Strap yourselves in: it's nearly time for Empire's Suicide Squad issue. We've already debuted three covers – a rather spiffing subscriber-only cover with Harley Quinn, another featuring Jared Leto's Joker, and yet another featuring the full delinquent team. Subscribers should be getting their issues on their doormats from today; the regular issue will be on sale from Thursday July 28. Here's just a taste of what you can find inside.
Suicide Squad
As you might expect, there’s a whacking great sixteen pages on DC’s rogues' gallery of baddies, including interviews with all the key cast and crew (deep breath: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, Cara Delevingne, Joel Kinnaman, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje and David Ayer). Plus, we delve into the colourful history of the Joker, from Jack to Jared, and everything in between.
Kong: Skull Island
Thankfully, twasn’t beauty that killed this exclusive first look at Kong: Skull Island, a sort-of-reboot of the classic King Kong monster franchise, with a long-term aim to square off the legendary oversized ape against Godzilla. Our first-look pic features Tom Hiddleston (in case you were wondering why a small portion of the internet just exploded) and Brie Larson, in the belly of a certain beast.
Bridget Jones's Baby
Singledom’s finest, Bridget Jones is the subject of an all-singing, all-wine-white-quaffing Empire oral history this month to mark the release of Bridget Jones’s Baby. Renée Zellweger, Sharon Maguire and Colin Firth are your guides through the tao of Bridge.
Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them
We Wingardium Leviosa-ed our way to the New York set of Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them, where we managed to find a glut of exclusive pictures from inside Newt Scamander's suitcase. We also spoke to Newt himself, Eddie Redmayne, and his director David Yates, for this – the first Potter-less Potter prequel.
The 50 Greatest Villains
In honour of our morally dubious cover stars, we thought we’d round up a list of our favourite movie characters: the guys and gals of cinema who have proved really good at being bad. Unlike our usual patented Empire lists, this one was compiled by 26 famous movie villain actors, who were kind enough to take time out from their busy schedules of moustache-twiddling and cat-stroking to cast their votes.
Michael Keaton
Batman, Birdman and now Empire Interview man, Michael Keaton has had a long and storied career. We sat him down, switched on our dictaphone and quizzed him about new film The Founder (in which he plays the man who invented the Big Mac), Spider-Man: Homecoming, Beetlejuice and much, much more.
Aliens
It’s been 30 years since James Cameron reopened the Alien airlock and reinvented the sequel with his follow-up to Ridley Scott’s outer-space horror. For its anniversary, we asked him to tell the story of his great sci-fi actioner.
Sausage Party
A film that will surely make vegetarians of a generation, Sausage Party is an animated film that prides itself on its lack of family-friendliness. The brains behind the filthy affair, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, talk us through the key characters, including Frank the Sausage, Theresa the Taco, and the excellently-monikered Sammy Bagel Jr.
Noel Clarke and Brotherhood
The third part in a triptych that spans a decade, Brotherhood is the latest from that one-man UK film industry better known as Noel Clarke. He tells Empire about the inspirations for the final leg of his urban trilogy.
On.Screen
Star Trek Beyond leads off this month’s big review of new theatrical releases, games and on-demand content. We’ve also run the rule over The Purge: Election Year, The Lonely Island’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Pete’s Dragon, Julieta and Stranger Things.
Viewing Guide: High-Rise
Hiddlestoners are well-served in this month’s issue of Empire. We kick off our shiny new Re.View section with a viewing guide to Ben Wheatley’s terrifyingly brilliant High-Rise, including quotes from the director himself, and a shot of Tom Hiddleston almost entirely Hiddlestark-naked.
And that's the tip of an 154-page iceberg! The new issue of Empire goes on sale July 28 – available in all good and anti-heroic newsagents. To get future issues like this delivered straight to your door, days before anyone else, complete with exclusive limited edition covers, be sure to subscribe to Empire (and save yourself a bit of cash in the process). You can also now directly buy the issue online here{