8 Reasons Why The Suicide Squad Just Bombed At The Box-Office

6. A Largely Unknown Cast Of Characters...

margot robbie the suicide squad
Warner Bros. Pictures

As Gunn's work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe has already proved, having an unknown cast of characters isn't always a bad thing. Nobody knew who the Guardians Of The Galaxy were, but that first movie ended up being one of the highest-grossing hits of 2014.

For a second though, just imagine if it had flopped instead. Do you know what people would've said? "Guys, this was always going to fail - because who the hell cares about the Guardians Of The Galaxy?"

Putting C-tier characters in a C-tier property is always going to be a gamble, and in this case, it didn't pay off. Warner Bros marketed this movie like Suicide Squad is a massive IP that everybody loves, but in reality, we had one terrible movie back in 2016. And on top of that, nobody cares about Bloodsport, Polka-Dot Man, Rick Flag, and Ratcatcher. Were people actually excited to see Peacemaker? Or did all that hype exist within the movie-fan bubble?

Sure, those of us who saw the movie fell in love with all these characters (Polka-Dot Man and King Shark stole the show, and Bloodsport was a total badass). But as Paramount recently discovered with GI Joe and Snake Eyes, that bubble makes it seem like things are way more popular than they actually are.

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Danny has been with WhatCulture for almost nine years, and is currently Doctor Who Editor and WhoCulture Channel Manager, overseeing all of WhatCulture's Whoniverse coverage. He has been writing and video editing for 10+ years, and first got a taste for content creation after making his own Doctor Who trailers and uploading them to YouTube (they're admittedly a bit rusty by today's standards). If you need someone to recite every Doctor Who episode in order or to tell you about the making of 1988's Remembrance of the Daleks, Danny is the person to ask.