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Superman II (1980)- When Director’s Cuts Actually Matter

AdamLeave a comment

Director’s cuts for films tends to be a big talking point nowadays with film discourse. Whenever a highly beloved/controversial director takes their jab at directing a film from a well-known IP, questions always spur online about how much of the finished product is actually theirs to behold. Was the finished film one in which the director themselves had in mind from the start or is it just what the higher ups at the studios wanted it to be? With studios and producers having more a say on a final film product than ever before, that question tends to get ask every time a big film comes out when it lacks overall quality!

Of course, there is no director more famous/infamous with only being able to get the exact vision they intended with a film than Zack Snyder. Nearly EVERY single time a film of his has come out and it’s not well received by critics or general audiences, the immediate reaction from Snyder and his fanbase is ALWAYS about how his original cut was much better and you need to watch that in order to get the full satisfying motion picture. From Watchmen to Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice to Justice League to new Rebel Moon movies, there is no one that loves the word “Director’s Cut” more than Zack Snyder himself. Although I will be talking about his full director’s cut of Batman V Superman and Justice League later on in the marathon, it does give the indication as to how much someone’s opinion on a movie can change drastically when they see what the person behind the camera intended all along.

However, there are some instances where director’s cuts tends to be VERY complicated. Not necessarily that the entire quality of the motion picture changes on a dime but the way that a certain director decides to tell the exact same story in an entirely different way than someone else does. And this exact example I will be talking about today is no other than with Superman II.

As you could tell based off the title of this piece and my intro, Superman II featured a lot of different changes from both the original 1980 film and it’s sequel. After the massive success of Superman: The Movie, Warner Bros demanded a sequel ASAP. However, the production of it’s sequel went through it’s fair share of shake-ups, controversies, and mass difficulties in getting a quality product in theaters and even when it came out of theaters. Because of all this and more, Superman II was the product of two different directors, Richard Donner and Richard Lester. Yes, both directors have the exact same first names. I do NOT believe that was a coincidence whatsoever.

Following the success of the 1976 film The Omen, Donner was hired by WB to direct the original Superman movie along with it’s sequel. And to make sure that deal would be met, both movies would be film back-to-back simultaneously. However, tensions arose between Donner and the producers behind the films, particularly the father-son duo of Alexander and Ilya Sakling and Pierre Spengler. From clashing visions to scheduling conflicts, things became a mess from behind the scenes. It got so bad that the producers decided to bring in Richard Lester as a “co-producer”, A.K.A. a back-up director, and basically told Donner to just finish the first film and let them deal with finishing the second film. After Superman: The Movie became the hit that it did, the production of Superman II resumed but with Lester now behind the camera. Although, Donner had already shot 70% of the film, Lester had to go back and reshot much of the film, radically changing the tone and several sequences, just so he could get full director’s credit for Superman II.

So, yeah! That was quite a chaotic history involving the making of the second cinematic installment involving the man of tomorrow! Although Lester’s version ended up being a box office hit with a mostly positive reception, interest grew of what Donner’s original version of Superman II was like. And considering we were now starting to enter the era of DVDs and re-releasing films with extended or director’s cuts, what better time than any to release a cut of Superman II in which Richard Donner had his full name on the cover.

Unfortunately, despite high demands and a fan campaign asking for Warner Bros to release the Donner cut for the film’s 25th anniversary, they were unable to do that because of complicated reasons. With circumstances such as Marlon Brando suing the studio over royalties, which prevented his likeness being used, Richard Donner having never completed actually filming the whole movie, and the man behind the camera himself admitting he didn’t really have an interest in releasing one, it seemed highly unlikely that it would ever see the day. However, by the time 2006 came around, things changed and the studio actually gave into the demand, releasing the “Donner Cut” of Superman II on DVD.

While the Donner Cut was being assembled, an attempt was made to restore as much original footage of Donner’s original vision as possible. After all, some of Lester’s footage was needed to make the story feel actually coherent, being able to fill in the leaping gaps and create a proper bridge between Superman: The Movie and Superman II. Even though he wasn’t able to save his 100% vision due to the film being WAY too late to go back and reshoot, Superman II: The Donner Cut still remains one of the more unique director’s cuts of any mainstream film that has ever been released.

Instead of feeling like a complete finished film, it comes across as more of a “what if”. What if Richard Donner had full control from start to finish? What if he was able to film the two movies back-to-back fully like he intended? Well, the answers we got to those questions involves a director’s cut of Superman II that features several major differences from the film that was released in theaters back in the early 1980s.

Because of that, let’s take a look at some of the key differences between The Donner Cut and the Theatrical Cut.

More Sincerity, Less Comedy

Richard Donner has always viewed Superman as a modern mythology. Because of that, Superman: The Movie and his cut for Superman II reflected that, with a more serious approach to it’s subject matter and means of telling it’s story. Sure, the film definitely contains enough of a sense of humor, especially when compared to say…..Zack Snyder’s Superman, but for the most part, it’s a more serious, albeit sincere tone throughout the entire film. With Lester on the other hand, it was quite different. You have all the funny business with Lex, Non, the evil Kryptonian that doesn’t talk, acting like an overgrown baby, shots of civilians in the city during the final battle, one which involves a guy with roller skates and another guy talking on the phone, and the Kryptonians putting their faces on Mount Rushmore. Donner, on the other hand, cut most of the jokes that he probably felt cut the tension with each individual sense and just got right into the meat of them.

