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Predicting the Suicide Squad video game roster

What will this iteration of the super villain team be composed of?

By Ben HercikPublished 4 years ago 13 min read
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I am someone that enjoys a large variety of video games, despite the fact that I am clearly a huge fan of Nintendo games in particular. But some of my favorite games are the Batman Arkham games from Rocksteady Studios. I remember going through and 100 percenting Arkham Asylum multiple times. I also remember the emotional gut punch at the end of Arkham City where (spoilers for a nine year old game) Batman says that despite everything he had done, he would have saved Joker and him carrying Joker’s dead body out of Arkham City. Now why am I mentioning these games from years ago? Well on August 7, a twitter account was created for a new Rocksteady Studio game, a Suicide Squad game. Recently, the Suicide Squad has gained a major rise in popularity, mostly in part to a movie that came out in 2016, which was met with mixed reviews, but was a box office success. We are getting a sequel that is planned for 2021, being directed by James Gunn with Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman and Jai Courtney reprising their roles of Harley Quinn, Corporal Rick Flagg and Captain Boomerang respectively. The sequel also adds names like David Dastmalchain, Idris Elba, John Cena, Nathan Fillian, Pete Davidson, Michael Rooker, Taika Waititi and many others in undisclosed roles. And now the super villain bunch is getting their own video game.

Right now we know very little about the game, but what we do seem to know is that they are going after the Justice League given the photos that have been released on twitter. However, this hasn’t stopped people from speculating who will be in the game and what characters will be playable. A lot of people think that it might be similar to Crystal Dynamics and Square Enix’s upcoming Marvel’s Avengers game where the player has control over multiple characters. Right now in that game there are eight characters that you can play as, with Spider man being the only exclusive character. Is this Suicide Squad game DC’s possible attempt to copy Marvel? Perhaps, but if we get two great games out of two old rivals I will not be complaining. Let’s now get into the meat and potato’s of this article, and try to figure out who will be the members of this iteration of the Suicide Squad. First, we need to answer what I think is going to be an important question to figure out who will be on this Suicide Squad.

Who is going to be the Justice League?

Photo by phil-cho from Deviantart

Now from the media images, we know that the big four of Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Flash will be in this game. I also think that common members like Aquaman, Green Lantern and Martian Manhunter will be in the game. But since this is a new game, I think we could expect a few surprises as well. Two of those are Green Arrow and Nightwing.

Artist Unknown (Green Arrow) & Artist Unknown (Nightwing)

Now Green Arrow has become more popular recently due to the television show with Steven Amell, but Green Arrow has been a prominent member of the Justice League since at least the Silver Age of comics. I personally would like for the addition because it would allow for a good change of pace in going after him. Most of the other members are close range fighters while Green Arrow would be a long range fighter, and would match up well with one of the members of my predicted Suicide Squad. Now Nightwing would make a little more sense due to the fact that Rocksteady already has a model of Nightwing ready thanks to the GCPD Lockdown DLC from Batman Arkham Knight. Also, if this game takes place across multiple different cities to attack the different heroes, two of the locations that most people will know are Star City (Green Arrow) and Blüdhaven (Nightwing). It would be nice to see these locations in a game about the Justice League. But that puts the game at only nine heroes, and I would think that Rocksteady would want to have an even number of heroes. However I am torn on who number 10 would be.

Cyborg (Renze Segubiense), Hawkgirl and Hawkguy (Unknown), Shazam (Unknown), Firestorm (Timothy Brown), Blue Beetle (Christcheetos), Black Lightning (TV show poster) & Booster Gold (Spiderman2099)

I personally am torn between eight different heroes for the final tenth spot. Cyborg, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, Shazam, Firestorm, Blue Beetle, Black Lightning and Booster Gold would all be interesting choices. If Rocksteady want to go with a more modern approach, it would be more likely that we would get Cyborg, Shazam or Black Lightning. There is also the fact that the current target demographic would be players in their mid to late 20’s or early 30’s. Players like that, like myself, would have memories of the Justice League animated series, so that would make Hawkgirl a popular choice, but I feel like Hawkgirl and Hawkman would be a package deal, so that would be a tough sell. Firestorm, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold would add a breath of youth to a long running group. If I had to make a bet, I would probably say Cyborg or Shazam would make the most sense, but I would love to see Black Lightning make the cut. Now with the Justice League members and the long intro out of the way, it’s time to talk about who will be the playable characters in the game.

