Suicide Squad: KTJL Leaks Could Finally Resolve One Arkham Origins Moment

Some Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League leaks have revealed more of the playable characters coming to Rocksteady Games’ shooter post-launch, and one particular character could finally pay off a moment from WB Games Montréal’s 2013 prequel, Batman: Arkham Origins. Suicide Squad: KTJL is confirmed to be taking place five years after the events of the last Arkhamverse title, Batman: Arkham Knight, and follows Amanda Waller’s team of supervillains and antiheroes, Task Force X, as they infiltrate Metropolis in the wake of an alien invasion led by Braniac.

The primary roster of characters consists of Harley Quinn, who will be returning from the previous Arkhamverse titles, as well as King Shark and Captain Boomerang, who are being introduced to Rocksteady’s DC universe for the first time. The title will also see Floyd Lawton’s Deadshot, who leaked footage from the closed Alpha playtest confirmed is the “real” Deadshot as he refers to the version seen in Batman: Arkham City – and presumably Batman: Arkham Origins too – being a “steampunk-looking” impostor.

More Playable Characters Will Be Added For Free Post-Launch

A Dataminer Has Revealed Who Some Of These May Be

Rocksteady has previously confirmed that unlike the previous Batman: Arkham titles, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will have live-service features, something that has already been controversial among the fanbase. While the game will have a battle pass and in-game purchases, Rocksteady has confirmed on the official Suicide Squad game website that this will be for cosmetics only, and will not impact gameplay. The game will receive free updates that include other playable characters, new levels, weapons, and more post-launch.

Thanks to a data miner, Miller Ross, who has previously covered other live-service titles such as Marvel’s Avengers, many of these playable characters have been revealed, including Killer Croc. Miller was able to get into the files for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League through the aforementioned closed Alpha playtest held between Thursday, November 30, and Sunday, December 3. While this playtest was confidential and those who were invited to participate signed a non-disclosure agreement, Miller confirmed that he did not sign the NDA nor did he take part in the Alpha test and while he would be covering leaks about playable characters and more, he would not reveal major story moments.

Which Playable Characters Have Been Revealed So Far?

New And Returning Arkhamverse Characters Will Be In Suicide Squad KTJL

So far, Miller has shared who the post-launch playable characters could be through a series of posts on X. While not naming the characters outright, he has used emojis to indicate which ones will be playable, with known characters such as Harley Quinn, King Shark, Captain Boomerang and Deadshot represented by a playing card’s diamond, a shark, a boomerang and a target, respectively. Initially, a crocodile was shown alongside them, teasing the return of the aforementioned Arkhamverse regular, Killer Croc.

One of the other emojis showed a clown, which could be Joker returning from the dead after Arkham City somehow, or another clown-themed character from the DC universe such as Duela Dent, who was also briefly a member of the Suicide Squad in the comics. There was also a frozen face that could represent several ice-based characters, but a later post from Miller made it highly likely this would be Killer Frost, a set of scales that Miller stated was “not an original character, but an original interpretation”.

The final emojis consisted of the Japanese flag, which represents Katana, and a water pistol, the latter of which led to much speculation as to which gun-toting character it could be. Names such as Bloodsport and Peacemaker were suggested after both character’s increase in popularity since the 2021 movie, The Suicide Squad, but Miller confirmed the water pistol actually represented Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson alongside a now-deleted image of the character’s appearance in the game.

Deathstroke Will Return In Suicide Squad KTJL

Slade Wilson’s Return Can Finally Pay Off Arkham Origins’ Credits Scene

Deathstroke first appeared in the Arkhamverse in Batman: Arkham Origins as one of the assassins who attempted to kill the Dark Knight. While he was apprehended after one of the game’s more memorable boss battles, a post-credits sequence showed Amanda Waller approaching him and setting up a future appearance as part of the Arkhamverse’s Task Force X. At the time, Batman: Arkham Origins‘ developer was considering working on a Suicide Squad title of its own, with DC Comics’ Chief Creative Officer at the time, Geoff Johns, providing several unofficial updates on the game.

Ultimately this didn’t come to pass, and the studio ultimately went on to make the Bat Family-centric Gotham Knights, while Rocksteady took on adapting Suicide Squad sometime after completing Batman: Arkham Knight. DC did release the animated film Batman: Assault on Arkham, which followed one of Task Force X’s missions in the Arkhamverse. However, due to the fate of many of the characters in that film, that story is most likely deemed non-canon in the games. As a result, Batman: Arkham Origins‘ post-credits set-up never seemed to go anywhere.

Deathstroke did return in Batman: Arkham Knight for a rematch with the Caped Crusader after being hired by Scarecrow and the Arkham Knight. Unfortunately, this was reduced to another battle between the Batmobile, drones, and tanks rather than the memorable melee-based showdown seen in Batman: Arkham Origins. It’s clear that Rocksteady considers WB Games Montréal’s prequel to be canon due to the sheer number of references to that game’s story in Batman: Arkham Knight, but this confrontation and the interactions that followed en-route to the GCPD or around its Maximum Security holding cell didn’t mention any work Deathstroke may have done as part of Waller’s team in the time between the two titles.

With the character now due to return as part of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, Rocksteady finally has the opportunity to clear up what happened after Batman: Arkham Origins credits and build upon Slade Wilson’s history with Amanda Waller. Leaked footage from the closed alpha also indicates that this version of Deadshot has a pre-existing rivalry with Deathstroke, which could indicate that the two have worked together as part of Waller’s team on missions in the past, and provides plenty of opportunity to build upon the Arkhamverse‘s history outside of the Batman-centric stories seen in its previous games.

Related: Suicide Squad, Mmmmmmmmiller/X (1, 2, 3)