The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn, has broadened the DC Extended Universe, although Task Force X had already been on the big screen. The appeared in the 2017 Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer and starring Margot Robbie and Will Smith as Harley Quinn and Deadshot. And the scrapped kiss between those two characters was just revealed in an Ayer Cut image.

A shot from the 2016 film’s cutting room floor was shared by the @RTAyerCutSS Twitter account. Harley and Deadshot are intimately embracing and kissing each other in this scene. “Boom 😉 #ReleaseTheAyerCut,” the tweet’s caption reads.

Warner Bros.

Many people have expressed displeasure with this intimate moment, while others have wished that it had been made canon. One person responded, “I need this!” while another added, “You act like any part of this is a good thing.” Many comic book fans point out that the two had already teamed up in the pages of DC Comics. The couple end up acting more like buddies than sexual partners in the theatrical version of 2016’s Suicide Squad.

There is proof to the contrary for those of you conspiracy theorists out there who would point the finger and say this is a fake or a Photoshop. The same Twitter user had earlier today published a snapshot of the screenplay that described this incident. Harley Quinn is described as approaching Deadshot face to face and displaying sexual chemistry. They then had a brief exchange of words before she “grins and plants one on his lips.”

But the issue remains: will fans get the “Ayer Cut,” which some fans have expressed a strong desire for? It’s exceedingly improbable, especially after the popularity of The Suicide Squad. Zack Snyder’s Justice League was only produced because the previous film—which Warner Bros. had a hand in mutilating—performed so poorly, and COVID provided the studio with a desire for something new and substantial.

The proof that Will Smith’s Deadshot and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn get more than professional in Suicide Squad shouldn’t come as a surprise to close fans of either the comics or the scuttlebutt about the many things WarnerBros. decreed changed in the film. Last May, in response to a fan question on Twitter about Diablo’s (Jay Hernandez) original fate, Ayer said that Diablo — who dies in the film’s climactic battle — was supposed to live, and added that “Harley and Deadshot hooked up.” Both of these elements were adjusted in reshoots, according to Ayer.

In a statement to his fans, Ayer said, “I put my life into Suicide Squad. I made something amazing. My cut is intricate and emotional journey with some bad people who are shit on and discarded (a theme that resonates in my soul). The studio cut is not my movie. Read that again. And my cut is not the 10 week director’s cut – it’s a fully mature edit by Lee Smith standing on the incredible work by John Gilroy. It’s all Steven Price’s brilliant score, with not a single radio song in the whole thing. It has traditional character arcs, amazing performances, a solid third-act resolution. A handful of people have seen it.”

While The Suicide Squad does not directly reference its predecessor, it does have Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis, and Jai Courtney, who all appeared in the previous picture. It’s also to thank for a lot of the revived interest in the Ayer Cut, but the director’s answer to a critic deserves the greatest credit. Tim Grierson, a reviewer, tweeted two weeks ago that he kept thinking Ayer should give up attempting to get his edit out while viewing Gunn’s new picture. Ayer responded with a lengthy and impassioned message. He wrote on how his life influenced the plot, argued the studio’s cut was not his cut, and equated the studio’s edits to having his “heart torn out,” among other things. As a result of Ayer’s answer, his followers have redoubled their efforts to generate interest in the cut. Karen Fukuhara, who played Katana in the 2016 film, acknowledged to Radio Times last year that a “Ayer Cut” movie poster misled him into thinking it had been greenlit.