Published , by Shack Staff
Published , by Shack Staff
In the DC universe, the Suicide Squad is an interesting kind of team. Instead of heroes, this ragtag group of notable characters is mashed together from villains that got director Amanda Waller’s attention and are given a chance to pay off their debt to society for all of their misdeeds. After all, who else are you going to send on a mission where it doesn’t matter if they die?
Recently during DC Fandome, we got a look at Rocksteady’s upcoming take on this team with their upcoming game, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. This co-op game is going to feature staples like Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark, but there have been a lot of characters to come and go from the Suicide Squad roster over the years. With that in mind, it seems like there’s room for additions to the playable team. With that in mind, here’s this week’s question: What character do you want to see in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League?
I tire of these Batman spinoff games and movies, but since you folks asked, I want Humphry Dumpler to be in this next Suicide Squad game. I googled “obscure Batman villains” and he popped up. So, there you have it.
Gather around, children, and let me tell you all about a villain named The Clock King. In the 1966 Batman television series, he was a lame bad guy who was entirely built around clock and time puns. It was surprising to see him pop up again in the 90s Batman: The Animated Series. He was still a D-tier villain and his motivations were still cartoonish, but like many things on this show, he was still somehow just a little bit cooler. He was portrayed as a fiend out for revenge, using his OCD in regards to time as one of his driving factors.
So what does he have to do with the Suicide Squad? The answer came a decade later with the spin-off show, Justice League Unlimited. The Clock King became a valuable member of that world's Suicide Squad/Task Force X because of his obsession with time and punctuality. He became the man on the headset, frequently informing the team of enemy routines, schedules, and of course, how much time they had left to complete their mission. The Clock King's demeanor throughout this episode was downright cool and he went from a joke villain to a dangerous operative.
So yes, I'd like to see Temple Fugate (not to be confused with the William Tockman version of The Clock King from the comics or the CW shows) make a video game debut. As a playable character? Not necessarily. Keep him in the role he's meant to be. Have him be the guy in the player's ear and act as their guide throughout future missions. The banter with Harley, Deadshot, and Boomerang would be a hoot, too, I'm sure.
Wah! Penguins are one of my favorite animals, so it would make sense that a criminal who not only looks like one, but in some iterations actually has a penguin army would be one of my favorite villains. And when you really think about it, the Penguin would have some cool combat flavor with all his umbrella gadgets. I think I’d like to see a version of the Oswald Cobblepot that was half Danny Devito’s take on the character and half classic Adam West TV Bat-Man version. It turns out that Penguin was even an actual card-carrying member of the Suicide Squad at some point in the 80’s too, so it would be totally cannon for him to make an appearance.
As you may have guessed from my entry in the recent Shack Chat discussion about the Avengers game, I am not very well-versed in the world of comic books or the characters that inhabit their worlds. Compared to the Marvel universe, I know even less about DC, but I was aware of the existence of one particular hero by the name of Dogwelder. At first, I assumed it was a nickname, but no, this designation is about as literal as it gets.
Dogwelder is a guy who uses a welding torch possessed by an Egyptian curse to weld dead dogs onto villains. This is good enough for me. I refuse to believe that these upcoming DC games could have a better potential hero available.
If you want to catch and kill the Superman, you need someone who’s outsmarted him before. Though he might not have the biggest muscles or the latest tech. But what he lacks in these areas he makes up for with contacts, knowledge of the paths to Heaven, Hell, and the afterlife, and a keen intellect. Not too sure how this would play into an action game like Suicide Squad, but that’s for the developers to figure out.
One of DC’s coolest adversaries is Slade Wilson, AKA Deathstroke. Slade has faced off against Batman several times, as well as various other DC heroes. His attitude and cutthroat approach to battle fits perfectly in line with the Suicide Squad. Besides, the mercenary has completed missions as a member of the group in the past.
I’m going with Katana because, well, she uses a katana and I’m all about that kind of gameplay. I’m a huge fan of the katana in the Hitman video games. I loved the Kill Bill movies which had a fair share of swordplay. I’m sure I liked dozens of other games, television shows and movies with katanas. Do I need more reasons?
Scarecrow has always been one of the most interesting characters to me when it comes to the DC Comics universe. Honestly, I feel like having him play some kind of part in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League would open a lot of doors for some really great narrative and gameplay, especially when you take into account the hallucinogenic gas that he usually uses. He also just feels like the perfect kind of character to fit in with the Suicide Squad as someone that uses experimental toxins to deal with their enemies feels very much like a military suits-type idea.
Yeah, I know what you're thinking. What does Killer Croc bring to the table that King Shark doesn't? The answer is pretty much nothing. They're both big boys, both bruisers, both can breathe underwater, have regenerative healing factors, are both considered a little bit simple in the head compared to their associates, and you could pretty much swap one out with the other and have all of the same things. I just happen to like crocodiles more than I like sharks.
Also, not for nothing, I do love me a good grappler character in these types of co-op games. I'm talking the type who can pick up a dude and choose to either use them to hit another dude or piledrive them. That's more Killer Croc's forte since he actually had experience as a carney, doing some good old-fashioned circus wrestling for its freak show before he went criminal. Croc's also had an appearance in recent Suicide Squad materials and was an excellent encounter in the original Batman: Arkham Asylum. So yeah, nothing against King Shark, I just like the cannibalistic wrestling carney crocodile man more and want to see him show up in the game as well.
With Batman’s identity exposed and Bruce presumed dead (spoilers on the Arkham universe in which this takes place), it'd be great to see his sidekicks figure out what to do. I know it seems along the same line as Gotham Knights, but this would be the Arkham Universe allies, specifically the Teen Titans. It would be awesome to see Raven, Star Fire, and others in this universe, along with its take on their designs and personalities. It would definitely be something we haven't seen before and it would be pretty cool too watch them fight the Suicide Squad.
Batman’s in the Justice League. Batman should factor into SQ: Kill the JL. But they will not kill Batman, because The Batman™ cannot die. They can try. That will be entertaining. Also, Batman has contingency plans to neutralize the Justice League should any of them go rabid. Maybe Batman will give the Suicide Squad some tips.
I’m going to try and not go with my failsafe DC universe answer of Batman but I don’t know how you could go any other way. Batman is the billionaire genius of the group and could come up with just about any strategy imaginable. If you can come up with a plan to attack/defeat Superman than I think he, out of anyone, has an advantage in the game. Not killing could be a problem for Batman but that would make him come up with even more strategic plans to stop the Justice League.
And that caps off our answers. What did you think of them? Who do you want to see in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League? Sound off and share in the Chatty section below!