KTJL’s Title Put Its Story Between a Rock and a Hard Place

Highlights

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has faced backlash from Arkham fans due to its controversial storyline in which players are tasked with killing DC’s iconic heroes, including Batman. However, the game never hid this fact, as its title explicitly mentioned killing the Justice League.
The game needed to commit to its concept of killing the Justice League in order to be received well. If the team had rescued them instead, it would have been predictable and diminished the gravity of the world-ending event where Earth’s protectors turned evil.
Rocksteady Studios made a deliberate choice to tell this story and face the controversial reactions that came with it, though the devs obviously don’t deserve vitriolic remarks as a result.

Spoilers ahead for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

Just like the name suggests, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has pitted players against DC’s greatest heroes. What ensues is a wild adventure that sees the Suicide Squad do everything in their power to take down these powerful beings and the one who is calling the shots, Brainiac. However, this storyline has proven a bit controversial with the Arkhamverse fanbase, but that might not have been avoidable.

There are a couple of reasons why Arkham fans have not flocked to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, including its live-service and third-person shooter mechanics. But perhaps one of the biggest reasons is because of the story that the studio chose to tell. This adventure sees players kill some of DC’s most notable heroes, including the Arkham universe’s Batman. This, of course, has not gone over well with some players. However, the game never hid the fact that players would be doing just that, and if players did not kill the Justice League, then it may have been just as controversial.

How Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s Traversal Doesn’t Hold a Candle to Spider-Man 2

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has some pretty unique traversal mechanics, but they don’t hold a candle to Spider-Man 2 in a few big ways.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Title Tells Players What They Should Expect

Many Arkhamverse Fans Dislike the Story Direction

The explosive finale of Batman: Arkham Knight seemed to be the end of this Batman’s story. However, Rocksteady surprised everyone when it was revealed that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would be set within that franchise. Not only would it continue the tale of this exciting DC universe, but it would also see the grand return of that iteration of Batman after the world thought he died.

In Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Batman has been brainwashed by Brainiac alongside the rest of the Justice League. It is up to the Suicide Squad to take them out so that the world can be saved. So, the team does just that. They head out into Metropolis, take out Brainiac’s forces, and end up killing almost every member of the Arkhamverse’s Justice League. While the story can be a lot of fun, those events have also proven a bit controversial, especially since players spent four games controlling this version of Batman only to watch Harley Quinn kill him. But, the game’s title explicitly mentioned killing the Justice League, so it should not be that much of a surprise.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League Needed to Commit to the Concept

If the game did not have players killing Rocksteady’s Justice League, then it also may not have been received well. Rocksteady called it Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for a reason, and it could’ve been detrimentally predictable to have Task Force X rescue them instead. Additionally, the marketing built up this world-ending event where Earth’s protectors were evil, but if the team walked away from this unscathed, then it could diminish that.

Rocksteady could have easily called Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League something different, yet it committed to that title. Because of that, players should expect to actually kill the Justice League, no matter how controversial it may be. While the studio could have let a couple more heroes walk away from this fight, doing so may have also led to a negative response. Whatever choice Rocksteady made with Suicide Squad‘s story, it was going to face an uphill battle simply because of the gravity of its subtitle.