Popular film magazine Empire have released a slew of new production photos from next year’s Suicide Squad, showing both behind-the-scenes and front-of-camera action from the anti-Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Details of Suicide Squad have been relatively light on the ground since the first trailer premiered at Comic-Con earlier this year, but as 2016 edges ever closer (can you believe it’s November already?), more information is coming to light.

You can see the full collection of images in the gallery below, as well as a series of exclusive magazine covers which will accompany the article when the latest edition of Empire hits shelves, but suffice to say that we’re super-excited to see David Ayer’s vision hit screens next year.

Not only will we see this fascinating band of super-villains hit the screen, we’ll also see more of Ben Affleck’s Batman after his first appearance in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice as, if rumours are to be believed, the two films are extremely closely linked. Additionally, it seems Suicide Squad and BvS are the first two films to kick off Warner Bros. answer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, culminating in a Justice League film which is to enter production in the coming years.

Suicide Squad‘s official plot reads as follows:

A secret government agency run by Amanda Waller, named A.R.G.U.S creates a task force comprised of super villains, the “Suicide Squad”. They are assigned to execute dangerous tasks in exchange for shorter prison sentences.

If the name ‘Amanda Waller’ sounds familiar to you – and indeed so does the concept of the Suicide Squad as whole – that’s probably because the group have been alluded to in a number of episodes of the smash TV show, Arrow. Although Arrow‘s universe is completely separate from that of its cinematic counterpart, the origins of the group are being kept similar due to their groundings in the DC Comics – including the series’ original plans to include Harley Quinn in upcoming storylines, before this was nixed due to WB’s plans for the Suicide Squad film. Arrow’s third season alluded to the presence of Harley Quinn in the TV series’ universe, as the deleted scene below from one episode shows, before it was pulled for the above reasons.

Suicide Squad is released in the UK on 5 August 2016 and stars Will Smith as Floyd Lawton/Deadshot, Jared Leto as The Joker, Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn, Carla Delevingne as Enchantress, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Waylon Jones/Killer Croc, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flagg and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang.

Source: Empire