Kevin Conroy’s Batman Is Completely Wasted in Suicide Squad

Combating the Darkish Knight

First off, to handle the bat-elephant in the room – they killed Kevin Conroy’s Batman off right here, they usually do it in a fairly lame method. We’re going to dig into that in a second, however first let’s discuss concerning the missed alternative of the gameplay itself.

A part of the enchantment with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is that it promised to flip the script the place Batman is anxious. Rocksteady’s earlier DC video games put gamers squarely in Batman’s armored sneakers. As Batman, we soared by way of the skies of Gotham Metropolis, stalked criminals throughout alleyways and rooftops and unleashed Batman’s full arsenal of devices and weapons. By no means earlier than has a recreation sequence been so profitable in making gamers really feel just like the Darkish Knight himself.

In Suicide Squad, abruptly the script is flipped. We’re enjoying because the criminals, and Batman is the enemy. That opens up a whole lot of potential for the sport’s inevitable Batman boss battle. What’s it prefer to be on the receiving finish of the Caped Crusader’s wrath? What’s it prefer to stumble by way of the darkness, figuring out that each ledge or perch could be hiding a crazed vigilante ready to kick your face in?

In a greater recreation, the Batman boss battle would have performed out like a survival horror mission. It needs to be terrifying going up in opposition to this deranged billionaire and his lethal toys. Superman could also be invulnerable, however at the least he presents a goal to shoot at. Batman is the enemy that may’t be seen till he’s able to deliver the ache.

However slightly than being a nerve-wracking lesson in what it’s prefer to be Batman’s prey, the sport’s two Batman encounters are nothing greater than tedious, poorly lit impediment programs. When it comes time for the precise Batman boss battle, you aren’t combating the Darkish Knight a lot as grappling with the consequences of Scarecrow’s concern toxin. This face-off has you stumble by way of the darkness and activate a sequence of buttons to fabricate extra concern toxin. Alongside the best way, you shoot at a endless sequence of Bat-like wraiths and dodge Batman’s explosive gel. It’s repetitive, boring and something however the thrilling motion sequence we’d have anticipated.

This boss battle does lastly culminate in an precise battle, however hardly one worthy of the Darkish Knight. The Squad merely jumps and shoots at an outsized Batman monster in a scene that seems like a riff on one of many nightmare sequences from the unique Arkham Asylum. After which it’s throughout. By no means does the sport really faucet into the fun of combating Batman. By no means does it channel the concern of combating the final word ninja warrior in his prime factor.

After all, squandering the chance for Batman boss battle is one factor, however the actual downside begins after the combat is over. It’s how the sport provides Rocksteady’s Batman his closing sendoff that issues actually go incorrect for Suicide Squad.

The Unhappy Finish of the Arkham Saga

By no means let it’s stated that Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League doesn’t dwell as much as its identify. You do certainly kill the Justice League all through the sport, selecting off Earth’s best superhero defenders one after the other earlier than in the end confronting Brainiac. Even the mighty Batman is introduced down by Harley Quinn and her staff. Harley accomplishes what her puddin’ by no means did, capturing Bats level clean in the pinnacle and luring Superman into the open.

It’s a surprisingly ignominious finish for a personality as beloved as Batman. And perhaps that was the entire level. We are able to virtually respect Suicide Squad slicing by way of the mystique and killing off Batman in such an unceremonious vogue.

However the issue is that this isn’t simply any model of Batman; it’s the Batman from Rocksteady’s Arkham video games. Suicide Squad is technically a sequel to 2015’s Arkham Knight. The sport contains sufficient references to the ending of Arkham Knight, the loss of life of Poison Ivy and the truth that Batman’s secret id is thought to the world at giant to verify the connection.

It is a model of the character followers have bonded with over the course of a number of lengthy adventures. The Arkham trilogy showcases three of the worst nights of Batman’s lengthy profession, nights the place he pushes himself to his bodily and psychological limits in order to save lots of his metropolis. Notably in Arkham Knight, Batman is damaged right down to his core and emerges the opposite aspect stronger and extra resilient than ever. For some, these video games provide the definitive incarnation of Batman.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League exhibits no regard for the legacy of the Arkham video games. It will be one factor if the sport had been set in its personal, self-contained universe. Then, it could be simpler to understand the black humor in the concept of Batman being gunned down like a standard prison. However the recreation goes out of its solution to set up its place in the Arkham canon. It transforms that Batman right into a brainwashed killer, cheapening the reminiscence of a hero who goes out of his method in the Arkham video games to by no means take a life, even Joker’s. This isn’t the ending Rocksteady’s Batman deserved.

It’s actually not the follow-up we hoped for or anticipated in mild of Arkham Knight’s ambiguous ending. That recreation concludes with Batman activating the Knightfall protocols and destroying his life as Bruce Wayne. What turns into of him after that time? Does he attempt to discover happiness in anonymity, like Christian Bale’s Bruce Wayne in The Darkish Knight Rises? Does he commit himself totally to his conflict on crime, a la the Batman of The Darkish Knight Returns? And the way do the varied members of the Bat-family soldier on with out their chief?

There’s much more story that might have been informed with this model of the Batman character. However Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League settles for essentially the most boring reply. It seems that Batman continues to be Batman, even after all the pieces that occurred in Arkham Knight. He’s simply hanging out with the Justice League till he turns into a pawn of Brainiac. The hero players have spent dozens, if not a whole bunch, of hours enjoying as is handled as little greater than a disposable plot gadget. All of the potential left on the desk with Arkham Knight is wasted for the sake of an inexpensive chortle.

To be truthful, there’s at all times an opportunity Rocksteady isn’t fairly accomplished with Batman. As definitive as his loss of life scene appears to be, the Batman comics have actually discovered outlandish methods of bringing useless characters again into the fold. There’s additionally the truth that the sport dabbles in the DC multiverse by the top, providing gamers the chance to seek out 12 extra variations of Brainiac by way of DLC campaigns. If a model of Joker is being introduced in as a playable character, who’s to say Batman gained’t return as effectively? However will it’s the identical Batman? And can he nonetheless be voiced by Kevin Conroy? If not, does Batman’s return even matter?

The silver lining right here is that whereas Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is a poor sendoff for Rocksteady’s Batman, at the least it isn’t Conroy’s closing outing because the Darkish Knight. IGN has discovered that Conroy will reprise his Batman: The Animated Collection position in the animated film Justice League: Disaster on Infinite Earths, Half 3. Optimistically, that film may give Conroy’s Batman the sendoff he deserves. Arkham followers aren’t so fortunate, sadly.

For extra on the sport, take a look at IGN’s Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League evaluate in progress.

Jesse is a mild-mannered workers author for IGN. Permit him to lend a machete to your mental thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter.