This article contains MAJOR SPOILERS for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Summary

  • The lack of Suicide Squad deaths in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League contradicts the team's name, as previous iterations almost always feature members dying.
  • The game allows players to easily defeat the Justice League and Brainiac, making the team appear invincible.
  • While keeping all members alive may make sense for gameplay purposes, it would have been more fitting to see at least one Suicide Squad member perish to showcase the team's volatile nature and the power of Earth's protectors.

After two films explored their dynamic, players are finally able to step into the shoes of Task Force X through Suicide 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 in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

At no point in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League do 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 even Batman: Assault on Arkham had 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.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Seemingly Misses the Team's Point

Suicide Squad Members Are Supposed to Bite the Dust

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 of the best -- and worst -- supervillains in the DC universe to 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's Suicide Squad killed off Slipknot and El Diablo, while The Suicide Squad featured 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, but Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League does the exact opposite.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's Team Has Walked Away Unscathed

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 to take down the Justice League and Brainiac with 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 of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's endgame is 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.

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Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Tag Page Cover Art
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Top Critic Avg: 59 /100 Critics Rec: 20%
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Released
February 2, 2024
ESRB
M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
Developer(s)
Rocksteady Studios
Publisher(s)
Warner Bros. Games
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the squad standing together
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL
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Franchise
Suicide Squad
How Long To Beat
10 Hours
Metascore
70