This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS forSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Summary
After two films explored their dynamic, players are finally able to step into the shoes of Task Force X throughSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.The game takes fans on a wild adventure through Metropolis where the only way to save the world is by recruiting the likes of Harley Quinn and King Shark. It is definitely a strange premise, yet that is what makes the Suicide Squad concept so special to begin with. However, there seems to be something off about the team inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
At no point inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguedo any of the members die. While it makes sense to keep these characters around from a gameplay perspective, a major aspect of the team is that not everyone is able to walk away from the mission. Both films had numerous characters die, the comics have them die all the time, and evenBatman: Assault on Arkhamhad many members of the first Arkhamverse Squad die. The lack of death may not completely ruin the experience, but it does make the name feel a bit ironic.
The version of Task Force X that DC fans know today has existed in the comics since the 1986 Legends miniseries. The idea is that the government recruits some ofthe best – and worst – supervillains in the DC universeto complete extremely risky missions. To accomplish this, they inject these villains with explosives and then send them into the field. Throughout their appearances, they often succeed in their missions, but many of the characters die in the process – hence, why it has been dubbed the Suicide Squad by its many members.
In the DCEU, the Suicide Squad headlined two films that both showed much of the team dying off.2016’sSuicide Squadkilled off Slipknot and El Diablo, whileThe Suicide Squadfeatured a massive bloodbath at the beginning with the likes of Captain Boomerang, T.D.K, Savant, and Mongal perishing. Additionally, Polka-Dot Man and Colonel Rick Flag end up dying near the end of the film. All of that death makes the team feel pretty truthful to its name, butSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguedoes the exact opposite.
While it is implied that other Task Force X teams died trying to get into Metropolis, the version that players control does not suffer any losses. Instead, they are able totake down the Justice League and Brainiacwith relative ease. At the end of the game, they even prepare to take on the entire multiverse of Brainiacs. This makes them feel practically unstoppable at this point, which seems a bit ironic given the name of the team.
Since players control the four members in this live-service experience, it makes sense that Rocksteady would not kill off one of the characters. Once the story is complete, the point ofSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s endgameis to grind out levels and become extremely powerful during the wait for season 1. Killing off one of the cast would prevent players from doing that with all four of them, which would also make four-player co-op difficult. The studio could have come up with some excuse for why the dead character is suddenly revived. However, keeping them alive for the duration of the story is admittedly easier.
It would have been nice to see at least one of the Suicide Squad members perish at the hands of the Justice League. Not only would that have lived up to the team’s name, but it would also have shown just how scary Earth’s protectors can be. Even though it is too late to go back and change it now, maybe the seasonal content will be able to finally show audiences just how the Suicide Squad gained its name.
