A giant Starro statue has been built in Leicester Square to celebrate the release of The Suicide Squad.

The film’s director, James Gunn, took to Twitter to repost a video showing an enormous structure newly erected in Leicester Square yesterday (July 27) ahead of the film’s premiere.

• READ MORE: ‘The Suicide Squad’ movie: release date, plot details, cast and everything we know so far

“On my God. [sic] I’ve loved/been terrified by #Starro since I was a little kid & this is blowing my mind,” Gunn wrote in the caption for the video. You can see it here:

On my God. ? I’ve loved/been terrified by #Starro since I was a little kid & this is blowing my mind. #TheSuicideSquad pic.twitter.com/maXsCbpCbz

— James Gunn (@JamesGunn) July 27, 2021

Starro is the main antagonist in the forthcoming film, having first originated in the comics as a Justice League villain.

Explaining his decision to bring Starro back, Gunn recently told ComicBook: “Well I just, I wanted a major DC villain that is a major DC villain that people wouldn’t expect to be in a movie.

“And I’ve always loved Starro. I mean, as a kid, I found Starro completely terrifying. The idea of this giant starfish with one big guy that shoots these things out of him that take over people’s brains, like those old pictures with Superman with him on his face. Always scared the shit out of me.

“So, it was about taking something that was completely, mind you, ridiculous, that looks, putting him in a setting that is the gritty streets of Cologne, Panama, and then allowing him to do his scary business, but he’s also completely outrageous. And so, that mix of things appealed to my aesthetic.”

The first reviews of The Suicide Squad called the film “balls to the wall bonkers” and “unique in style & full of risks,” with another critic calling it “as funny, irreverent and violent as promised”.

The Suicide Squad will be released in UK cinemas this Friday (July 30).