James Gunn Almost Cast Taika Waititi In An Entirely Different 'The Suicide Squad' Role

Writer and director Taika Waititi is one of the many big names in James Gunn's The Suicide Squad. While we've known Waititi has been in the film for awhile, we didn't know what role he was playing exactly.

Those who've seen the movie now know the small but heartfelt part Waititi plays. It turns out, however, that Gunn had another potential role in mind for his fellow MCU director. Read on to learn more, and warning – there be minor spoilers ahead for The Suicide Squad.

In the current film, Waititi plays the deceased father of Ratcatcher II (Daniela Melchior). We see him in flashbacks his daughter recalls — where the two of them lived on the street. Through these flashbacks we get Ratcatcher II's origin story — her dad (Waititi) created the device that let him and her control millions of tiny furry creatures including the dapper Sebastian.

More importantly, Waititi's heartfelt scenes with Mechior also give us an understanding of why Ratcatcher II is the least emotionally messed up of all the Task Force X members — she had a good dad.

While Waititi as Ratcatcher was a small but poignant part in a movie full of violent, spectacular deaths, Gunn initially had larger role in mind for the writer-director. Scheduling conflicts, however, got in the way.

In an interview with IndieWire, Gunn explains what happened:

"I actually thought about Taika for another role and I offered it to him and he said, I don't know....' He was working on 'Akira' at the time, and he said, 'I had to give you my answer in like two weeks,' he totally wanted to do it. It was one of the other superheroes. And he said that he wanted to do it and then 'Akira' got greenlit and it was happening."

Gunn declined to say which particular superhero he had in mind for Waititi. He did admit, however, that it was one of the characters who showed up in the beginning of the film, most of whom got murdered.

What character could it be? I doubt it was Weasel (Sean Gunn), King Shark (Steve Agee/Sylvester Stallone) or Michael Rooker's character, Fabio (AKA Savant), as Gunn regularly casts Rooker, Agee and his brother in his movies. It likely wasn't Captain Boomerang either (Jai Courtney), given Courtney was reprising his role from David Ayer's Suicide Squad movie. Mongal (Mayling Ng) is a female character from the comics, so she's unlikely as well.

That still leaves several options. TDK? Javelin? Blackguard? Polka-Dot Man, even? It's hard to imagine which one, as all the actors play their parts splendidly.

Waititi eventually made his way into the film when Warner Bros. stopped work on Akira. "[Taika] wrote me and he said, 'Oh, [the] f***ing movie fell apart. Is that role is still available?,'" Gunn told IndieWire. "And I said, "No, but let me get you in something else.'"

That something else is the best dad, a character that gives some whimsical warmth to the whole production. So while it wasn't Gunn's initial choice, it is arguably a better one.

The Suicide Squad is now in theaters and on HBO Max.