No established characters underwent race or gender swaps; Harley Quinn remains Margot Robbie's white portrayal, Peacemaker is John Cena, and Elba was deliberately cast as an original role to avoid conflicting with Will Smith's Deadshot. Thematic elements center on government corruption, anti-imperialist satire via the Corto Maltese mission and Starro experiments, and underdog redemption arcs for misfits like Polka-Dot Man, all standard comic-book tropes without framing around systemic identity oppression, toxic masculinity, or DEI lectures.

Gunn explicitly noted in interviews his total creative freedom with no politically correct alterations required. Audience and critic reception focused on the film's gory humor, tonal risks, and character deaths rather than any progressive messaging, with negligible backlash labeling it woke compared to unrelated properties like the later video game.