The Suicide Squad's Jai Courtney Suggests James Gunn Is Open To Him Returning As Captain Boomerang, And I Have Some DCU Questions
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Jai Courtney is definitely no stranger to the superhero genre, as the actor has two DC films under his belt. He notably played Digger Harkness a.k.a. Captain Boomerang in 2016's Suicide Squad and its standalone sequel, 2021's The Suicide Squad. Harkness met a bloody fate early into the follow-up film, which seemed to mark the end of his story. However, Courtney just gave the impression that filmmaker James Gunn, who now co-runs DC Studios, is open to him reprising the role. And that leaves me with questions.
The Suicide Squad begins with Task Force X being sent on a mission to the island nation of Corto Maltese. Unfortunately, the operation doesn't go as planned, and it ends with much of the team being massacred. That includes Captain Boomerang, who's hit with both helicopter parts and splinters before the chopper crushes him. Such a demise seems definite, but Jai Courtney told Variety amid the Cannes Film Festival that Gunn gave him 'hope' regarding a return to the world of DC:
I was like, 'Come on, man. Boomerang is cool.' And James is like, 'You know these rules don't really apply. Just because he dies here doesn't mean it's gone forever, right?' And I was like, 'Hell yeah.' So I have hope. Somewhere in the back of my mind, there's a prayer that we'll see more of Boomerang one day.
These comments are quite different from the ones that Jai Courtney shared in late 2024. At that time, Courtney didn't seem so bullish about reprising his role as the deranged criminal. Fans may be keen to know, however, that he's willing to return and that James Gunn apparently left the door open for him as well. However, given Digger was one of the many casualties in The Suicide Squad, we really should ponder the possible ways in the which the character could even reappear, and this could be tricky.
Since James Gunn took on the role of co-CEO of DC Studios, he's been overseeing development on the first chapter of the DCU continuity. Jai Courtney's version of Harkness technically existed in the DC Extended Universe, so that raises questions as to how the character could even return. I mean, could he be added to a production by way of a flashback that takes place before his gruesome demise? That certainly sounds like a feasible solution.
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There is however another question to consider: could Boomerang simply be retconned back to life? Canon has been a major topic of discussion since the DCU was confirmed to be in development, and there have been a number of official explanations on that front. For instance, it's been confirmed that 'almost all' of Peacemaker Season 1 is canon within the DCU, despite the show having been born out of the DCEU. With that, the show ignores some previous developments and embraces others. So, given that logic, maybe this new timeline could gloss over Digger's death, allowing him to return to the land of the living.
I suppose there's also an easier solution, which would simply be to have the Dangerous Animals star just portray another character entirely for the DCU. After all, Alan Tudyk plays multiple DC roles now, and it's quite impressive how he does it. Despite that though, the Australian star's comments definitely give the impression that he's specifically keen on returning as Harkness.
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All in all, I'd say that there's at least a chance that Jai Courtney will don those weaponized boomerangs again, especially since James Gunn went out of his way to soothe his concerns. Of course, it's hard to say if something concrete will actually come to fruition. In the meantime, stream both Suicide Squad movies using a Max subscription.
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