While I’m fairly certain this is more of a studio mandate rather than what Lester wanted personally, I say I prefer Donner’s take on what the tone of the film should be here. I like how he decided to take things more seriously without going too far and be able to incorporate a sense of humor when the film requires it. I guess we now know which superhero film to ACTUALLY thank for all that awkward humor that’s always thrown into every MCU film since 2012!

More Epic In Scale, Less Action

Just like the first thing, I imagine this was more of a decision from the studios to add more action scenes into the theatrically released film and less so on the director himself. Warner Bros craved to add in more action into the picture and less of the slower moving parts with certain scenes being too stretched out. Because of that, we get more mythical Normal Rockwell-esque Visuals with the Donner Cut and less of that mythical cinematography in Lester’s cut. And also because of that, we get more added in action in the theatrical version compared to Donner’s version.

The biggest example of this comes with the big fight in Metropolis between Zod, his minions, and Superman. This is a fight that ends with Superman running away and luring them to the Fortress of Solitude. From there, Superman tricks them into depowering themselves by reversing the effects of the crystal chamber. In the Donner version, it cuts right to this bit. In the Lester version, there is an additional fight scene added in the Fortress of Solitude first.

While I can understand the crave for more action in your Superman movie, the way that Lester went about to get more action really devoid the film of eternal logic. The Evil Kryptonians can now just suddenly teleport and shoot energy beams while Superman is now able to create holographic duplicates of himself. Not to mention, the bizarre power when Superman peels the “S” off his costume and hurls it onto Non like a big blanket. I like action but not if it comes at the cause of the actual quality of the film. Because of that, point goes to Donner here!

More Music From Superman: The Movie Instead of The Score From Superman II

As if the clash over Donner and the producers wasn’t insane enough, a similar thing happened in the production for Superman II with the legendary John Williams. While he was originally slated to score Superman II, Williams ended up getting into a feud with Lester after Ilya Salkind left the projection room. When he returned, John told him that he couldn’t get along with Lester and exited the film. To take his place, Lester brought in his frequent composer Ken Thorne. Because of that, Lester’s version offers a much different and more energetic score this time around, feeling like a composer’s own vision instead of trying too hard to match Williams. However, in Donner’s version, he reuses most of William’s score from the original film instead of using Thorne’s score from the original theater cut.

While I hate the circumstances leading to the situation, I give credit to Lester for being able to make the soundtrack work and feel like it’s own thing compared to the first film. No one is ever gonna top John William’s magnificent Superman theme from the original but the score here works well enough. And while I can definitely see why Donner would prefer to do more of William’s score instead of Thorne, you do get a sense that some of the tracks don’t match certain scenes the way they should and comes across as being overedited sometimes.

More Rough Around The Edges

This difference is a bit obvious but Lester’s version certainly feels more like a complete vision than with Donner’s. While The Donner Cut offers an interesting look of Superman II from the man that made the original such a classic, it doesn’t come off as a finished product. Had Richard been able to complete the Superman sequel that he started back in 1979, it would’ve certainly looked much better. However, with The Donner Cut that released back in 2006, it is simply the best he could do over 25 years later. Much of Lester’s footage remains in the film because it was needed to tell the full story, with a bit of jarring test footage in the middle from Donner thrown in for good measure.

While we’ll never know how a 100% version of Superman II would’ve looked like under Richard Donner, he still did the best with what he could do given the minimal material he had left to work with decades later. Even if I do like most of Donner’s ideas more, I do think by the end, Lester’s film ended up with the superior film, largely due to the fact that it feels the most complete and finished.

More Lex Luthor

Once Lester came on board to do reshoots for Superman II, Gene Hackman was reluctant to do any of them without Donner. Because of that, Lester could only use what Donner already had with Lex Luthor and just roll along from there. He had just enough of Lex to tell story and nothing more. In the Donner Cut, Luther is given a slightly bigger role than before. With more emphasis on the funny business with Lex and his co-workers, Hackman is given a bit more of a screen presence than he did in the original theatrically released version.

While I still wish Hackman was given more to do as Lex this time around, I’m glad Donner was able to salvage what he could and have Luthor contribute a bit more to the plot than he did with Lester’s cut.

Lois Lane Is Much Smarter

Lois Lane is a very smart character, perfectly matching the wits and skills of her counterpart, Clark Kent. So much so that Lois is able to discover the realization that Clark Kent is indeed Superman himself, something which no one else was able to do. At the end of the original film, Lois briefly notices the resemblance between Clark and Superman but just hand waves it off. In Donner’s version, this thread immediately continues with Lois scribbling some glasses on a picture of Superman, realizing that Clark Kent and Superman might just be the same person. To prove this claim right, she jumps out a window of the building of The Daily Plant to make Clark save her. But Clark is able to convince her that he isn’t Superman. Once the two are at Niagra Falls, Lois spots Clark without glasses and yet again suspects that he is Superman. Later at the hotel, Lois shoots a bullet from a gun right at Clark Kent, which nothing happens. After that, Clark admits that he’s Superman and Lois admits that the gun only had blanks. In Lester’s version, the first time that Lois suspects that Clark is Superman is at Niagara Falls. It’s only when they are at the hotel, Clark drops his glasses into a fire and retrieves it without burning himself, revealing to Lois that he is Superman.

