Rocksteady Studios’ Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League may not be the last we’ll see of the Arkhamverse’s Batman. A newly discovered Easter egg hints that the Dark Knight will return in some fashion, despite the premise of the game’s title.
YouTube channel Batman Arkham Videos posted an intriguing discovery from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League on Thursday: Rocksteady hid 12 calendar pages throughout the game’s Metropolis which contain a secret message. As deciphered by Batman Arkham Videos, the 12 dates circled on those calendar pages spell out the phrase, “He will return.”
That tease might seem like a vague hint if the final “circle” on the calendar month of December wasn’t shaped like a Batman symbol.
[Warning: This post contains spoilers for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.]
Batman fans might rightly assume that the Suicide Squad Easter egg might not be a tease about Batman’s return, but that of Calendar Man. That Batman villain appeared in Batman: Arkham City and Arkham Knight. But consider this: The location of the final piece of the calendar puzzle is in Metropolis’ Centennial Park, where Batman meets his ultimate fate in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Yes, Batman does die during the events of Kill the Justice League, but Rocksteady’s new team-based loot shooter is also a story about the multiverse, or as DC calls them, Elseworlds. One version of Lex Luthor dies in the game, only to be quickly replaced by his Earth-2 version. And the game ends with the promise that players will need to take down Brainiacs from a dozen other Elseworlds to fully eliminate him as a threat.
Future seasons of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League promise Elseworlds-themed versions of Metropolis for players to explore. Rocksteady has shown off versions that make Metropolis look like Gotham City, or see it covered in ice or lavishly Joker-fied.
Rocksteady is certainly willing to welcome a new version of the Joker in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League — not the incarnation that died in Arkham City, but a new, alternate-dimension Clown Prince of Crime. Will it do something similar for Batman? Time will tell.
