Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has made a brilliant show of advertising the Justice League as the game’s villains, but the true villain is Brainiac, and he looks to be hiding in plain sight. DC’s Suicide Squad stories have a habit of flipping the script on expected superhero stories. Heroes abide by a moral code, but the unrestrained chaos of villains introduces new stakes to superpowered conflicts. Despite Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang’s criminal activities, they don’t compare to the game’s true villain.
Though Rocksteady Studios has yet to release specifics concerning Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s story, a few details have already been revealed through various cinematic trailers. Following the failure of local law enforcement and the military to defeat or contain the Justice League, Amanda Waller pursues another solution. Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang are outfitted with internal bombs to ensure their obedience. It’s unknown how many heroes the Suicide Squad will face, but their objective is obvious.
Suicide Squad: KTJL’s evil Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern present significant threats to Amanda Waller’s agents, but each hero is only a distraction to the true enemy. Several hints within Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s trailers suggest the true villain has yet to appear in the brief glimpses Rocksteady Studios has given. The true threat is behind the ships flying in the air, and the reason Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern are emitting purple light.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s True Villain Is Brainiac
To be sure, Superman wreaking havoc and death across Metropolis gives Earth's inhabitants an immediate threat. Still, the true villain resides within the skull-shaped ships hovering over the city. All signs point towards Suicide Squad’s true villain being Brainiac, an intergalactic cyborg (or android) usually depicted as being responsible for the destruction of Krypton. In his quest for complete knowledge, Brainiac resorts to sending robotic extensions of his consciousness onto targeted planets to gather information. After obtaining all the information he needs, Brainiac usually destroys the planet to preserve the rarity of his collection. Though his quarrel tends to focus on Superman (due to the Kryptonian’s survival), he frequently battles many core members of the Justice League. His defeat and subsequent control over the Justice League suggests the presence of unbelievably powerful abilities and equipment capable of defeating Earth’s mightiest heroes. Given that each hero has defeated a member of the Suicide Squad previously, it’s unknown how players can triumph over this intergalactic foe.
Brainiac last appeared as Injustice 2’s main villain, reuniting the warring Justice League to combat his more immediate threat. He also appeared as the primary antagonist for DC Universe Online’s campaign, capturing metahumans and experimenting on them. His powers range depending on the DC continuity, though it’s unlikely Rocksteady Studios will hold anything back. Suicide Squad and Batman Arkham share a universe, and previous games regularly exhibited the corrupted use of superpowers through villains like Poison Ivy. Assuming WB Games Montréal grants Brainiac a fraction of his power from the comics, he is likely capable of destroying the entire planet. The Suicide Squad will need to employ new tactics to defeat Brainiac’s fleet of living ships, superpowered cronies, and Brainiac himself.
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League Makes The Justice League Puppets
Though Brainiac is the ringleader of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League’s villains, it seems as though reaching the alien cyborg is shaping up to be the game’s biggest challenge. He isn’t the Suicide Squad’s only obstacle within Metropolis, nor is he the most immediate threat. Through unknown means, Brainiac has placed several members of the Justice League under his control. Their uniforms and facial features emit the same purple energy present throughout the ships flying above Metropolis. Whether Brainiac took the League by surprise or beat them in direct combat is also unknown, but their free will has been erased and replaced with Brainiac’s. While DC villains’ survival depends on the mercy of their heroic rivals, that mercy appears to have run out, as shown by Suicide Squad’s evil Superman lasering a pilot to death.
The only heroes in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s trailers have been Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. Each hero exhibits extraordinary powers, ranging from superspeed to hard light projections. These superhuman abilities present significant threats to the Suicide Squad, whose members have access to limited skills. Though Rocksteady Studios has yet to unveil the specifics of each character kit, it’s unlikely that Harley Quinn and Deadshot have any metahuman powers. Suicide Squad’s Harley Quinn first appeared in the Batman Arkham franchise and displayed an aptitude for acrobatics. Meanwhile, Deadshot’s claim to fame is his marksmanship and near-perfect marksman record. Suicide Squad’s Captain Boomerang is slightly different, apparently having access to limited superspeed, while King Shark has a level of strength and aquatic-based abilities. Like many iterations of Task Force X, Amanda Waller’s collection of supervillains scrapes the bottom of the barrel to face Earth’s deadliest threat yet.
Amanda Waller Is Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s Human Villain
Brainiac is the biggest threat to Metropolis and Earth, but Amanda Waller is the most immediate threat to Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s playable characters. DC features many twisted villains, but Amanda Waller’s atrocities are all considered legal. Waller’s distrust of the Justice League leads her to regularly circumvent the heroes’ actions by recruiting her own superpowered team through death threats, intimidation, and coercion; she circumvents the need for goodwill and mercy. The bombs implanted within Task Force X’s members ensure total obedience, even in the face of overwhelming odds. Suicide Squad's Amanda Waller regularly violate human rights and are often geared towards hiding America’s undesirable secrets before the public can discover them. The abuse incarcerated villains suffer at Waller’s hand likely doesn’t compare to the destruction, chaos, and death they’ve brought to their cities, but their treatment is nonetheless deplorable.
From the moment Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s reveal trailer released, it was clear Waller would be exacting her ironclad grip on the team throughout their mission. While Deadshot, Harley Quinn, King Shark, and Captain Boomerang recover from their latest battle, Waller continues barking orders and demands into their earpieces. Though the Suicide Squad’s Captain Boomerang suffers from a concussion, Waller refuses to grant Task Force X time to recover. Instead, she continues threatening to detonate the bombs in their heads. Brainiac may be threatening the world with his superpowered lackeys, but Waller is the most immediate danger to Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League’s playable characters. The world being absorbed into a massive hivemind won’t matter to any convicts if their heads have already blown up.
Rocksteady Studios has released little information about Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, save for a few reveal trailers and teaser images. The absence of gameplay may worry interested parties, but more information might release after the holiday season. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will release at some point in 2022, available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.