The Suicide Squad could make the DC Extended Universe even more Marvel-ous. According to Deadline, Thor: Ragnarok’s own Taika Waititi is in talks to join The Suicide Squad, which will be directed by Guardians of the Galaxy helmer James Gunn.
There’s no word yet on which character Waititi might be playing in the movie or how big his role will be. Still, Waititi’s addition to the cast would help make The Suicide Squad into an unofficial Marvel Cinematic Universe reunion. In addition to Gunn and Waititi, The Suicide Squad will feature Idris Elba, who played the Heimdall in the MCU, and Nathan Fillion, who made cameos in both of Gunn’s Marvel flicks. Dave Bautista, who appears as Drax in the MCU, was reportedly approached to appear in The Suicide Squad, but those discussions seem to have stalled.
Gunn signed on with The Suicide Squad after Disney fired the director after some of the one-time Troma filmmaker’s old, offensive tweets resurfaced. Disney has since brought Gunn back into the fold, but say that shooting on Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 won’t begin until Gunn’s obligations to DC and Warner Bros. have been filled. Previously, Warner Bros. hired The Avengers director Joss Whedon to conduct uncredited reshoots on the DCEU’s big crossover flick, Justice League, in an attempt to capture some of that Marvel magic.
Technically, The Suicide Squad is a sequel to the 2016 DC Extended Universe film Suicide Squad, although Gunn says that his movie is more of a soft reboot of the franchise than a direct follow-up. Margot Robbie, who played Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad and the upcoming Birds of Prey, is expected to return for the sequel, as is Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Joel Kinnaman. They’ll be joined by Squad newcomers Elba, David Dastmalchian, Daniela Melchior, Flula Borg, and Steve Agee. Other Suicide Squad veterans, including Will Smith, who played Deadshot in the original film, will not appear in the movie
The Suicide Squad follows the adventures of a group of supervillains who agree to undertake dangerous missions from the United States government in exchange for reduced prison sentences. The movie will be released in theaters on August 6, 2021.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?
YouTube is changing how its Home page works, giving viewers more control over what shows up there and making some of the app’s most-used sections easier to reach. Custom Feeds are now replacing the existing topic chips for eligible users, while YouTube is also testing a redesigned top bar on mobile that moves Subscriptions closer to the Home feed.
YouTube first started experimenting with Custom Feeds earlier this year, letting you type out what you wanted to watch and turning that request into its own stream of recommendations. Now, the feature is starting to look less like a side experiment and more like something YouTube actually wants people to use as part of their everyday Home page.