Who will be the Suicide Squad?

Deathstroke

Art by Tony Daniel

Let’s start with the most likely candidate, Deathstroke. At the end of Batman: Arkham Origins, Slade Wilson is in prison but is visited by Amanda Waller and is slid a file to him about the idea of a Suicide Squad. Deathstroke is also one of the few villains that can go toe to toe with Batman as well, which is displayed very well in his boss fight in Arkham Origins. Every team needs a leader, and given Deathstroke’s background as being a master of all types of warfare, he would make the perfect leader. He would also be a perfect adversary for both Batman or Nightwing given his history with the pair. Since Deathstroke is the leader in this prediction list, I think that he would be the one that matches up against Batman, like as stated earlier in this entry he matches up super well with Batman. Deathstroke is the master of warfare and Batman is a master of martial arts, and Deathstroke would want revenge for what happened to him in Origins.

Deadshot

Art by spyked and Dym from Deviant Art

Another popular and obvious pick is Deadshot. Looking at the promotional pictures for the game, the logo is clearly a cross-hair, which has led most people to believe that Floyd Lawton will be a member of the team. Rocksteady also already has a model for Deadshot ready as well since he was a member of the band of criminals in Arkham City. What is also interesting is the fact that he was also approached by Amanda Waller at the end of the often forgotten installment of the Batman: Arkham games, Arkham Origins Blackgate. Deadshot was one of two people in a helicopter with Waller and Rick Flag, more on the other in a bit, so it would make sense for him to be in the game as well. While Deadshot would be a likely adversary for Batman or Green Arrow, I think he would match up better with Nightwing. The acrobatic Dick Grayson going against the expert marksman in Deadshot would be a fun match up as players would have to lead their shots just enough to hit the acrobatic hero.

Captain Cold

Leonard Snart is one of the most well known villains, and maybe the most well known villains in DC history. When you think of Flash villains, you think of Reverse Flash, Zoom, Gorilla Grodd, another villain that I’ll get to very soon, and Captain Cold. Snart makes the cut because of the fact that the game needs more big names than just the Batman franchise villains, and Snart fits that bill perfectly. His allegiances to teams like the Injustice League, The Rogues, Legion of Doom, and the Suicide Squad are well documented in the comics, and he is often a prominent member of these teams. This could play into the team as Snart could get into something akin to a three way battle of alpha males in him, Deathstroke and Deadshot. The villain that Snart would be going after is obviously The Flash. The two’s history is long and well known among comic book fans, and I don’t really see a reason to mess with a formula that has worked since the 1950’s.

Captain Boomerang

The only other character that I have on this list from the recent movie is Captain Boomerang. As much as he seems like a joke character, Captain Boomerang is one of the most well respected Flash villains, and has also been one of the main member of the most recent incarnations of the Suicide Squad since the late 90’s. While Jai Courtney’s portrayal of the character was more of a comic relief in the film, the George Hawkins in the comics is a much more serious and dangerous character. Hawkins, a lot like Captain Cold, has a history of being in super villain teams like the Suicide Squad and The Rogues, so his inclusion in these predictions was rather easy. Earlier I mentioned that a fight against Green Arrow would offer a long range fight, Captain Boomerang would be the perfect opponent for him. His boomerangs would not only be able to hit Green Arrow, but also knock his arrows off of their mark. Really skilled players could even curve the shot to such a degree so they could both knock the arrow off track and also hit Green Arrow.

Cheetah

Art by Phil Jimenez (found on Pinterest, original source unknown)

When trying to pick someone to go against Wonder Woman, the choice was rather obvious in Cheetah. As one of the longest running enemies of Wonder Woman, and her arch nemesis, she is the perfect choice to go against Diana Prince. I think a safe bet would be the Barbara Ann Minerva iteration, especially since that is the version we will be seeing in this game. Minerva is one of four different iterations, but she is actually also the only one that is a member of the Suicide Squad in the comics. Minerva’s powers include super strength, speed and agility, reflexes, senses and hand-to-hand combat skills. While she might seem overpowered in comparison to the other villain picks so far, you need someone really powerful to take on a hero as strong as Wonder Woman.

