Here's What The Setting Of 'The Suicide Squad' Has In Common With The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Question: what does James Gunn's The Suicide Squad, the upcoming supervillain comic book film from DC and Warner Bros., have in common with DC's rivals over in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Answer: an unusual location – or more accurately, the name of an unusual location.

Word has came out that the plot of writer/director James Gunn's The Suicide Squad involves the titular group of supervillains infiltrating a facility built by the Nazis. "They have to destroy a Nazi-era prison and laboratory named Jotunheim, where political prisoners were held and experimentations took place," producer Peter Safran told Empire.

Hardcore fans of the MCU might have done a double take after reading Safran's description. Wait a second. Jotunheim? Isn't that the name of a planet in 2011's Thor? Yes, indeed it is. Jotunheim, which originated from Norse mythology, appears in that movie as one of the Nine Realms and the home of the Frost Giants. It was the site of one of the film's first big battle scenes:

Loki used the shaky relationship between the Jotuns and the Asgardians to his advantage, and his scheme ended up resulting in Thor being banished from Asgard.

In the pages of DC Comics, though, Jotunheim is a completely different thing. It's a huge fortress in the country of Quarac, a rogue nation situated in the Middle East. Built by the Germans in World War II, this version of Jotunheim got its name because its massive size seemed to lend credence to the idea that only giants could have built it. In the comics, it's nearly impenetrable – a small door near the bottom of the structure seems to be the only way in. In one adventure, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis's character in the movies) orders the Suicide Squad to attack Jotunheim, and the group clashes with a terrorist organization that is using the fortress as a stronghold.

It sounds like The Suicide Squad is going to keep some of the basic ideas of that fortress the same in the new movie, although Gunn's film shifts its position from Quarac to a fictional Latin American island called Corto Maltese. That island has appeared in the comics multiple times – once even drawing Superman's presence and sparking a Soviet nuclear attack against the United States of America – and it has been mentioned in passing on DC shows like Smallville and Arrow.

The Suicide Squad is slated to hit theaters on August 6, 2021.