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The 2016 film Suicide Squad had a troubled production history.

Original Scripts (2014-2015)
Development of a film based on the Suicide Squad began as early as 2009. Justin Marks, who had previously written the cancelled Green Arrow: Escape From Super-Max, would write the script and was teamed with producer Dan Lin under the supervision of Warner Bros.'s Jon Berg and DC's Gregory Noveck. With Lin's Justice League Mortal on hold, all his efforts were put into Suicide Squad. Lin went on to describe the film as "Dirty Dozen set in the world of supervillains". The script was in development until 2011, when Marks' final draft was made.

After two years in stalling, and following the release of Man of Steel, the project was revived as part of the new DC Extended Universe. David S. Goyer, the writer of Man of Steel was being looked at as the architect of this universe and was to be involved with a Suicide Squad project. By the end of 2013, Suicide Squad was being looked at as a potential low budget ($40 million) project for the universe. As late as early 2014, Marks' 2011 script was still being used to attract directors to the project, to little success. By mid-late 2014, the studio began to move in a different direction.

In August 2014, while the DCEU's launchpad film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was in production, WB announced release dates for several unnamed DCEU films, including one for August 8th, 2016. Around this time, David Ayer (End of Watch), after wrapping Fury, began talks with WB to direct and potentially write a DC film. Of the properties, Ayer gravitated towards and chose Suicide Squad. Suicide Squad was pitched at a time when Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and The Flash were already in development, causing a restructuring of the producing structure so as to keep producers Charles Roven and Deborah Snyder from having to travel long distances to keep an eye on every DCEU film. Ayer officially began circling the project in September 2014, with Charles Roven slated to produce the film. On October 15th, 2014, David Ayer was officially confirmed to write and direct the film in the announcement of a slate of ten movies beginning with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.