“Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League” was announced all the way back in 2020 during DC Fandome with a CGI trailer showing our heroes, or anti-heroes, in this case, fighting hordes of Brainiac’s goons on the streets of Metropolis. Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark against Brainiac alone is a crazy idea, but that’s not all. As the name of the game suggests, The Suicide Squad is here to kill the Justice League as they are mind-controlled by Brainiac himself. That’s a crazy plot through and through; I mean, it’s the Justice League, not a bunch of boy scouts! The initial trailer showed us Superman, and it was a terrifying sight; I remember I had chills all over me. Rocksteady is making this game; it is set in the Arkhamverse, so we get to explore Metropolis and see what their version of Superman looks like. What’s not to like here?
A year later, we got another trailer, this time full of in-game cinematics showcasing what the game would look like, and we saw other heroes like The Flash, The Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. It blew my mind because, despite the game being called “Kill the Justice League,” I didn’t put two and two together and thought only Superman would be featured here. The Flash and Green Lantern are also mind-controlled by Brainiac, while Wonder Woman looks to be unaffected. We also got a look at some of the funny moments alongside a lot of action-packed moments, including a tease of a Wonder Woman vs. Superman fight! Knowing this is being made by Rocksteady, my hopes were already high, and they reached a new height thanks to this trailer, despite the game being delayed to 2023. But, there was one missing link to the puzzle. Where is Batman during all of this? I know it’s the continuation of “Arkham Knight,” and I know Bruce did “die” during the Knightfall protocol at the end of the game, but come on! There’s no way Bruce Wayne/Batman is dead. We know he isn’t dead! But we do want to know what happened.
Fast forward to today, and we finally have an answer as we got a new trailer during the game awards for 2022. It opens with our gang of anti-heroes dragging Flash inside to hide from somebody. We get a quick glimpse of nighttime and rain during that shot, so maybe we are getting dynamic times of the day and weather? While Deadshot, Harley, and King Shark start looking for something, Boomerang pushes Flash into a wall and threatens to kill him in all sorts of ways, as these two have a long history with each other. The mood changes all of a sudden as everyone goes quiet, and a security guard comes charging towards them, screaming in terror as he gets swooped across by something. The Squad, clearly in terror, starts to look at each other as Harley calls out to Bruce and tells everyone to relax as “Batman doesn’t kill anyone.” The body of the security guard is dropped on the floor and there stands the caped crusader, Batman himself. Looking better than ever in his new shiny suit, he has a purple glow in his eyes, meaning he is also under Brainiac’s influence. He pulls what seems like a detonator up to his face as the trailer cuts to black, and we hear the iconic line “I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman” as the screen reads, “Thank You, Kevin.”
This trailer made me tear up as I grew up listening to Kevin Conroy’s Batman and knowing that this will be the last time we get to hear his iconic voice as Batman saddens me to the core. Thank you, Kevin. May you rest in peace, the one true Batman.
The trailer on its own had a terrifying vibe to it, especially near the end. The fact that Batman is being controlled by Brainiac as well is bone-chilling. He is not someone to be trifled with on regular days, and here, potentially without his one rule stopping him from killing, he very well will be a force of nature, and I never want to be on the receiving end of that. You can hear the terror in Harley’s voice and see it on everyone’s faces. The reveal was mind-blowing and has definitely raised my expectations for this game even higher. Combined with the fact that despite everyone knowing Batman’s identity post- “Arkham Knight,” they are still terrified of him, this shows how much Rocksteady knows and understands this character and how much of a love letter his representation in this game will be.
Just speculation from my end, but considering how Batman only works at night and how we got a glimpse of nighttime in this trailer, my theory is that Batman will stalk the players during the night and make roaming around Metropolis a living, terrifying nightmare. That just works and sounds cool, and that’ll also make Batman stand out by not acting as a traditional boss and more like someone you need to watch out for and stay as far away from as you can. We don’t know for sure since we don’t even know how this game works in general. Maybe all of the Justice League will function in a similar way.
Either way, I know I am excited as hell for this game, even more so than before, and I’ll definitely be picking it up on day one for my Xbox when it launches on May 26th, 2023.
Thank you, Kevin, once again.
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