Karen Fukuhara in Suicide Squad (2016)

Apparently, Once Upon a Cut Sequence, Katana Had Something to Do in Suicide Squad

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It seems that behind every critically panned DC Movie, there’s a story about how the powers that be supposedly cut things out of the film and made it worse in the process. According to ComicBookMovie.com, Suicide Squad director David Ayer shared some information about what was “supposed” to happen in his film concerning The Joker, Harley, Enchantress, and Katana.

Ayer has been saying for a while that there was a lot he changed to make Suicide Squad work for Warner Bros. Apparently, The Joker was supposed to make a comeback and make a deal with Enchantress that would the breakup of his relationship with Harley. This would be interesting, but it doesn’t really make sense. Having recently sat through the “extended edition” of the film, Harley and Joker are shown to be in a loving relationship. We know from the comics that it’s abusive, but other than the electroshock scene, the film makes them a loving team. Harley is devastated when he dies, and if he came back and they were going to be evil together, nothing about the movie version of the character makes me think she’d turn that down.

The other thing, which is based on an image they say Ayer shared from his “Ayer Cut” (ugh, gods), is Katana attacking Task Force X after being infected by Enchantress.

Wow, Katana actually having something to do? That sounds nice. One of the frustrating things about Katana’s inclusion in the movie is that she barely speaks and contributes nothing. At least Killer Croc has a few one-liners and gets to do man-crocodile things underwater. Katana is there as a bodyguard who gets her entire backstory told in clunky exposition. There is one scene between her and Harley in the extended cut, but it’s mostly Harley being obnoxious, Katana being ominous, and Deadshot coming to tell Harley not to “act like a drunken stripper.” Sigh.

And it sucks because Katana is one of the few really notable Asian superheroes in comics, so having her relegated to maybe a handful of speaking lines in her film debut is just frustrating as hell. Katana has been around since the ’80s and was hand-picked to be part of Batman’s personal black ops team, The Outsiders. While she’s been a member of both the Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey, it felt Suicide Squad just used her as a callback to the comics rather than making her a character.

Well, at least Karen Fukuhara, who played Katana, has an excellent career as a voice actress now, as Glimmer on She-Ra and Kipo on Kipo and the Wonderbeasts.

The idea of her being possessed by Enchantress in the final battle just feels cheesy. Since it was Katana’s sword that ended up being the secret to helping defeat Enchantress, she should have been the one to deliver the killing blow—rather than have her signature weapon be wielded by Harley and that allowing Deadshot to end the battle. If the original ending would’ve let Katana save the day, then yeah, I’d have preferred that. Otherwise … ehhhhhhhhh.

(via ComicBookMovie.com, image:DCEU/Warner Bros.)

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Princess Weekes
Princess (she/her-bisexual) is a Brooklyn born Megan Fox truther, who loves Sailor Moon, mythology, and diversity within sci-fi/fantasy. Still lives in Brooklyn with her over 500 Pokémon that she has Eevee trained into a mighty army. Team Zutara forever.