With DC’s draft of superheroes arriving late to the live-action film franchise game, Warner Bros' plan to topple Marvel has upped the ante with the announcement of the cast for Suicide Squad. The film, which sees a bunch of baddies teaming up when coerced into doing some good, stars A-listers Jared Leto, Tom Hardy and Will Smith.

Leto, who won an Oscar this year for The Dallas Buyers Club, will take on the role of DC’s iconic villain The Joker, previously played by Jack Nicholson and Heath Ledger, and voiced for more than two decades by Mark ‘Luke Skywalker’ Hamill in the critically-acclaimed Batman animated series. Will Smith will play an assassin named Deadshot, while Hardy is Rick Flag, the leader of the squad.

Australian actors Jai Courney (A Good Day to Die Hard) and Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street) play Boomerang and Harley Quinn, while British supermodel Cara Delevingne will play Enchantress, a sorceress.

The David Ayer film sees a group of anti-heroes team up when a government agency offers them their freedom if the accept a mission - one which they might not survive.

Jesse Eisenberg, the franchise’s Lex Luthor, is rumoured to be in talks to also appear, while no word yet on who will play Amanda Waller, who overseas the group. Angela Bassett previously played a version of the character in the poorly-received Green Lantern movie, but it is believed Viola Davis, Octavia Spencer and Oprah Winfrey are in the running.

“The Warner Bros roots are deep on this one,” Warner Bros president Greg Silverman said in a statement to Variety. “We look forward to seeing this terrific ensemble, under David Ayer’s amazing guidance, give new meaning to what it means to be a villain and what it means to be a hero.”

Suicide Squad is scheduled for release in August, 2016.