Rocksteady’s latest game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been facing a fair amount of controversy, even before it has been released outside early access.
One of the biggest issues that players have with the new DC Comics game is the way it has handled the Justice League heroes—especially Batman from the Arkham Asylum series—and how easily they are taken down by Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Deadshot. With this in mind, we are going to be looking at what characters bite the bullet in Kill the Justice League, to see whether the title of the game rings true.
It goes without saying, but this article is going to have loads of spoilers.
All character deaths in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Earth-1 Lex Luthor
The first character to die in the game is Lex Luthor from Earth-1, who gets his heart ripped out by a brainwashed Barry Allen a.k.a The Flash. He is replaced later on in the game by Lex Luthor from Earth-2, but this is certainly a gruesome fate for Earth-1 Lex.
Barry Allen (The Flash)
The Flash is the first member of the Justice League to die. After resisting Brainiac’s mind control by escaping his ship, Barry succumbs to the brainwashing after a fight with Green Lantern. We don’t see it, but it’s suggested Green Lantern defeats Flash then turns him into a fellow Brainiac puppet.
Despite turning to the brainwashed side, Barry manages to save the lives of the Suicide Squad not once, but twice before he ultimately has to be taken out. When he is defeated, the game adds insult to injury to Barry by showing Captain Boomerang peeing on his body. Yep, you read that right. I hope that hurt you as much to read it as it did me to write.
John Stewart (Green Lantern)
The next character to meet their end is Green Lantern (this variant is John Stewart), who is understandably infuriated when he finds the squad killed The Flash, his close friend. It’s pretty amazing how this game kind of makes you root for the brainwashed guys.
Green Lantern is the next big boss fight in the main story, and Deadshot gets in the last hit when he shoots Lantern in the head. Again, the way the game handles John’s death is more than a little disrespectful, as King Shark immediately cuts off his finger to steal his ring. To be fair, he does this for a practical reason—to lower the shields on Braniac’s ship—but it still feels more than a little unnecessary to chop off an appendage to do so. Oh, and because King Shark takes his ring, John’s corpse is left in his underwear.
Diana Prince (Wonder Woman)
Wonder Woman is arguably the only member of the Justice League who doesn’t get the same level of mistreatment as her colleagues. However, even she is not safe from death.
Diana manages to avoid getting mind-controlled like her fellow Justice League members, so she actively tries to find a way to return them to their normal selves. This doesn’t end well for her, as she gets into an intense fight with Superman in an attempt to bring him back. She manages to stab him in the chest with a piece of kryptonite, but his powers combined with the powers gifted to him by Brainiac make him strong enough to fend off the effects. It weakens him, but he still manages to hit her with his laser eyes before he flies away to recover.
Unfortunately, Diana dies from her wounds, but it is the only death that we see that has some nuance to it, even though they still manage to get in some jokes, as King Shark coughs when her ashes fly into his face. You couldn’t just let one character die with complete dignity and grace, could you Rocksteady?
Bruce Wayne (Batman)
This is the death that has gotten fans the most riled up, as we all know this version of Batman very well from the Arkham games. Fans of the Arkham games spent years of their life playing through this version of Batman’s story before it ended in 2015 with Arkham Knight when the character faked his own death. Rocksteady brings him back in Suicide Squad only to have him brainwashed and taken down by the group.
When he is weakened, it is Harley Quinn who takes the final shot by shooting him point-blank in the head. Watching the Batman we spent so much time with—and in some of the best superhero games of all time—get shot in the head by a character who really had no reason to despise him enough to want to do that is one of the worst ways Rocksteady could have possibly sent off the character. Unfortunately, that is what they went with.
Let’s move on, it’s too upsetting to keep talking about this one.
Clark Kent/ Kal-El (Superman)
Yep, that’s right. The Suicide Squad manages to take down Superman. It feels like this is meant to be a big, intense boss fight but in the end, it is the same as all the others; you swing around the map and shoot him until his health bar depletes.
Superman is teased as a terrifying presence, which is understandable given his powers. We see him take out Wonder Woman after all, but apparently, three regular humans and a walking shark can kill him with very little issue. Before his death, Batman develops golden kryptonite that Superman, explaining how the squad can take him down.
Brainiac
Lastly is the main villain, Brainiac. Brainiac is the one responsible for controlling the Justice League and getting them to do his bidding. Much like with Superman, this fight is underwhelming, to say the least, especially because Brainiac makes the odd decision to shapeshift into members of the Justice League. This is a character that is supposed to be a super-intelligent alien, so why would he make this decision when he just watched the Suicide Squad take them down one by one? You’re making poor decisions, Brainiac.
Off-screen deaths
Tim Drake (Robin)
There are also a few off-screen character deaths mentioned when the squad finds a hologram of Batman. The Suicide Squad infiltrates the bat cave when trying to find Batman, but instead, they come across a holographic message from Bruce Wayne intended for Tim Drake (a.k.a. Robin) as well as Nightwing and Oracle. The message is a poignant one, with Bruce telling Tim that if he sees the message, it means Batman has been compromised.
The hologram of Bruce explains that he has countermeasures in place if the Justice League needs to be nullified (so basically, it’s Batman that saves the world as without him, the Suicide Squad would have been screwed). It becomes clear Tim Drake was here, but that he, unfortunately, crossed paths with a brainwashed Batman before he could see the message. His bloodied mask is spotted on the floor by King Shark.
Dick Grayson (Nightwing) and Barbara Gordon (Oracle)
While it isn’t outright said, it is implied Nightwing and Oracle were also killed, probably by brainwashed Bruce. Bruce instructed them to do what the Suicide Squad is doing and since we do not see or hear from them, they were likely killed off-screen.
Again, this seems like an unfair way to kill off such important characters in the Batman universe. All three members of the Bat-family helped Bruce out during the events of Arkham Knight, having a chance to make their proper debut and develop their characters. To be snuffed out without so much as a respectful nod to their service to Gotham City is another lazy and unnecessary way to add shock value to the game.
So there is everything that you need to know about the character deaths in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. If you want to watch all the deaths included in the game you can see them below courtesy of GameClips on YouTube.
