Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a 2024 action-adventure shooter game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games. Based on the DC Comics team the Suicide Squad, it is a spin-off of the Batman: Arkham series, and a follow-up to Batman: Arkham Knight (2015). Set five years after the events of Arkham Knight, the game's storyline follows the titular supervillain team, who are assembled by Amanda Waller and sent to Metropolis to stop the alien invader Brainiac and kill the members of the Justice League who have become brainwashed by him. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is presented from a third-person perspective and its open world design allows players, either individually or cooperatively, to freely roam Metropolis. The game was announced in August 2020 and was scheduled to be released in 2022, but was delayed multiple times. It had an early access period for owners of the deluxe edition that began on January 29, 2024.

Kill the Justice League was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on February 2, 2024. The game received mixed reviews from critics, who praised its campaign's story and gameplay, but criticized its repetition and live service elements. The game failed to meet the sales expectations of Warner Bros. Games. Rocksteady ended support for the game in January 2025 following the final post-launch story update.

Gameplay

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is an action-adventure game set in an open world based in Metropolis. Players control the Suicide Squad, which features a total of eight playable characters, including the four initial members, Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark, and the post-launch additions of the Joker, Mrs. Freeze, Lawless, and Deathstroke. While it can be played solo, the game features a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode. When played solo, players can switch between characters at will, while the other characters are controlled by the AI.

Each character has access to three weapon classes, with each class being shared by multiple characters. Each character has a unique melee combat style and traversal method, such as Harley Quinn who uses a bludgeon and travels using Batman's grapple gun. A skill tree progression system is included, allowing players to re-spec into different skills at any point throughout the game for different build experimentation. Post-launch content was released in the form of "seasons", with frequent free content updates featuring new locations, activities and playable characters.

Synopsis

Setting and characters

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set in the Batman: Arkham universe, five years after the events of Batman: Arkham Knight (2015). The game centers around the Suicide Squad, which is initially composed of Arkham Asylum inmates Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn (Tara Strong), George "Digger" Harkness / Captain Boomerang (Daniel Lapaine), Floyd Lawton / Deadshot (Bumper Robinson), and Belle Reve prisoner Prince Nanaue / King Shark (Joe Seanoa), created by A.R.G.U.S. director Amanda Waller (Debra Wilson). The main antagonist takes the form of Vril Dox / Brainiac (Jason Isaacs), a highly intelligent alien who has invaded Earth and brainwashed its inhabitants, including Justice League members Kal-El / Clark Kent / Superman (Nolan North), Barry Allen / The Flash (Scott Porter), John Stewart / Green Lantern (Dan White), and Bruce Wayne / Batman (Kevin Conroy).

Major supporting characters in the game include Princess Diana of Themyscira / Wonder Woman (Zehra Fazal), the only member of the Justice League not under Brainiac's control; Colonel Rick Flag Jr. (Jim Pirri), an A.R.G.U.S. operative working for Waller; Lex Luthor (Corey Burton), a megalomaniacal billionaire and Superman's arch-nemesis; Lois Lane (Seychelle Gabriel), a Metropolis news reporter working for the Daily Planet; Aaron Cash (Duane R. Shepard Sr.), an Arkham Asylum guard; Edward Nigma / The Riddler (Wally Wingert), a narcissistic supervillain who challenges the Squad with completing various puzzles across the city; Oswald Cobblepot / The Penguin (Nolan North), a Gotham City crime lord and weapons dealer who supplies the Squad with anti-metahuman weaponry; Mikron O'Jeneus / Gizmo (Rick Pasqualone), a vehicle expert who develops various means of transportation for the Squad; Zalika / Hack (Omono Okojie), a technomancer who monitors the Squad's neck bombs and provides them upgrades; Hiro Okamura / The Toyman (Christopher Sean), a mechanical genius who idolizes the Justice League; and Pamela Isley / Poison Ivy (Darcy Rose Byrnes), a reincarnated version of the plant-controlling supervillain who died during the events of Arkham Knight with no memories of her past life.