General Zod

Art by saadirfan from Deviant Art

Speaking of overpowered, it’s time to address the elephant in the room of the Justice League when it comes to being overpowered, Superman. How do you counter a superhero like Superman that is so overpowered? Why with a villain that is equally overpowered obviously! In comes General Zod. Zod is a fellow Kryptonian and has nearly identical powers to Superman, so it is an easy match up, let alone a lazy one. The only problem is that a lot of Superman villains are super overpowered like Brainiac or Doomsday, or just overall Justice League villains like Darkseid. The only other super villain that could be a challenger for Superman is Mister Mxyzptlk, which wouldn’t work with the current cast of villains. Zod is also a member of the Suicide Squad in the comics so he does have a history in the group, tho not as well as the likes as Captain Boomerang and Deadshot. But when Superman needs a villain in this group, I would turn to General Zod.

Black Manta

Art by jazzjack-KHT from Deviant Art

Now the Aquaman villain is tougher to pin down. A lot of the villains revolve around being in the water. Villains like King Shark, Fisherman, Siren and Ocean Master came to mind, but eventually I settled on his arch nemesis of Black Manta. Manta is someone who holds a long time running feud with Aquaman when the hero didn’t help him while David Hyde was being held captive on a ship when he was young. Hyde works in this version of the Suicide Squad because of the fact that he has the reason to despise Aquaman compared to the others that were brothers that were jealous, a mad sister in law who has history of trouble, or a random villain that has history across other heroes. What else is interesting is that only Manta and King Shark are the only ones that are listed in this entry that are in the Suicide Squad in the comics. But I look at King Shark more as a Flash villain so Manta gets the nod for me in the game. I think that a Manta vs Aquaman battle would be a lot of fun, especially because of the fact that you could try and predict Aquaman’s moves in the water while you try to manage your health in the battle. It could be infuriating but also give the player a great sense of pride after finishing the battle.

Sinestro

Art by Ethan Van Sciver and Moose Bauman from Tumblr

The Green Lantern villain was pretty simple to pick. The only other villains that could fill this role were Larfleeze, Hector Hammond, Parallax and Atrocitus, but none of them have the name power that Sinestro has. Whichever version of Green Lantern we get (Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, or Kyle Rayner) they all have history with Sinestro. One small issue is that Sinestro doesn’t have a link to the Suicide Squad. But then again, no other major Green Lantern villains have ties to the Suicide Squad, so adding Sinestro to the group isn’t the craziest thing ever. I do think that adding someone to the group that can also use a power ring would be their answer for challenging Green Lantern, and nobody knows the Green Lantern better than Sinestro.

Jinx

Art by Tambergal from Deviant Art

Now we get into the more obscure characters of this group. Jinx is one of the common enemies of the Teen Titans, and the most recently created villain in this group. The reason for her addition is a loose one at best, but go back to the beginning of the article. Many players are around the same age range that I fall in, which means that they were younger when the Teen Titans animated series and grew up watching the show. One of the recurring villains in the series was Jinx with the rest of her HIVE members like Gizmo and Mammoth. I think it’s clear where I’m going with this as if Cyborg is the last member of the Justice League, then Jinx is the one that would be going after him. Her psychic powers and Cyborg’s cybernetic enhancements would be an interesting battle. Maybe Jinx could use her powers to turn his attacks back at him and attack himself.

Bronze Tiger

Art by Unknown (found on Pinterest)

Now this one might seem very obscure, but think back to the Deadshot entry. Deadshot was one of two people in the helicopter with Waller and Flag. The other was Bronze Tiger, who was a boss and ally in Arkham Origins Blackgate. For people that aren’t familiar with Bronze Tiger, he is a master of martial arts and a common enemy of Green Arrow, even appearing on the Arrow TV show. Now Tiger would have the most challenging boss fight. If you’ve been keeping track, the only hero left is Martian Manhunter for Bronze Tiger to fight. What I would like to see from this fight would be the first boss battle in the game. It would provide a lot of challenge and give the players a taste of what they are in for and how difficult that it will be for these villains to take down the Justice League.

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