Warner Bros.’ newest game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League recently arrived in players hands for those who purchased the game’s “Deluxe Edition”; however, the game was suddenly pulled offline after only an hour due to a bug that gave players full story completion.
The Suicide Squad in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (2024), Rocksteady
Rocksteady addressed the bug, posting on X, “We’re aware that a number of players are currently experiencing an issue whereby upon logging into the game for the first time, they have full story completion. To resolve this issue, we will be performing maintenance on the game servers. During this time the game will be unavailable. We expect this to take several hours and will update once we have more information. We apologise for the inconvenience.”
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League on X
However, a bigger controversy may be brewing due to the subject matter found within a major scene in the game.
Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024), Rocksteady
SPOILER TERRITORY
During what is believed to be the final scene for Batman (who may or may not be under control by the DC villain, Brainiac) in the game, he is seen tied to a chair. Harley Quinn is shown lecturing him about the mental health issues of the villains of Gotham and issues regarding the Caped Crusader’s philosophy against the criminals of the city.
This is then followed by a “shocking” scene in which Harley shoots Batman with a gun as the camera pans out showing Batman’s dead body on the ground.
The final scene of Arkham Batman everyone… pic.twitter.com/ecSvusRFMt
— Mr.Bug (@buggy_con) January 29, 2024
Harley Quinn may be one of the most popular characters in Batman media, but this ending has been met with outrage and is quickly spreading around the web.
Character deaths in video games aren’t exactly uncommon, even if it’s the main character of the overall Batman Arkham series which started in 2009 with the critically acclaimed and financial success Batman: Arkham Asylum, but threading the needle on killing the most popular character has been met with much flack in both comic books and games over the years.
Comic book readers were outraged when Spider-Man died in Doc Ock’s body at the end of the long running The Amazing Spider-Man comic book that spanned 700 issues. Gamers were also mad, when Sonic the Hedgehog was backstabbed and died in the infamous Sonic the Hedgehog (2006).
A scene from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024), Rocksteady
One common consistency in both of these is lack of care given to such a major event to their acclaimed and respective series. Fans will accept character deaths when the storyline is handled tastefully and respectful to the buyers who have loved these characters for years; however, it seems that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League may have already dropped the ball to many gamers.
Much of the controversy surrounds the new direction that developer Rocksteady has decided to take the series in. A series known for having some of the most attractive and iconic femme fatales has now seen the popular character, Poison Ivy, turned into a child in the most recent installment. Harley Quinn has now possibly ended the series by informing Batman of her and the other villains’ mental and emotional abuse.
What a odd thing to do Rocksteady.. pic.twitter.com/RWGftGKRdT
— Mr.Bug (@buggy_con) December 21, 2023
These choices have been hailed by many as “woke” and show traits that many gamers are not vibing with. Emotional damage and sympathy for the villains has become much more prevalent in recent times, a clip of the series most popular villain and love interest to Quinn, “The Joker” has gained massive backlash from the fans who do not like this new interaction of the popular DC villain.
“I think we have taken him back to the kind of more Vaudeville roots of Joker, he’s masking insecurities with traditional Joker behavior, but deep down he’s not sure who he is yet,” said one of the developers during the gameplay reveal trailer.
As if the game didn’t already have enough controversies, the possible anticlimactic end to the Caped Crusader in the Arkham series has now received higher steaks due to the passing of long time and legendary Batman voice actor, Kevin Conroy.
If this is truly Conroy’s final performance as The Dark Knight, even those excited may admit that it is unfortunate to see his final outing in such a polarizing game. However, it is strangely ironic that Harley Quinn ended up being the one to kill Batman, as Conroy first voiced Batman in the highly acclaimed 90s cartoon Batman: The Animated Series, the series in which the fan favorite, Harley Quinn, first made her debut.
Harley Quinn in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024), Rocksteady
For fans excited for this take on the series, it seems the game will have an uphill battle. Many long time fans of the over decade long series are instead opting not to purchase the new game and with the series having such massive financial success and such a positive and influential reception, it seems that this game will very likely not catch up to the sales of predecessors.
Only time will tell what this game’s legacy will be and if players can truly get behind Warner Bros.’ new “Live Game” focus.
