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn exists in the DCU.

How James Gunn's path through DC led to The Suicide Squad canon question

Wilding's report lays out the history. When Disney fired Gunn as director of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2018, Warner Bros. wasted no time enlisting him. He wrote and directed The Suicide Squad, which the report says was rated 90% on Rotten Tomatoes but earned only 168.7 million dollars at the box office because of its pandemic era release. Gunn followed it with Peacemaker before returning to Marvel to finish his Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy.

At the start of 2023, Gunn was named DC Studios co-CEO alongside Peter Safran. After Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash were released in theaters that year, the old continuity was rebooted as the DCU. That meant very public goodbyes to several actors, including Henry Cavill as Superman, Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman and Dwayne Johnson as Black Adam.

Despite the fresh start, the report notes that Gunn kept several actors from Peacemaker for its second season. That series is set in the same world as Superman and Creature Commandos, and it handled the confusion with a recap that swapped out the Justice League for the Justice Gang. Even so, many fans have been left wondering what from The Suicide Squad should still be considered canon, and the podcast is meant to address exactly that for the five-year-old film.

Fans on X are split on the Is It Canon podcast

The reaction Wilding rounded up from X was far from unanimous. One fan wrote, "The fact that you have to explain things just shows you made a bad universe." Another went further, saying the DCU is "so ridiculously all over the place that you need extra podcast just to make stuff up and try to explain things," and recommending Gunn start making good movies instead.

There were positive takes too. One of Gunn's followers wrote, "Dude, this is going to be so fun. Can't wait to check it out." Beyond the praise and the criticism, the report suggests the main thing most people want answered is whether Robbie's Harley Quinn is part of this universe.

Chris Carr's question: why make this a whole series?

Chris Carr's reaction was blunt. He asked why this was a whole series, and wondered aloud whether it was a way to get Gunn off social media. He admitted that his own show does episodes that are complete nonsense, but said he couldn't imagine launching a series built around breaking down his own five-year-old movie and sorting what's canon from what isn't. He added that he didn't want to dismiss it before it's out, but he just didn't understand why.

The same instinct came up elsewhere in the discussion: a sense of what is this, and why are we doing this, because it doesn't seem needed. At the same time, one view was that, looking past the surface, it might be an excuse to get Gunn, Holland and Agee together.

Then came a clarification. A closer reading suggested it may be only one episode rather than an ongoing series, and a message came in backing that up. If it is a single special, that made more sense to the group. The wording of the announcement was called poorly done, since telling people you are launching a podcast doesn't sound like a one-off.

The bigger worry: the DCU still hasn't answered who plays Batman

The real issue raised was not the podcast itself but priorities. A weekly podcast isn't the need; the need is to know who is playing Batman. If the podcast doubled as a casting announcement, that would be welcome. The point was that Gunn should be as creative as possible and build the world out, but there are still staples the DCU hasn't hit yet.

So every time something extra arrives, whether it's an addition that feels unnecessary or an explanation for something else, the reaction is: cool, but what about the main thing? The comparison was the hierarchy of needs. It's like being told there's indoor plumbing while still worrying about being eaten by a lion. Immediate safety comes first, and a working toilet can wait.

There was also the question of format. DC already has an official podcast on an existing network, so why not do a single episode of that devoted to the canon question, rather than something that read like a brand new show? One possibility floated was that this could simply be a special episode inside the official DC podcast, in which case it would be fine. It all depends on how it's presented.

Our verdict on the Suicide Squad canon podcast

The suspicion is that the podcast exists mostly to say whether Margot Robbie is still Harley Quinn, and that may be the only real thing it deals with. There's genuine affection for the people involved. Gunn, Holland and Agee were all praised as fun, and there's a willingness to go along with whatever this turns out to be.

Chris Carr made it clear he won't be listening. He said he'll read some notes, learn whether something is canon, and move on. The other side of the conversation was that listening comes with the job, so it will get heard and reported back on.

But the strongest point stands. As it was framed in the discussion, "it just feels like you're giving me dessert. I I would really like my meal, please."