Comment on Mel Gibson directing a “Suicide Squad” sequel wouldn’t be so surprising

By Michael Cavna, The Washington Post Perhaps Mel Gibson wasn’t insulting superhero films last year as much as he was auditioning to land one. Last fall at the Venice Film Festival, as the director was selling his Oscar-nominated film “Hacksaw Ridge,” Gibson slammed Warner Bros./DC’s “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” as “a piece of [expletive]” and added, for good measure, that “real superheroes didn’t wear Spandex.” His strong words to Deadline stirred headlines – especially given the critical drubbing and below-expectations box office that “Batman v Superman” had drawn – and they take on a new light now, as he is shortlisted for WB/DC’s “Suicide Squad” sequel, according to the trades. Yet his latter statement must be taken in context: Gibson was selling a film about a true-life World War II war hero — Andrew Garfield’s medic character Desmond Doss, who became the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor.