Will Smith’s Deadshot Goes Shopping

Kofi Outlaw | Screenrant.com

DC and Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad movie is currently filming in Canada, but even before production started, director David Ayer and his high-profile cast of stars were making waves on the Internet, either through character and casting announcements, or social media promotions carefully orchestrated to reveal major things like the first look at Jared Leto’s Joker.

Now that Suicide Squad is in production, it finds itself under the usual comic book movie scrutiny – which means dozens of paparazzo (amateur and professional) keeping their peepers on what is taking place on set. Today, the focus of attention is on none other than Will Smith’s Deadshot.

Deadshot Set Photos from Just Jared

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Smith was spotted in Toronto filming a scene for Suicide Squad in which he appears in civilian clothing (well, highly-stylized, gangster-style civilian clothing) out on a shopping trip with his young daughter. As for how we know the young actress in the photo is playing Deadshot’s daughter? Well that’s speculation, but in the comics (especially the modern ones) Deadshot’s (aka Floyd Lawton) daughter is a major part of his backstory – which  involves being an assassin thwarted by Batman, who is coerced into Suicide Squad service using his daughter as bait.

Aside from Smith’s “Big Willie Style” getup (sure to elicit varied response from hyper-critical fans), the real question in these photos is the chronology of the scene. In it, Lawton clearly still has two working eyes (not a targeting monocle or patch on one of them) – but there’s no real confirmation that this version of Deadshot will be one-eyed, so no real conclusions to draw there.

In the comic books, there have been scenes where Lawton was allowed time with his daughter as a means of coercion; a few moments after the happy shopping trip we’re witnessing, Amanda Waller’s (Viola Davis) agents could pull Floyd away from his little girl, just to provide “incentive” for him to complete his mission. By the same token, the scene could be a flashback, in order to help humanize Deadshot as more anti-hero than villain, by showing that he has an honorable goal worth fighting for. If Ayer wants to go really dark (this is the DCMU after all…), then maybe something happens to the daughter that pushes Lawton into first becoming Deadshot.

In any event, the screen time being devoted to the character’s backstory further indicates that DC/WB will use Suicide Squad as a launchpad for the villains in their movie universe – villains who will appear in other major DCMU films down the line. Some of them (Killer Croc, Black Manta) may just get cameo introductions – but characters like Joker, Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) and Deadshot will no doubt be propped up as major DCMU figures right from the outset (as well they should). More set photos will likely reveal additional dimensions to the story, so stay tuned.