Suicide Squad: 12 Ways The Marketing Has Been Genius
9. The Handling Of Other Media Strengthened The "Brand"
The movie won't be the first time the Skwad has been realised in live-action; they were a recurring sub-plot in Seasons 2 and 3 of Arrow. Importantly, however, they were dropped as soon as possible once the movie arm of DC started moving forward on a film. Now this is very smart from a branding point of view; whereas with The Flash it's easier to have multiple versions at once because of the character's place in pop culture, for a team made up mostly of unknowns a sense of focus and uniqueness is needed, something a TV parallel will have greatly weakened.
However, the groundwork for the film dates back earlier than that. She may now be almost as big as her love interest, but Harley Quinn's popularity wasn't always stratospheric, and in fact for a period in the mid-naughties she fell out of ubiquity. It was thanks to various pushes, specifically a beloved New 52 comic run, that really put her on top, which was coincidentally just around the time a Suicide Squad movie was starting to come together. Coincidence? I think not.
Branding is an essential part of selling a movie and when it comes to Suicide Squad DC have been very careful in positioning what this "brand" actually means.