Exclusive: 'The Suicide Squad' Score To Be Composed By John Murphy

Update: A report has been making the rounds claiming that Tyler Bates, writer/director James Gunn's longtime composer, would be reuniting with Gunn to compose the score for the upcoming Warner Bros. and DC superhero sequel The Suicide Squad. While that report came from a normally-reliable source, people close to the production have informed us that it was incorrect. We've learned that John Murphy (Kick-Ass, Sunshine) will actually be providing the new score. Read more about The Suicide Squad composer and listen to a few of his songs below.

James Gunn has spent his entire career as a feature film director working with only one composer, Tyler Bates, so it stood to reason that Bates would be joining Gunn once again for The Suicide Squad. But it turns out John Murphy is tackling the score instead. Murphy composed the scores for Guy Ritchie's early gangster films like Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, and he's collaborated with Danny Boyle on movies like 28 Days Later... and Sunshine. His other credits include The Perfect Score, Miami Vice, and tons of others, and he's dipped into superhero territory already with the score for 2010's Kick-Ass. I'm curious to see if this collaboration will be a one-time thing between Murphy and Gunn, or if it might mark the start of another long partnership. Here's a selection of Murphy's tracks from across his career:

The Suicide Squad is Gunn's follow-up to David Ayer's messy origin story about DC's famous group of mercenaries and villains. The film stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg, David Dastmalchian (The Dark Knight) as Polka-Dot Man, Daniel Melchior as Ratcatcher, and Steve Agee (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2) as the voice of King Shark. Flula Borg is playing the love interest of one of the characters, but we're still not sure which one. There's been lots of confusion about Idris Elba, who was originally brought on to replace Will Smith as Deadshot, but now seems to be playing a different character, presumably in case Smith wants to come back for another sequel. Storm Reid is playing Elba's daughter. John Cena, Taika Waititi, Sean Gunn, Nathan Fillion, Peter Capaldi, Alice Braga, Pete Davidson, Jennifer Holland, Juan Diego Botto, Julio Ruiz, Joaquin Cosio, Tinashe Kajese, and Mayling Ng are also on board.

Gunn recently said Harley Quinn is high on his list of personal favorite characters he's been associated with: "Harley is one of my favorite characters I've ever written," he said in an Instagram Q&A. "In fact, she's probably my favorite comic character whose personality was well-defined before I wrote her for the screen. She's an incredible companion to have while writing her insane actions and dialogue."

The Suicide Squad, which is the "most complex", "biggest", and "most fun" movie Gunn has worked on so far, is currently slated for release on August 6, 2021.