Kill the Justice League to save them from Brainiac's control
After reshaping the superhero game with the Batman: Arkham trilogy, Rocksteady Studios turns its attention to the morally inverted premise of villains saving a world by destroying its heroes. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League arrives February 2, 2024, placing players inside an open-world Metropolis under Brainiac's grip, tasked with eliminating the very icons humanity once trusted. It is a story as old as mythology — the question of what happens when the guardians fall — rendered in co-op chaos and comic-book irreverence. The studio's willingness to delay rather than compromise suggests a belief that the material, however unlikely, deserves to be done right.
- Rocksteady, the studio that defined the modern superhero game, is now asking players to kill Superman — and the tension between that premise and the studio's legacy is the story's central gamble.
- Brainiac's corruption of the Justice League transforms Metropolis into a city at war with itself, and the squad's impossible contract — eliminate the heroes to free them — creates a moral knot the game seems genuinely interested in untangling.
- A nine-month delay from May 2023 to February 2024 signals that Rocksteady refused to ship something unfinished, but unanswered questions about multiplayer progression and post-launch pricing keep uncertainty alive.
- Four wildly distinct characters — Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, King Shark — each move and fight differently through a Metropolis bigger than Arkham Knight's Gotham, promising a world worth exploring from multiple angles.
- Boss fights against corrupted Justice League members are positioned as the game's defining moments, and post-launch support promises new characters and missions, though whether players will pay for them remains unresolved.
Rocksteady Studios built its reputation on the Batman: Arkham trilogy, and for years the question hanging over the studio was simple: where do you go after that? The answer, arriving February 2, 2024, is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — a game that inverts everything the Arkham series stood for by handing control to DC's villains and pointing them at its heroes.
The premise is deliberately provocative. Brainiac has seized control of the Justice League, bending Metropolis to his will, and Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad has been contracted to do the unthinkable — kill Superman, Wonder Woman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and whoever else stands in the way. Wonder Woman herself, briefly freed from Brainiac's grip, delivers the grim logic through her lasso of truth: the only way to save the League is to eliminate them. Rocksteady is treating this absurd premise with genuine narrative weight, promising more cutscenes than any of its previous titles.
Players choose from four squad members — Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark — each with distinct movement and combat styles that make piloting them through the open-world city feel fundamentally different. The game supports solo play with AI companions or full four-player online co-op, a first for the studio. Six weapon types and a gear-based power system add depth to combat, while costumes remain purely cosmetic.
The game was delayed from May 2023 to give the studio time to deliver what it believed players deserved. Post-launch, new characters, weapons, and missions are planned, alongside a cosmetics battle pass — though pricing details remain unclear. Whether Rocksteady can capture lightning twice, first with a brooding detective and now with a squad of wisecracking criminals, will only be known once players step into Metropolis and begin their impossible mission.
Rocksteady Studios has spent the better part of a decade proving it understands how to build a superhero game. After the critical and commercial success of the Batman: Arkham trilogy, the studio faced an obvious question: what comes next? The answer arrived in February 2024 with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, a departure that trades the brooding detective work of Gotham for the chaotic energy of a team of DC villains tasked with an impossible mission—eliminating the Justice League itself.
The game was formally announced at DC FanDome in 2020, a choice that initially puzzled fans. The Suicide Squad property had limited cultural currency outside the comics; the 2016 film adaptation had been widely dismissed. But Rocksteady's track record suggested the studio could find something worth exploring in the material. What emerged from years of development is an open-world action game set in Metropolis, a city larger than the one featured in Arkham Knight, where players control one of four squad members—Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, and King Shark—each with distinct movement styles and combat approaches. King Shark vaults across rooftops and scales walls; Deadshot glides via jetpack; each character feels fundamentally different to pilot through the world.
The narrative setup hinges on a single villain: Brainiac, who has seized control of the Justice League and bent the city itself to his will. Amanda Waller, the ruthless government operative who runs the Suicide Squad program, has contracted the team to do what seems impossible—kill Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, The Flash, and potentially others. The trailers hint at a story where the squad discovers that the only way to save the Justice League from Brainiac's control is to eliminate them entirely. Wonder Woman, freed from the villain's grip, delivers this grim truth using her lasso of truth. The game promises more cutscenes than any previous Rocksteady title, suggesting the studio is treating the story with genuine weight despite the irreverent tone of the squad itself.
Rocksteady delayed the game from its original May 2023 target to February 2, 2024, citing the need to ensure quality. The studio's statement was direct: they needed more time to deliver the experience players deserved. That extra nine months appears to have been spent refining both the single-player campaign and the game's co-op infrastructure, a first for the studio. Players can tackle the entire game solo, with AI controlling the three squad members they're not actively piloting, or team up with up to three friends online, each taking control of a different character. The progression system for multiplayer remains unconfirmed, a detail that has tripped up other developers attempting similar designs.
The combat builds on Arkham's foundation but expands it considerably. Six weapon types, each with different strengths and weaknesses, can be equipped alongside gear that affects a character's overall power level. Costumes are purely cosmetic, allowing players to customize their squad's appearance without sacrificing stats. The core gameplay loop appears to involve liberating sections of Metropolis from Brainiac's mechanical creatures, weakening his control over the city and the Justice League members trapped within it. Boss fights against the corrupted heroes are positioned as the experience's centerpiece—the moments where the squad's improvisation and firepower will be tested against beings of godlike power.
Rocksteady has committed to post-launch support, though specifics remain vague. New characters, weapons, and missions are confirmed to arrive after release, though whether they'll be free or paid is unclear. A cosmetics-focused battle pass will also launch, offering players ways to further customize their squad. The tone throughout development has been notably lighter than the Arkham games, matching the squad's more chaotic, improvisational energy. This is a game about villains cracking jokes while fighting gods, not a noir meditation on crime and punishment.
The game arrives on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC. Pre-orders had not yet materialized at the time of announcement, but the February 2024 release date marks the end of a long development cycle. Whether Rocksteady has managed to capture lightning in a bottle twice—first with Batman, now with the Suicide Squad—will become clear once players step into Metropolis and begin their impossible mission.
Notable Quotes
We have made the tough but necessary decision to take the time needed to work on getting the game to be the best quality experience for players.— Rocksteady Studios, on the delay announcement
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why does Rocksteady's track record matter so much here? They made Batman games, not Suicide Squad games.
Because superhero games are notoriously difficult to get right. Rocksteady proved with Arkham Asylum and Arkham City that they understood how to translate comic book action into something that felt both faithful and fun. That credibility is what made people willing to trust them with a property as unconventional as the Suicide Squad.
The delay from May to February—was that a red flag or a sign they cared?
In this industry, delays usually mean one of two things: either something went seriously wrong, or the studio realized they needed more time to meet their own standards. Rocksteady's statement was straightforward about wanting quality. Given their history, most people took it at face value.
Four playable characters in an open world sounds ambitious. How do you keep that from feeling bloated?
Each character plays completely differently. King Shark moves like a tank, Deadshot like a precision striker. The game isn't asking you to master four characters equally—it's letting you pick your style and stick with it, or switch between them depending on the mission.
Brainiac controlling the Justice League—is that the whole story, or just the setup?
It's the engine that drives everything. But the trailers suggest there's real moral weight underneath. The squad has to kill heroes to save them. That's not a throwaway premise.
Co-op with friends sounds great, but multiplayer progression has burned a lot of games. Why should anyone trust this?
They shouldn't, not yet. That's the honest answer. Rocksteady hasn't made a multiplayer game before. They're being careful about what they promise, which is smart. But it's also the biggest unknown.