Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a slap in the face for Arkham fans

❘ Published: 2024-01-31T17:15:38

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League Batman boss

Warner Bros.

If you enjoyed the Batman Arkham series, then Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is likely going to leave you frustrated. Naturally, spoilers for the game lurk below.

Let’s address the obvious first: Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League did exactly what the title said it was going to do. Every member of the DC’s main superhero team was killed in the game, and some of them rather unceremoniously. As a result of this, some fans are furious, especially regarding the treatment of Batman – a character Rocksteady spent four different Arkham games building into one of gaming’s most beloved versions of the character.

Some fans are more nonchalant, saying, “Well, what did you expect from a game called Kill the Justice League?” The problem is that the title doesn’t excuse the execution (pun intended) and the wider implications for Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse. If we’re being honest, we didn’t think they’d actually go through with it, at least not quite as literally as they did, and with seemingly little regard for the universe they had already built on the back of Batman.

Nobody is coming to save Batman from the Suicide Squad.

Actually Killing The Justice League

If you had asked us before the game entered early access, we’d have predicted that the Suicide Squad would be only SENT to kill the Justice League, but by the end of the game, they would have figured out a way to free them from their mind control. Essentially, the Squad will have demonstrated their capacity to be better people, as they often do in Suicide Squad stories, but would have figured out a way to make the situation work in their favor. Bad guys don’t do things for purely altruistic reasons, after all.

Also, what’s the point of being a committed supervillain without a superhero to torment? The Joker has taught us this time and time again. Some characters are “destined to do this dance forever,” but they can’t do that when one of them is dead and crumpled over a park bench. We also predicted that we’d likely end up killing a corrupted version of the Justice League from another universe and that the real Justice League would swoop in at the end and take all the credit.

We’d know that the Squad saved the day, but the public would go on worshiping the good guys, even though the bad guys did the heavy lifting. This is part of the Suicide Squad‘s tragedy: no matter how much good they do, for either the wrong or the right reasons, they’re eventually carted back off to prison, and the world goes on thinking Superman and friends saved the world. This story in videogame form could have been more powerful than ever. After all, we played as the Squad and will see it from their point of view. The game allows us to connect with the villains in a way that no comic, cartoon, or movie ever has before.

Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League Harley Quinn Shoots Batman

Harley Quinn isn’t playing around.

Disrespecting the Arkhamverse

Yet, alas, the Suicide Squad did indeed kill the Justice League, and we really need to address what happened to Batman. If the game had been a stand-alone title with no connection to the Arkhamverse, then we’d have relished the wholesale slaughter of DC’s top superheroes. But the problem is, knowing that the Batman who was casually shot and killed on a bench by Harley Quinn was the same Batman we spent four games with doesn’t sit right with us. Any other Batman? Sure, have at it. We’re also not especially cut up about the other Justice League members.

While Supes and the crew were referenced in the Arkham games, we never actually spent any time with them. It was all about Batman. And this fate being the ending for that character is particularly disrespectful, not just for the character but for the players who invested so much time following him. As far as the future of the Arkhamverse goes, it feels like Rocksteady has written itself into a corner, or worse, has burnt it all down. To some of us, it looks like an exercise in how to blow up your own canon. While this could be some kind of subversive writing genius that’s way over all of our heads or it could be Rocksteady simply not realizing their mistake.

The good news is this is comic book land, and death is never final or ever something to be taken seriously. Should the Arkhamverse continue, then time travel, some multiversal shenanigans, the Pit of Ra’s Al Ghul, or a million other sci-fi/fantasy troupes could be used to resurrect the Justice League. Who knows? Suicide Squad: Save The Justice League may be the intended title for a sequel. This would certainly subvert expectations again – and be very on-brand for a Suicide Squad story. The Task Force who can never seem to catch a break, even when they complete their mission, then need to undo everything they did.

While the ending of the game does imply that the story will continue and very lightly hints at some multiversal goings on, if a sequel doesn’t materialize, if this truly is the end of the Arkhamverse, then a lot of Batman Arkham fans will be left with a very bad taste in their mouths. Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League could go down as one of gaming’s most edgy storylines or one of its biggest misfires. We very much hope it’s the former.