It’s not odd when a game like “Suicide Squad Kills the Justice League” can single handed kill a studio, Rocksteady, and the DC comic book franchise, erasing ten years off the slate of all good intentions made by the studios. Killing off Kevin Conroy’s Batman, only to make other players go back and reinvest in the franchise that started it all, Arkham Origins. Taking a look at comics, movies, novels, all of them have a few primary examples, and will be discussed henceforth. A few are RockSteady’s Kill the Justice League, Stanley Kubrick’s the Shining, and Max Brook’s “World War Z’s” big budget movie adaptation. Examining the distinction of failure of one source material, but also creating contrast between the definitions, too.
What doesn’t help RockSteady’s Case of 2024’s “Suicide Squad Kill the Justice League” isn’t that the execution, literally, of the gameplay, where large sillosibin candy crush like colors jump out of the screen as each character’s overcharge ability looks rather off putting for the history of the company’s dark and gritty world of Batman and the Arkham Knight trilogy. Taking place in Metropolis, the Suicide Squad, have to kill the Justice League because they are possessed by Brainiac, and they must fight to reclaim sanity over Metropolis. With the Candy Crush visuals being one downside, killing off Kevin Conroy as Batman is almost the direct middle finger to the original players, and the animated saga created by Conroy’s performance. It’s tone deaf and somehow ruins the game entirely, but within the context of the story, could have been changed in order to find the right narrative to make mega money instead of destroying the hopes and dreams of Rocksteady reclaiming there fans back. And when you lose the fans, it means no viable income can be made from that IP ever again. According to Forbes Senior Contributor, Paul Tassi, Suicide Squad’s failure created reinterest for the original Arkham Knight trilogy with sales skyrocketing to “50% or so spike in players around Suicide Squad’s launch.”[1] Mr. Tassi illustrates, “Arkham Knight is nine years old. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League launched less than two weeks ago, and is meant to be an ongoing, grindable game once you reach the end.” Not too bad for one failure sparking interest all over for their original masterpiece.