Fans of DC’s colorful brigade of (only partially inept) super villains were given a dose of adrenaline last week when Warner Bros. Pictures dropped the first official trailer for 2021’s The Suicide Squad. The trailer was the introduction people had been waiting for to the new ragtag group of villains after 2016’s first installment, Suicide Squad.

The James Gunn directorial venture will be another story of the exploits of Task Force X from the Belle Reve prison, where only the worst super villains are held. Amanda Waller, played by Viola Davis, recruits a group of villains to fly to an enemy-infested South American island and destroy a Nazi-era prison called Jotunheim in exchange for reduced sentencing.

The trailer features the chaos and destruction that follows the group around as they make their way around the island while trying not to get killed or kill each other. Davis reprises her role from the original film, along with Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, and Margot Robbie (one of the stars of V’s Chanel Book) as Harley Quinn, fresh off the success of Birds of Prey. Idris Elba, John Cena, Pete Davidson, and Sylvester Stallone join the main cast as Bloodsport, Peacemaker, Blackguard, and the voice of King Shark respectively.

However, fans were given a special April Fools treat with a second trailer dropping yesterday. A lot of it features many of the same visuals and scenes from the first, with more exposition and some additional deep dives into the origin of each of the main characters.

The trailers showcase the same blend of humor and violence that populated the first film, although with a lot more focus on the action this go around. The use of special effects and colors in Quinn’s scenes suggests that a bit of the stylistic choices from Birds of Prey might carry over to this installment of the franchise as well. 

The film is a standalone sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer, which opened to mixed reviews and moderate success. The plot and characters were some of the main points of critique, particularly Jared Leto’s Joker, who doesn’t return for this film (but does make an appearance in the Justice League Snyder Cut). The film is set to be released theatrically and on HBO Max on August 6, 2021.