The comic is written by Joshua Williamson with art by Jason Fabok, Jesús Merino, Fernando Pasarin, Robson Rocha, and Howard Porter.
Warning: full spoilers for Justice League vs. Suicide Squad forward!
Image Credit: DC
The story of Justice League vs. Suicide Squad is full of dozens of characters and almost as many game-changing plot twists. It starts with both titular teams responding to a terrorist attack, but instead of focusing on the threat, they start fighting against each other. In a surprising turn of events, the Justice League is defeated and imprisoned in Belle Reve under the watch of Amanda Waller.But because things usually go with these kinds of stories, a villainous mastermind wanted this all to happen as part of her forgetful plan. Enter: telepathic bad boy Maxwell Lord.
Image Credit: DC
It turns out that Lord orchestrated all this with the help of the first Suicide Squad team (more on that in a bit), because he wants to take over the world by owning the Justice League and using them to make his evil offers. Instead, he reinforces his own mind control powers with the Eclipso Diamond, which was hidden in Belle Reve.
Image Credit: DC
Batman is able to avoid being mind-controlled along with a few others, so it then falls to him to destroy these remnants of the ragtag group – Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Killer Frost and Lobo. the collection.
Image Credit: DC
It’s quite the ambitious story – perhaps too ambitious for one video game to repeat in its entirety – so we think this story might just inspire the plot of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and what we’ll get in the game more of a streamline remix.
The main reason we think the game will at least follow this comedy, apart from the obvious fact that it pits the Squad against the League, is a small detail in the teaser poster that seems to point to the recording of the classic DC villain Eclipso. The signature of the old malicious purple energy and cracked white skin seems to threaten Superman, just as it does when Eclipso has one in the comics.
Image Credit: Rockstready / DC
The power of Eclipso comes from the accursed Heart of Darkness gem, AKA the Eclipso Diamond, and when Maxwell Lord uses the gem in the strip, he loses control of his own mind and becomes a pop stage of the divine Eclipso, who instead the world instead wants to destroy it. This sets up the definitive confrontation and an epic challenge for Batman’s team to overcome.
We could imagine that the game will see Eclipso own the Justice League and force it to commit atrocities all over the world; with all halves compromised, the last hope for humanity is Amanda Waller and her team of criminal misfits. The members of the Suicide Squad then have to take down every member of the Justice League (probably not by literally killing them) and bring them back to eliminate the real enemy.
It’s a decision whether Maxwell Lord will act as the evil mastermind as in the comic, but given that he’s the premier villain in the upcoming 1984 film Wonder Woman, it would not surprise us if he’s in the game to capitalize on the rising star of the character.
Image Credit: Warner Bros.
And if you want to throw a twist, maybe Rocksteady’s favorite hero, Batman, avoids being possessed by Eclipso just like in the comic book story, and he’s the one instructing the Suicide Squad on how to defeat each of his teammates. We all know that Batman has a plan to eliminate each of his allies, just in case they are compromised, so it actually makes sense for him to fill that role.
Since we’ll likely be suing as members of the Suicide Squad, let’s try to bring together the potential roster of playable characters.
As we go through the Justice League vs. Suicide Squad comedy go, then the roster could include Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, Deadshot, Enchantress, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo and Killer Frost. That’s essentially the first Suicide Squad movie lineup with Killer Frost added in.
Image Credit: DC
Killer Frost is one of the main characters of the comic strip, and as a fresh recruit in the ranks of Task Force X, she acts as a gateway character for the audience to learn about how it all works – for example, how there is a small bomb implanted at the base of her neck that will go away if she does not contain the commands. It’s the emotional arc of Killer Frost that underpins the story, as she proves she’s not all bad by risking her life to save the world with her icy powers. She was able to play a similar role in the game.
It’s unclear whether Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be linked to Rocksteady’s existing Batman Arkham universe, but if it actually takes place within that world, then we may already have an important piece of information thanks to Batman: Arkham Origins. The post-credits stinger at the end of Arkham Origins shows Deathstroke being recruited to the Suicide Squad by none other than Amanda Waller. It’s a given that Waller would appear in a Suicide Squad game, because, alas, if we’re in the same continuity, we might as well play as Deathstroke. We’ve also seen iterations of that universe from Harley Quinn, Killer Croc, and Deadshot over the four Arkham games.
If we are playing a game with the (presumably morbid) purpose of hunting down the members of the Justice League, then it is for this reason that every hero strives to become a formidable boss. The comic book in the comic strip includes Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Aquaman, and Green Lanterns Simon Baz and Jessica Cruz.
Image Credit: DC
It goes without saying that the game can and will shake up the Justice League roster, and there are a few ways to do that. While Superman is confirmed in the teaser image and Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman seem like grid powers, thanks to the Justice League movie solidifying their A-List status, the Green Lantern feel slots a little more flexible. It would not surprise us if they consolidated that duo into one Green Lantern, probably the classic Hal Jordan. That could free up space for another hero like Shazam, Hawkgirl, or Martian Manhunter. And of course, there’s no real limit to how many Justice League characters can be included.
In the comic strip, each member of the Suicide Squad was pitted against a specific member of the Justice League based on who had the best chance of defeating them in a fight. Deadshot went up against Batman, Enchantress took on Superman with her powerful spells, Killer Croc took Aquaman under water, Killer Frost fought against Cyborg, El Diablo fought both Green Lanterns, Captain Boomerang squared off with his nemesis The Flash, and for reasons we can I’m not explaining it, Harley Quinn went to Wonder Woman. It’s possible that each chapter of the story controls us another member of the Squad, and that chapters will end with a face-off against their nemesis in the Justice League.
We’ve already dealt with Maxwell Lord and Eclipso, but Justice League vs. Suicide Squad has even more villains.
As we mentioned earlier, the story also has a surprise third team. In the comic it is revealed that the “X” in Task Force X actually stands for the number 10, which means that there were other incarnations of the Suicide Squad that no one knew about. Maxwell Lord reunites the original Suicide Squad team that was first used and executed by Amanda Waller, and she promises revenge against her and her current team. They end up just being a means to an end for Lord to reach his ultimate goal.
Image Credit: DC
There are already two great teams in this story, but if the game wanted to pick up this twist and introduce a third, it would be Maxwell Lord leading Doctor Polaris, Emerald Empress, Lobo, Johnny Sorrow, and Rustam. These may be the “real” villains we have to deal with after sorting out the Justice League. After all, what’s a comic strip, unless two opposing sides first head together then work together to take on their true enemy?
All this is just guesswork based on the newly released title. We’ll have to wait until DC FanDome on August 22nd to find out the real deal. Until then, let us know what you think Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will be like in the comments.
Joshua is Senior Editor and Producer at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Game of Thrones are frequently used in your vocabulary, you may want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.
