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We finally got to see the return of Kevin Conroy’s Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. Ever since we said our goodbyes to The Dark Knight in Batman: Arkham Knight, he always could return, based on how the story got wrapped in 2015. However, his return in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is far from the glorious return I had in mind. On the contrary, it’s more like observing how a game developer studio can forfeit its legacy and toss everything good that has become in the trash can.
Batman’s Return Story in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Makes No Sense
Batman: Arkham Knight 2015 wrapped the Arkham series with one great conclusion: Gotham needs its hero, but Batman/Bruce Wayne isn’t fit for the role. Recall that when Batman’s identity is exposed, he initiates the Knightfall Protocol, faking his death, becoming the fear itself. It’s a dramatic finale, but it’s all been utterly ruined in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for no reason.
It’s all just totally forgotten about, and Batman’s big return is given no more context than… just because. I mean, after years of fighting crime in four installments, suddenly Super-Man comes into play out of nowhere, and Batman says: “You know what? I’m alive folks.” Don’t get me wrong; Batman joining the Justice League is a good thing, but to have him forfeit the Knightfall Protocol, makes it feel like the whole narrative of the Arkham series has been there for nothing.
Batman went through the toughest of plights to save his city and keep his identity a secret. And all these years, he had planned the Knightfall, for only if one day he got exposed, he’d go beyond just a hero. The games put our hero on a high stage like this, and then Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League brings him down to the ground level. One question: Why?
Why This Batman?!
In an alternate dimension, Batman joins the Justice League, and then Brainiac comes along and brainwashes all of them. Simple, and believable, without having to set Kevin Conroy’s Batman legacy on fire. Why should we shoot the Arkham game series Batman in the face in the middle of a park, and have Harley Quinn play jokes with him?
I mean even if this universe is chosen for more impact and story relations, it needs a more in-depth script. If not, then why not have a random universe instead? This hurts even more when you get to know that there’s a multiverse narrative going on in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Rocksteady Has Killed Its Own Knight
The idea of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League being set in the Arkham universe has a special ring for the game; something that had us hyped since the official reveal of the game in 2020. After playing the game, however, it seems like the story has the least connection to what Batman was trying to achieve in the previous instalments.
Now the developers can, of course, bring back this version of Batman through DNA alterations. But the Dark Knight we knew died the moment we figured that all the Batman’s sacrifices in Arkham Knight had been for nothing. It’s just another miserable takeaway from what has been a comically poor D.C video game installment from Warner Bros.
