Suicide Squad Un-Kills The Justice League?

It’s amazing watching beloved video game studios and publishers throwing away their years long reputation. I remember when Activision and Electronic Arts (now just EA) were symbols of quality to gamers, and now they’re sources of rage from those same gamers. Rocksteady Studios managed to ruin a whole sub-IP with one game, by setting Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League in the same universe as their Arkham games and producing a subpar gameplay experience with a frustrating storyline (powered by activist consultant firm Sweet Baby Inc, a name that is becoming the mark of death for a video game) where you play as the worst scum of the DC universe no matter how badly DC Entertainment is trying to push Harley Quinn between their comics and movie/streaming offerings, as they kill off childhood heroes and cultural icons with no respect shown by the creators of the game. I expect that from the villains, not the writers…or wouldn’t if I wasn’t a comic fan in the 2020s or a DC fan in the 2000s. (I remind you, DiDio’s Darker DC is still in effect.)

In a blatant attempt to save face, Rocksteady has dropped what is essentially an epilogue to their game, but not one you can play, or with a proper cutscene, or even anything that doesn’t come off as a retcon inspired by attempts to defend this game by brand loyalists who refuse to think anything under the DC umbrella is bad. As Rocksteady and WB Games prepare to end support and servers for Kill The Justice League, they dropped a last bit of lore that they thought would make everyone happy. Maybe if they dropped it sooner, presented it better, and put it in a more fun game to play, but none of that happened. Just look at this thing.

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The animatic “motion comic” style cutscenes are not making this any better, but it could be because you can’t do this without Batman. Arkham Batman shares the same voice as DCAU Batman, the late Kevin Conroy. Trying to replace his VA with an impersonator or someone who doesn’t sound right for that version of Batman, or use AI vocal reproduction without his approval would probably tick a lot of fans off, and their goal was to do the opposite. Granted, that already failed, but why make it worse? Not that Harley Quinn is the best person to tell this story because…it’s Harley Quinn.

They wanted to make a joke about the Squad not realizing they were clones, but either Batman was manipulating things the whole time (and we’ve seen versions of Batman capable enough to be a one-man illuminati) or Wonder Woman…who was not a clone and is still very much dead, meaning they got around Sweet Baby on that one… nudged them towards the plan or had some other method to get the Squad to follow his plan. All of that seems highly unlikely. Batman had to be in manipulation mode somehow, either through Diana and Flash or in other ways. Also note that the Squad, according to Harley, didn’t know they were clones. That means that they were trying to murder the real Justice League, not save the world and getting a bit of catharsis. Captain Boomerang believed he was pissing on the real Flash, who got himself captured while saving his worthless hide and that of the rest of the Squad that supposedly sticks together. That means that this scene that set Batman fans in general and Arkham game fans specifically…

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…was Harley Quinn giving a sanctimonious speech to the real Batman before shooting him in the face. You know, the one who murdered a lot of people, made innocent people as afraid as she insists Batman made “her pals” feel when they want to hurt innocent people. When she says “the real Batman” she meant the Batman who wasn’t under Brainiac’s control, and that’s what she thought was going on. Meaning if the “bad guys” really wanted to save the world, they would have saved the League, not offed them at the command of the control-crazy Amanda Waller. AKA Amanda  Waller. The framing comes off as victorious for Harley as she knowingly murders the man the player grew up with in comics, shows, movies, and games as a hero and positive role model. She admits they didn’t know they were clones.

About that. I have trouble believing that was Rocksteady’s plan. As I said, the idea that were clones was a fan theory to “defend” the story and theorize that they weren’t killing the real Justice League, which I guess helps them sleep at night or something. Benny, the prematurely late host and creator of the YouTube channel Comicstorian (I haven’t had time to check out the new guy, who helped Benny form the network of channels tied to  Comicstorian) even suggested that seeing Flash with his finger back, having lost it in an earlier cutscene, was proof that the Flash the Squad fought and Boomerang defiled was a clone…but even he didn’t think the Squad knew that, and as I said before when discussing this game and even earlier in this article, I expect the villains to defile the heroes, but not the writers. This feels like a last-minute retcon, not a plan for the game they ran out the door when they realized enough gamers were unhappy with the game that it failed miserably. So I guess the brand loyalists won this round, but the fans who want their brands to retain or regain the reasons why they became fans still lose.

They saw the fans speculating and thought going with that would “save” the story, and it doesn’t. It doesn’t change what the “heroic villains” did, or that you made the player do those things. And that’s just the story. I’ve seen gameplay and the people playing at the time hated that part two, with control issues and damage counters clouding the screen during heavy fights where they were killing other Brainiac-controlled humans who didn’t have their own comic. That’s just the ones I’ve heard.

There’s also a debrief audio log where the Squad discuss their plans to bypass Waller and get info to Lois, and the one below, that…is it just me, or are they trying to put a positive spin on this Brainiac’s actions and suggest a team-up with Amanda “Headbombs For Everyone!” Waller is coming? I wouldn’t put it past her, but…

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“I tried to not use planets with living people but it didn’t work, honest!” Yeah, buddy. Whatever helps you reboot at night.

According to Bounding Into Comics, whatever they were planning besides ending the story backfired gloriously. The presentation is weak, it isn’t explained how the real League broke out, or what their redemption plan is. I guess rebuilding the Earth while this version of the Squad goes tooling around the multiverse being a pest to other realities in Brainiac’s ship to do whatever they’re planning to do. It’s too little, too late, and too lazy how this comes about. Suicide Squad: Kill Your Childhood failed and it deserved to fail. Rocksteady used to be better than this, and their reputation is damaged if not ruined if they ever try to do anything DC related again, Arkhamverse (with a replacement for Conroy fans will accept) or not. It’s a shame that things that used to be good continue to fall apart as the wrong people get in charge of decades of legacy they want to replace with themselves.