Fandom In Context: Is The 'Release The Ayer Cut' Movement 'Suicide Squad' Goals?

It feels like a hundred years since the release of Suicide Squad. The supervillain team-up movie hit theaters the height of DC's Snyder-era in August 2016, and despite earning an Oscar, it remains one of DC's most ignored and forgotten failures. The success of the Snyder Cut movement changed things. Over the past year, as a segment of the fandom demanded a completed version of Snyder's Justice League, some fans grumbled "Release the Ayer Cut" in David Ayer's Twitter mentions. But do most fans actually want them to #ReleaseTheAyerCut?

Joker and Harleen Quinzel. 🃏#ReleaseTheAyerCut pic.twitter.com/IWrMBKt1hF

— Joker Jared Leto (@SSDavidAyerCut) October 28, 2020

Suicide Squad is a weird blip in the history of the DC cinematic universe. Pitched to audiences as a Guardians of the Galaxy-style romp about Gotham with a beguiling performance by Jared Leto as the Joker at its core, the film was a financial success, earning more than $730 million worldwide. It also has the bizarre honor of being the first DC film of the modern era to win an Academy Award. The film didn't exactly bowl over audiences. Leto's much-hyped Joker turn was barely in it, whole plot lines felt half-baked and inconclusive, and the needle drops were overused and too on the nose. Warners pressed on. They gave Margot Robbie a spin-off film, Birds of Pray, and James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy the soft reboot/sequel The Suicide Squad. 2016's Suicide Squad, however, feels like something DC wants to sweep under the rug.

By all accounts, David Ayer wasn't expected to return for a sequel. In 2016, reports of turmoil in the editing room accompanied the film to theaters. In a joint statement to the Hollywood Reporter in 2016, Warner Bros. production president Greg Silverman and David Ayer said, "This was an amazing experience. We did a lot of experimentation and collaboration along the way. But we are both very proud of the result. This is a David Ayer film, and Warners is proud to present it." The Hollywood Reporter tells a very different story:

A source with knowledge of events says Warners executives, nervous from the start, grew more anxious after they were blindsided and deeply rattled by the tepid response to Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. '[Warners CEO Kevin Tsujihara] was really pissed about damage to the brand,' says one executive close to the studio. A key concern for Warners executives was that Suicide Squad didn't deliver on the fun, edgy tone promised in the strong teaser trailer for the film. So while Ayer pursued his original vision, Warners set about working on a different cut, with an assist from Trailer Park, the company that had made the teaser.

Despite the review bombings that preceded the film's release, few defended Suicide Squad after actually seeing it. On the /r/DCcomics subreddit, the film didn't fare much better. "Many fans in our community approach the movies with optimism and support, but that was not the case when Suicide Squad came out," wrote Bhavya, who has been moderating /r/DCcomics for the past five years. "While reviews from users themselves were mostly mixed, I found that many of them were disappointed given the wider criticisms of the DC Cinematic Universe." The one-two punch of Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad really hit fans hard. As Marvel continued to take their B- and C-list characters and turn them into lunchboxes and franchises, DC was stumbling to make a single Batman movie everyone could agree on. "In the subreddit, the general feeling at release was that it was mediocre," wrote Joe, an engineer from Texas, who's been moderating /r/DCcomics for four years. "Outside the sub (like on r/movies), I think reactions were a bit more negative. It wasn't as nearly polarizing as Batman v Superman, nor did it really provoke strong reactions either way." Suicide Squad ended up in a weird grey area, becoming DC's first Oscar winner and its first forgotten film.

Suicide Squad hasn't earned many fans in the years since. But some fans still hold out hope for a better version of the film. In 2017, a Redditor put together a fan-made recut of the movie, which resequenced events, recolored flashbacks and even rescored sections. Still, many of the scenes promised in the trailer never made their way into the edit. And while some re-edits become mythic and grant new life to misunderstood works, like Topher Grace's re-edit of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, "Suicide Squad: Ultimate Edition" failed to catch on.

Over the last few years, Warner Bros. more or less moved on from the Ayer-version of Suicide Squad. They announced that James Gunn would direct the sequel, and fans were thrilled. "I enjoyed the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, so I was pleased to hear that he was directing," writes Joe. "The reactions on the sub were very positive." Meanwhile, Ayer will drop a little more information on what went wrong with the movie now and then. Earlier this year, he told a fan on Twitter that Harley Quinn's arc in the film was "eviscerated." Last month, he went into a little more detail, tweeting that his film the reaction to Batman V. Superman and Deadpool pitted him against the studio. "The reason was BVS got chewed up by the critics, and the success of Deadpool – the studio leadership at the time panicked," he tweeted. "Then major elements of my cut were ripped out before I could mature the edit. Then Johns wrote pages I had to reshoot."

Sadly her story arc was eviscerated. It was her movie in so many ways. Look I tried. I rendered Harley comic book accurate. Everything is political now. Everything. I just want to entertain. I will do better. https://t.co/8s4fewsBRH

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) April 11, 2020

For sure that became a factor – but the reason was BVS got chewed up by the critics, and the success of Deadpool – the studio leadership at the time panicked. Then major elements of my cut were ripped out before I could mature the edit. Then Johns wrote pages I had to reshoot 😔 https://t.co/MNmiXoH1Cc

— David Ayer (@DavidAyerMovies) October 31, 2020

To his credit, Ayer hasn't been doing the drum beating that Zack Snyder and his Justice League hordes did. He's denied rumors that Warners was considering a new cut, which makes sense because there's not much interest. According to mods on /r/DC_Comics, the idea of an Ayer Cut is more of a meme than a grassroots movement. "For the most part, it's treated as a meme, sometimes used to mock Snyder fans," says Joe. "At best, you'll see a few people who have a slight interest in Ayer's original vision, but it's nowhere close to the same enthusiasm or magnitude for the Snyder Cut. There are also people jokingly championing for the 'Schumacher Cut' of Batman Forever."

Maybe that usb drive we found in the bathroom? idk

— TNTDrama (@tntdrama) July 28, 2020

Regardless of whether or not we ever see an "Ayer Cut," we're stuck with elements of Ayer's vision for the time being. Last month, the Guardian reported that Jared Leto's Joker would be returning for Zack Snyder's Justice League. The report was a surprising about-face, considering the adverse reaction to Leto's performance and his costume, makeup, tattoos and teeth. Most of Leto's work in Suicide Squad ended up on the cutting room floor, and he wasn't invited back for Gunn's sequel. It begs the question: who is this for? "The way Jared Leto's Joker was styled when he debuted was received terribly by the community," wrote Bhavya. "Aside from his raw appearance, a lot of readers felt that this rendition was neither faithful to any of the material we have on the Joker nor a believable alternate depiction of the character." If fans don't want it, and Gunn doesn't want it, why bother?

The DC experiment continues to baffle. On the one hand, you have populist films, like Wonder Woman, Aquaman and Shazam, which please audiences and critics, alike. On the other, there is this ragtag assemblage of Snyder's original vision of the universe. Somewhere in the middle is Todd Phillips' Joker, a massive financial success that seemed to straddle the line between edgier filmmaking and comic fare better than what Snyder or Ayer attempted--at least for a majority of audiences. How long can Warners live in both worlds? How much money are they willing to pour into these competing yet overlapping universes? It all depends on how fans received the Snyder Cut. All the while, bits and pieces of Ayer's film will continue to float between worlds while we never get a look at its original whole.