Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League release date, trailers, and everything we know
From playable characters to the release date, here's everything we know so far.
Want to know the Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League release date? Rocksteady, developers of the Batman Arkham series, are back for another DC game. This time, though, you'll be fighting Batman and co as the Suicide Squad, a group of villains hired to help when things have gone particularly wrong. You'll probably recognise the core characters from the recent Suicide Squad (2016) and Suicide Squad (2021) movies, the latter of which was directed and produced by the now-co-CEOs of DC Studios, James Gunn and Peter Safran, respectively.
Like the Arkham series, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is an open world brawling action-adventure, but it will be set in Metropolis. That's the home of Superman, for the unaware, but he isn't acting very homely. Supes, Batman, The Flash, and Green Lantern have fallen under the mind-control influence of Brainiac, leaving them in a state of enraged chaos. As the title suggests, it's your job to fight back and kill the Justice League.
If that's piqued your interest in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, then you're in luck. Below, we'll break down everything we know about Suicide Squad, including the release date, info on playable characters, the setting, plot, gameplay features, and its place in the Arkham canon.
- Suicide Squad release date, platforms, and trailers
- Who can you play as in Suicide Squad?
- What other DC characters will feature in Suicide Squad?
- What do we know about Suicide Squad's setting and plot?
- Is Suicide Squad canon to the Arkham games?
- Will Suicide Squad have multiplayer?
- Suicide Squad game engine and system requirements
Suicide Squad release date, platforms, and trailers
Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is set to release on February 2nd, 2024. The news of a revised official release date comes after rumours of delays out of 2023 following poor reception to the game's previews.
It doesn't come as much of a surprise that we won't be seeing the full game this spring. However, the delay is unexpectedly lengthy, hinting at some pretty major tweaks in the eight extra months of development that have been added on at practically the last minute.
In addition to Microsoft Windows for PC, Suicide Squad will be released for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. It is not expected to launch on previous-generation consoles, such as the PS4 and Xbox One.
See below for the latest gameplay trailer from December of last year (although regrettably, the release date info at the end of the video is now well out of date):
Who can you play as in Suicide Squad?
Suicide Squad features a playable line-up of four of DC's hottest villains right now. Here's a quick run-down of who they are and where you might recognise them from:
- Harley Quinn, the Joker's former henchwoman-slash-girlfriend, features here fresh off her leading appearances in the Suicide Squad movies and the Birds of Prey spin-off, as well as her self-titled animated series.
- Deadshot, the expert marksman with a tragic past. This game features a different incarnation of Deadshot from the one in the Arkham games, drawing inspiration the first Suicide Squad movie.
- King Shark, who is exactly what he sounds like, and has featured recently in the movie version of The Suicide Squad (you know… the second one) and as a main character in the Harley Quinn animated series.
- Captain Boomerang, who does what you think he does and played a supporting role in the second Suicide Squad movie. He feels like a bit of an odd choice to me, to be honest, but I imagine they've come up with a really sweet boomerang mechanic.
What other DC characters will feature in Suicide Squad?
NPC allies in the game will include Amanda Waller, the founder of the Suicide Squad, and Wonder Woman. As the title suggests, hostile NPCs will be largely drawn from the Justice League pantheon, including Superman, Green Lantern, and the Flash. It seems that the overall villain, however, will be Brainiac, who's brainwashed the members of the Justice League, necessitating the involvement of the Suicide Squad to save the day in their own curious way.
In the most recent trailer, found above, Rocksteady revealed that the late Kevin Conroy will appear one final time as Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League. Conroy famously played Batman for 30 years, and appeared in the titular role throughout the Arkham series.
What do we know about Suicide Squad's setting and plot?
In a minor break from Rocksteady tradition, Suicide Squad will be set in Metropolis rather than Gotham. The action is confirmed to begin in Gotham's Arkham Asylum, however, so it's possible that the game will feature a tour of well-known DC locations; but Metropolis is confirmed to have been the inspiration for the game's open world segments. In terms of timeline, the game will follow on from 2015's Batman: Arkham Knight, but after an as-yet unknown period of time has passed.
The set-up of the plot sees Amanda Waller form the titular Suicide Squad, composed of four Arkham Asylum inmates, for a covert mission to Metropolis. Only upon their arrival are the squad given the full details: classic Superman nemesis Brainiac has commenced an invasion of Earth, starting with the city of Metropolis, where he has brainwashed many of the inhabitants, including several members of the Justice League (with Wonder Woman apparently proving immune). The Suicide Squad's official mission is to stop Brainiac by, erm, assassinating the mind-controlled members of the Justice League. Which sounds a bit harsh but hey, desperate times call for desperate baddies.
It's important to mention that Gotham Knights, the 2022 DC action-adventure video game from WB Montreal, is not set in the Arkhamverse. That means it is not connected to Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, so don't anticipate any continuity between the two games.
Is Suicide Squad canon to the Arkham games?
Suicide Squad: Kill the Jusice League is officially considered a continuation of the Batman: Arkham series, thanks in large part to also being developed by Rocksteady Studios. However, it's more of a spin-off than a straight sequel, since it promoted several supporting Arkham characters into its main roles, and shifts the action away from Gotham to other areas within the DC comics 'verse.
There have been a few off-screen developments between games that might seem like continuity errors to the uninitiated, but there's always a reason if you look at the supplementary materials for the game. For example, Deadshot has been reimagined as African-American (presumably to be more in line with his movie portrayal by Will Smith), but there's an official explanation: namely, that this guy killed the old Deadshot and nicked his gear. Gosh. I mean, I suppose they are bad guys; it's what they do. This Deadshot does claim that Arkham-era Deadshot stole the identity from him first, though, so maybe that's slightly better?
Will Suicide Squad have multiplayer?
Suicide Squad will feature both a single-player campaign and a co-operative multiplayer mode. In the latter, up to four players will each be able to take control of one of the playable characters. In single-player, meanwhile, you'll be able to switch between all four characters at will, with the other three being AI-controlled when you're not in the driving seat.
Suicide Squad game engine and system requirements
Suicide Squad is built in Unreal Engine 4. Beyond that we don't know much about the system requirements, but given that this is a game launching on PS5 and Xbox Series consoles, it's probably going to be quite demanding. Expect to need Windows 10 to run it decently on PC, with at the very least 8GB of RAM and a decently modern CPU and GPU. We're eagerly awaiting more details, so be sure to check back here for more as we know it.
That's everything we know so far about Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, and frankly I for one am eager to learn more about this game and how it'll give us all the chance to be our worst selves. We'll keep this page updated whenever we find out more, so be sure to check back in with us here for the latest news!