Other characters featured in the game are Kamo/Chondrakha (Andrew Morgado), a shark god who is King Shark's father; A.R.G.U.S. agents Taki Matsuda (Anne Yatco), Flynn Russell (Camrus Johnson), Marcus Lo (Daisuke Tsuji), and Tianna Cortez (Krizia Bajos); Sydney Happersen (Dave B. Mitchell), a LexCorp scientist who was Lex Luthor's assistant; and Jack Ryder (James Horan), a famous Gotham City reporter who helped to create "The Batman Experience".

Post-launch seasons feature the additions of four playable Squad members: the Joker (J. P. Karliak), a multiversal variant of Batman's deceased arch-nemesis; Dr. Victoria Frias / Mrs. Freeze (Erika Ishii), a multiversal variant of Dr. Victor Fries / Mr. Freeze; Zoe Lawton / Lawless (Marley Soleil), Deadshot's daughter who has taken on a master thief persona in his absence; and Slade Wilson / Deathstroke (Glenn Wrage), a formidable assassin working for A.R.G.U.S.

Plot

Arkham Asylum inmates Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, Harley Quinn, and Belle Reve prisoner King Shark are freed from captivity by A.R.G.U.S. director Amanda Waller and are forced to join her Task Force X, the "Suicide Squad". After miniature bombs are injected into their heads, Waller sends the squad into Metropolis which is under attack by Brainiac. When they raid the Hall of Justice, a brainwashed Green Lantern attacks them and explains that Brainiac plans to xenoform Earth. The Flash intervenes to rescue the squad but is gravely wounded and captured by a brainwashed Batman. The squad retreats to the Hall of Justice and encounters Wonder Woman, the only other member of the Justice League who was not brainwashed. She refuses to work with them as Waller orders the squad to kill the Justice League and end their threat.

Waller has the squad scour Metropolis for weapons and technology that can be used against the Justice League, as well as forcibly recruiting other villains into their ranks. They attempt to apprehend Lex Luthor to obtain his knowledge, but he is killed by a now-brainwashed Flash; the squad narrowly escape thanks to Wonder Woman's intervention. She subdues the Flash to find a way to stop Brainiac, with him replying that the only way is to kill her friends. The squad is supplied with anti-Speed Force technology, which they use to kill the Flash. Green Lantern arrives and forces the squad to flee through one of Brainiac's portals. The squad finds themselves transported to Earth-2, an alternate Earth that has already been destroyed by Brainiac. They meet an alternate version of Luthor, nicknamed Lex-2, who reveals that he had been collaborating with his Earth-1 counterpart to prepare for Brainiac's invasion.

Lex-2 transports the squad back to their dimension and warns that Waller will have them killed as her Earth-2 version did to her own squad. The squad breaks into Wayne Enterprises' secret bank vault, where they find Wonder Woman crafting a Kryptonite-based shield. After she leaves, Lex-2 secures Yellow Lantern batteries that Batman was keeping as a contingency against Green Lantern and gives them to the squad. He reveals that Waller has no intention of granting the squad their freedom, either letting them get killed or otherwise using Brainiac's mind-control technology on them. The squad confronts and kills Green Lantern, temporarily disabling a shield protecting Brainiac's ship. Waller attempts to call a nuclear strike on Brainiac, willing to sacrifice the squad, but a brainwashed Superman thwarts her plans.

Wonder Woman and Superman battle each other as the squad attempts to escort Waller to safety inside the Hall of Justice. Wonder Woman stabs Superman with a shard of Kryptonite, but he survives and kills her before retreating to Brainiac's ship. Lex-2 theorizes that Brainiac changed Superman's DNA to be more resistant to Kryptonite and, through Boomerang, suggests to an oblivious Waller that they capture Batman so he can devise a countermeasure. The squad captures Batman in his hideout and takes him to Lex-2, who develops Gold Kryptonite to combat Superman. With no further use for Batman, the squad takes him to an open area, where Harley kills him. Superman is lured out and subsequently killed with the squad's Gold Kryptonite weapons. However, Brainiac captures them, intending to brainwash them to be replacements for the League. Lex-2 rescues them and reveals that he has learned there are thirteen different iterations of Brainiac spread across different dimensions working together to take over the entire multiverse.