At DC’s FanDome, game developer Rocksteady (famous for their Batman: Arkham games) made a big reveal for their latest project. In 2022, Rocksteady will release Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, featuring the likes of Harley Quinn, Deadshot, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang. Players will be able to become their favorite Task Force X operative and do their best (or should it be worst?) to try to and kill each member of the Justice League. While it’s a pretty entertaining concept, it’s not a wholly original one. In recent comics, the Justice League and Suicide Squad have clashed before, and the results were pretty extreme, though quite entertaining for fans of both teams.
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At FanDome, Rocksteady released a trailer for their new game that depicted Amanda Waller, the director of Task Force X, ordering the Squad to go after a determined alpha target in Metropolis. The target in question is revealed to be none other than Superman, the Man of Steel himself. However, Superman doesn’t look quite right, and it seems as though he might be mind-controlled, the puppet of the cosmic super villain Brainiac, whose ship is seen at the beginning of the trailer. One could assume that the rest of the League are also now under Brainiac’s control, hence the need for Task Force X to kill them all. This is the reverse of what happens in the comics: instead of the Suicide Squad going after the Justice League, the League goes after the Squad.
In 2016 a 6-part crossover event was released from the minds of writer Joshua Williamson and artist Jason Fabok, titled Justice League vs. The Suicide Squad. In the first issue, Batman has gathered enough evidence on the existence of Waller’s covert team of criminals, and the Dark Knight brings his findings to the rest of the League. His fellow team members are appalled that their enemies are being given shortened sentences as long as they cooperate with the U.S government by completing their most unsavory and least ethical black ops missions. Together the League decides to go shut down the Suicide Squad once and for all. Needless to say, Waller refuses to let her team be taken in without a fight.
After the Squad engages the League in battle, it’s quickly revealed that their fight is a lot closer than some might have initially thought. While the League arguably has more power on their side, the Squad doesn’t have the same levels of restraint, willing to kill if needed in order to win. Deadshot orders the team to split up, leading to one-on-one duels to level the playing grounds even further. Harley takes on Wonder Woman, Killer Croc takes on Aquaman, and Killer Frost deals with Cyborg. Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz, both Green Lanterns and the League’s latest recruits face off with El Diablo and his fire powers, while the Enchantress gives Superman a hard time with her magic. The Flash, for his part, is in his element with his classic rogue Captain Boomerang, and Deadshot goes head to head with Batman.
As the crossover continues, Maxwell Lord comes into the picture with lots of mind control and desires for world domination, using the entire Justice League as his minions, save for Batman, who unites the majority of the Suicide Squad to take them down his mind-controlled teammates , break them out of Lord’s influence, and save the world.
There certainly seems to be similarities to both this story and the upcoming game from Rocksteady, with a mind-controlled League being a big one apparently. In any case, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League promises to be just as entertaining as the the League/Squad crossovers that have come before it in the comics.