The superhero news just keeps on coming today.  Earlier this morning, Warner Bros. unveiled its full slate of DC Comics adaptations through the year 2020.  One of the more surprising revelations was that the superhero pic set to follow the release of the sure-to-be-massive Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be Suicide Squad, with Fury and End of Watch helmer David Ayer set to direct.  That release date is set for August 5, 2016, and so as Ayer gets to work on the script, the studio is starting to think about casting—and boy are they aiming high.  The actors that are reportedly being courted to lead this new DC film are Ryan Gosling, Will Smith, Margot Robbie, and Tom Hardy.  More after the jump.

suicide-squad-margot-robbie-will-smith

In a report on the fact that Gosling is currently looking into possibly leading a franchise film (including Doctor Strange), Heat Vision reports that Warner Bros. is aiming to fill Suicide Squad out with an A-list ensemble.  In addition to Gosling, Will Smith, Tom Hardy, and The Wolf of Wall Street star Margot Robbie are all fielding offers to star in the anit-hero comics adaptation.  Now this doesn’t mean that any or all of these actors will take these roles, and indeed Warner Bros. offers pretty much everything to these aforementioned actors, but imagine if you had those four people in a single superhero movie.  That’d be pretty nuts, and certainly a different approach than Marvel Studios, who in the past has mainly stuck to creating stars out of new talent like Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.

Smith and Robbie are actually coming off of working together recently in Warner Bros.' con artist caper Focus, and Robbie is in production on Warner Bros.’ big Tarzan reboot.  Hardy, of course, played the villain in the studio’s The Dark Knight Rises and leads the upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road, and Gosling appeared in the studio’s noir-esque drama The Gangster Squad.  So all of these actors definitely have ties to the studio, but whether they’re interested in signing on to star in a superhero film—and likely becoming contractually obligated to appear in future sequels and/or DC movies—is up in the air.

suicide-squad-tom-hardy

A recent report claimed to reveal the characters that will make up this Suicide Squad movie, with Deadshot, Harkness, and Vixen poised to be the leads.  I’m not terribly familiar with the comic, but I could certainly see Gosling taking on the role of Deadshot, Hardy playing Harkness, and Robbie playing Vixen.  For a more in-depth look at the source material, be sure to check out Perri’s recent primer.

Again, at this stage these are only offers being sent to very, very popular actors so there’s no guarantee that they’ll accept and star in Suicide Squad, but we can see that Warner Bros. is aiming very high when it comes to filling out its DC Comics adaptations.

What do you think of this development, readers?  Are Gosling, Smith, Hardy, and Robbie a good fit for Suicide Squad? Who would you like to see them play?  Sound off in the comments below.

ryan-gosling-blade-runner-2
Image via Focus Features