The Suicide Squad is ready to take on Superman — and, well, the entire Justice League. Rocksteady Games revealed the cinematic trailer for its upcoming “Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” video game at DC FanDome, giving fans a first look at the mayhem slated to come to game consoles and PC.
In the teaser, Task Force X members Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang and King Shark navigate a wrecked Metropolis, before — and at the direction of DC antagonist Amanda Waller — engaging in a firefight set to OutKast’s “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad).”
The villains all wield their signature weapons. Harley swings her baseball bat, Deadshot blasts enemies with his wrist-cannons, Captain Boomerang throws his surprisingly effective boomerangs, and King Shark causes mayhem with his twin cleavers. During a brief lull in the chaos, a helicopter hurtling towards the anti-heroes is unexpectedly intercepted by a very identifiable flying object: Superman.
The Man of Steel hovers above the Squad with the helicopter pilot in hand. However, it’s clear something is amiss with the last son of Krypton as he incinerates the helpless pilot — a sign that he’s being controlled by Brainiac, also the mastermind behind the assault on Metropolis. Therein lies the Suicide Squad’s objective: take down the Justice League.
The game will be a hybrid character-driven/action-adventure game and a continuation of the “Batman: Arkham” universe, which includes “Arkham Asylum,” “Arkham City” and “Arkham Knight,” according to Rocksteady co-founder Sefton Hill. He revealed the game will allow fans to toggle between characters during a single-player campaign, and it will also feature four-player co-op.
“You’re never locked to to any particular character for any particular section of the game, so you want to play as Deadshot, jet-packing around and sniping enemies, you can do that, and then boom — instantly switch to playing as Harley, swinging around and flying into enemies with a baseball bat around their heads,” said Hill.
The buzzy trailer comes on the heels of controversy for the game studio: according to a recent report by the Guardian, in 2018, more than half of the women who worked at the London-based developer signed a letter demanding that Rocksteady bosses address sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior at the workplace.
According to the report, employees say little has been done since, multiple signatories have left the company and Rocksteady continues to suffer from sexism and harassment. Rocksteady Games issued a statement via Twitter on Aug. 21 acknowledging the 2018 letter and that it would be engaging an independent third party to whom employees could speak to confidentially. The statement also said it would be reaching out to every female former employee who had left in the past two years “to ask them to speak to the interviewers.”
“Right now, we are as passionate as ever about creating an inclusive culture and we are listening carefully,” the statement read.
“Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League” is set to be released on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and PC in 2022.