If you thought Rocksteady Games’ 2015 release Batman Arkham Knight was the end of the studio’s Arkham-verse in the wake of Gotham Knights (which is set in a different universe despite appearances), you’re wrong. The new Suicide Squad game coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S – fully titled Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League – is a continuation of this story told through the eyes of Amanda Waller’s deadly Task Force X. And, as the name suggests, characters like Batman are very-much in the firing line. Don’t worry if you’re a fan of the Caped Crusader, though, this isn’t going to be the end for the Arkham-verse – even if it’s not a guarantee that Batman will make the credits of SSKTJL.
When you stop and take a look at all the new Xbox games and every one of the new PS5 games you have to look forward to in 2024, Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League is easily one of the most exciting titles on the way. In fact, we think this could be one of the best Xbox games and best PS5 games to come out next year – an unexpected hit, of sorts, and a huge recovery for live-service superhero games after Crystal Dynamics’ Marvel’s Avengers (as much as we deeply love the Avengers game at The Loadout).
One thing that’s not quite as clear as it could be in the build up to the Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League release date, however, is that it’s actually a sequel to Batman Arkham Knight and a continuation of this universe. So, that means the Brainiac-corrupted Batman we’re going to go toe-to-toe with as Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang, and Deadshot will be the same Batman we’ve spent hundreds of hours with across Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, Arkham Origins, and the aforementioned Arkham Knight. To say that this particular boss battle will be an emotional one is an understatement, especially when you add the weight of voice actor Kevin Conroy’s passing in November 2022 to everything.
Whether you want to believe the recent Suicide Squad game leaks or not – leaks that claim Batman will finally meet his maker – the actual name of the game does suggest that this will be the last outing for this iteration of Batman. If the ‘Suicide Squad’ can’t bring him back from Brainiac’s corruption, he’s certainly too dangerous to be left alive – canonically, Batman is only second to Wonder Woman when it comes to the most dangerous members of the Justice League in several iterations of the DC Comics group.
This truth, while difficult to accept for longtime fans of Rocksteady Games’ Arkham series, has lead many to believe that Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League will actually be the final entry in the Arkham series. For all its faults, Gotham Knights is narratively sound and there’s a lot of scope to explore the ‘Batfam’ – through characters like Nightwing, Batgirl, Red Hood, and Robin – when compared to the Arkham verse. This iteration of Batman notably works alone, despite sporadic appearances from Tim Drake’s Robin, Dick Grayson, and Jason Todd.
But, DC Studios’ co-chairman and co-CEO James Gunn (you know, the filmmaker behind the good Suicide Squad movie and Marvel Studios’ impressice Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy) has reportedly taken to Threads (Instagram’s answer to Twitter) to confirm that this is the case.
The post has since been deleted, which does raise some concerns, but James Gunn did say that there were “no plans of it being the last” when asked whether Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League was the finale of the Arkham series from Rocksteady Games. Another post, which you can also see below, also has Gunn hoping for more from the series post-Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League as a fan. This is, of course, excellent news, but there’s no telling which direction the Arkham series will take without knowing the outcome of the narrative in Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League.
Fans hoping to see a return to Gotham City could very-well get that through characters like the aforementioned ‘Batfam’ – all of which could easily exist in the Arkham-verse without direct mention in an Arkham game prior to this. However, depending on what happens, we could very well see Rocksteady Games continue to expand on the Arkham-verse and draw further on DC Comics’ impressive library of characters. A sequel to Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League where surviving heroes form a new Justice League in the wake of their decimation at the hands of Task Force X and Brainiac could be on the cards and could open up any potential roster to any number of lesser-known but equally exciting characters.
For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see. A future without Batman is a sad one, but – we fear – is also an inevitable one.
If you’re eager to get stuck in and play the new Suicide Squad game when it drops, however, you should really think about expanding on your internal storage space if you haven’t already. It’s not going to be a small game and updates like the one introducing Suicide Squad offline mode to the experience are only going to mean it takes up more space on your hard drive. With that in mind, you can check out all the best Xbox expansion cards and all the best PS5 SSD options right here ahead of time.