Summary
Story spoilers ahead forSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Season 2 Episode 3 DLC.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguehas had a tough go for several reasons and its straightforward narrative premise is one that’s been both rightfully and wrongfully lambasted since its initial announcement. Of course, the idea that players would be killing the Justice League was met with immediate and understandable skepticism, particularly because this would be the first time Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse would ever debut an actual Justice League rather than subtly hinting at its affiliation’s individual characters. So, the fact that they do all die inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewas a little alarming.
This would have been perfectly fine and acceptable if not for how trivial and comedic Rocksteady makes their deaths, at least aside from Wonder Woman’s. Even Batman, who players have been most familiar with as the Arkhamverse’s mascot sinceBatman: Arkham Asylum, is shot in the head after being scolded by Harley Quinn of all characters. This slammed the door shut on Rocksteady being able to make any sequels featuring Batman or the Justice League as playable characters, but for better or for worse that respectfully definitive choice has recently been walked back in themiddle of post-launch seasonal content forSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
The reveal that Task Force X is now working to rescue the Justice League comes out of nowhere and lasts mere seconds with Flash—void of any purple veins and unbeknownst to what’s happened—stumbling into frame and then abruptly being stuffed into a stasis chamber at the Hall of Justice, which has huge implications for what could come ofnot onlySuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguebut also the future of the Arkhamverse.
Rocksteady could’ve stayed stalwart in its decision to kill the Justice League, and so reversing it completely and with seemingly no consequences at all it insinuates that the developer would like to keep the door open to future games potentially featuring one or more of theJustice League charactersSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguedebuted in the Arkhamverse. This is great on one hand since it means there are more viable options for keeping the present-day Arkhamverse afloat, especially since a secondSuicide Squadgame is highly unlikely following the original’s concurrent reception.
On the other hand, it suggests that any storytelling choice made by Rocksteady that appears to have concrete, lasting teeth can and will be neglected, tarnishing what those choices stood for and how they impacted the overall tone and narrative. For example,Batman: Arkham Citysees the Joker killed only for him to be around as a corporeal entity haunting Bruce Wayne throughoutBatman: Arkham Knight; then,Batman: Arkham Knightbookends itsArkhamtrilogy with Batman’s ‘death’ and the rise of the Demon Bat only to have him resurface publicly as Batman five years later inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
One of theprevailing theories aboutSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewas that even with the Justice League being gunned down players would eventually and inevitably discover multiversal, Elseworld iterations of those characters and have them fill those roles thereafter. Kevin Conroy’s passing meant Rocksteady would need to cast a new Batman if it wanted to feature him in the future, anyway, and so an Elseworld Batman would be necessary and appropriate in that regard.
However, now that it’s been learned that the Justice League is apparently unscathed and held captive, thepurposes ofSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Elseworldsseem clear. It would appear as though multiverses were only devised as a means of crafting ‘unique’ landscapes for Task Force X to traverse as they thwart a dozen Brainiacs and their repetitive alien minions, meaning when all is said and done and Brainiac is defeated a final time everything in Metropolis can return to as it was before the invasion began.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
WHERE TO PLAY
Play as the Suicide Squad to take down the World’s Greatest DC Super Heroes, The Justice League. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is a genre-defying, action-adventure third-person shooter from Rocksteady Studios, creators of the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham series.
