After watching Suicide Squad, Will Rowlands, the DC fan in question, found David Ayer emotionally invested and nervous about his thoughts on the film, as the director has shouldered much hate over the years from his work that was made unrecognizable behind his back.Rowlands stated that he was under an NDA as to why he was on set for The Beekeeper but was given the green light to talk about Ayer's Suicide Squad, which the act of Ayer showing the film on his personal device did not break any contract. Rowlands expressed being glued to it and calls Ayer's Suicide Squad superior to the theatrical cut in ways that tonally align with the original Comic-Con Suicide Squad trailer.Rowlands interviewed with SkiiWalker, an instrumental figure in the sell Snyderverse to Netflix initiative, about Ayer's Suicide Squad, revealing key details and more on the studio’s post-production meddling. After Ayer submitted the film to the studio, Warner Bros. made a secret second edit that Ayer was unaware of. Rowlands details Ayer's cut of Suicide Squad being 2 hours and 24-ish minutes, making it 10 minutes longer than the studio cut. Within that is roughly 45 minutes of unseen footage and original scenes before the re-shoots occurred. This unseen footage includes “much, much more” of Ben Affleck's Batman in ways that connect deeper to Batman v Superman and more of Jared Leto's Joker, which Rowlands describes as “brutal.” This echoes previous sentiments of Ayer, who conveyed Leto's performance being “ripped to pieces” in the theatrical cut.
Rowlands says there is deeper character work in the first 20 minutes of Ayer's Suicide Squad than the entirety of the studio cut, including an original soundtrack that was replaced with songs by Warner Bros. Rowlands expressed that June and Enchantress' character arc is more “fleshed out and meaningful” and Harley Quinn's story arc is liberating, which Rowlands describes as empowering to women, rather than Harley returning to Joker in the studio cut. Scott Eastwood's character was also “a relevant part of the story,” instead of a throwaway character, and there is more of Will Smith's Deadshot and his daughter, but “there is no guy selling a Superman t-shirt.”
Aside from minimal VFX work that needs completing, the Ayer cut is apparently finished and allegedly still looks better and more graphic than the studio cut. Ayer told Rowlands that there is hope and that the director wants fans to continue fighting for it, which suggests that something may be brewing behind closed doors. DC Studios is moving in a new direction with the DCU reboot; however, the release of Batman v Superman Ultimate Edition and Zack Snyder's Justice League was only the first step in making omens, even though Warner Bros. regarded the Snyder Cut as a mistake. To some people, Warner Bros Discovery may fail to realize that they can not ride off into the sunset unscathed by ignoring past mistakes, as righting the wrongs of the past and looking to the future are the same.
Suicide Squad is available on HBO Max.