Both of these takes work in their own right but I find myself leaning more towards Donner’s version here. With the way it builds upon Lois flirting around with the fact that Clark Kent and Superman might be one of the same from the first movie, Donner’s feels more of an organic follow-up to Lois’s development. Although, Lester’s version looks much better since Donner never actually got to film the scene in the hotel. Instead, he had to set for a repurposed test footage with Christopher Reeve and Margot Kidder respectively. While it works fairly well, the sound and performances do feel off and the continuity doesn’t mix and mash with the rest of the film.

Marlin Brando Returns

In the Donner Cut, Marlon Brando returns as Jor-El where he basically plays the same role he did in the first film. He mostly acts as a driving force for Kal-El, offering guidance to his own son beyond the grave. In the Lester Cut, Jor-El was replaced by Superman’s mother, Lara, played by Susannah York. The reason he doesn’t show up in Lester’s version is because after Superman: The Movie became a massive success, Marlon Brando sued the producers because he was owed nearly 12% of the box office revenue. Because the studio refused to pay him for any of the box office revenue for the sequel , Brando’s scenes had to be reshot in the theatrical release with Lara instead. Thankfully, Warner Bros was able to work out a deal with Brando to put himself back in Donner’s version.

Giving the circumstances, I think Lester did very well with what he could do. Plus, it did make sense to have Superman’s mother be a guiding force for him in his version, while the original film had Superman’s father play that same role. I don’t mind either one here but I do wish for an outcome that had both of Superman’s parents acting as that special emotional support for their son beyond their death. When thinking about what would act as a proper mirror of the original, I’d say Lester wins here. When it comes to acting as a part of Clark’s development here, I would probably go with Donner here.

Zod And His Crew Escape In Different Ways

In the Donner cut, the movie starts with a recap of the previous film, which ends with Superman carrying a nuclear missile out int space. It’s the shockwave from that missile that hits the Phantom Zone prison and allows for the evil Kryptonians to escape. In the Lester Cut, Superman stops a terrorist attack in Paris by tossing a hydrogen bomb into space, which frees the evil Kryptonains.

It’s mostly a minor difference but Lester’s cut at least gives Superman an actual reason to throw yet another bomb into space, just like he did at the end of the previous film. And with the way both cuts recaps the begin of the previous movie, Donner’s version does better at showing how exactly the events from the previous movie leads into it’s sequel. Unlike with Lester’s version, which comes across as more of a prologue read by the narrator of a tv show, telling viewers what happened in last week’s episode. Tough call, but I give the slight edge to Donner on this one, with at least having the beginning feel more consistent with the previous film.

Why Superman Gives Up His Powers

In both versions, Superman gives up his superpowers to be with Lois Lane. In the Donner Cut, Superman admits to himself and his father Jor-El that while he’s being selfish, he just wants to relax and be happy with another woman. His father argues that his son can NOT favor one human over the rest of humanity. Feeling he can no longer serve humanity in an objective way that would make his parents and himself proud, he gives up his powers. In Lester’s cut, Superman talks with his mother Lara instead. The conversation is much shorter, with Lara telling her son that if wants to be a mortal, then he must become one.

If we are looking through the perspective of what’s the right thing for Clark Kent himself to do and he achieves it, then Lester’s cut wins here. If we are looking through the perspective of what’s the right thing for Kal-El himself to do and he does the exact opposite of that, then Donner’s Cut wins. For the benefit of Superman’s overall arc in the film, I give this one to Donner!

No Magic Kiss

And lastly, the magic kiss is NOT presented in the Donner Cut. In Lester’s Cut, Superman II ends with Lois’ memory of knowing Clark Kent is Superman is wiped away in the form of a magic kiss. However, with the Donner Cut, Lois’ memory gets wiped by Superman flying around the world and rewinding time back before Lois figured out he was Clark Kent. It’s basically the exact same ending as Superman II except nearly the whole movie gets reverted back to square one.

As much as both ending come off as cheap plot gimmicks and glorified deux ex machina, I honestly believe Donner’s version is even worse, making the whole film feel like it never happened and undoing all the character progression like it’s some glorified Saturday Morning cartoon that prohibits progression in it’s story. The magic kiss is cheesy but I’ll still take that over a lazy rehash of the ending of the first movie.

I think you can now see why your experience with Superman II can be quite different by watching both of these cuts on their own terms! And that’s not even going into the two other notable cuts of this movie: 1.) the fan edited version that combined the best of both Donner and Lester while trimming the notable fats from both version and 2.) the ABC televised version that added 19 minutes of footage to the theatrical release, including alternate scenes involving Lex Luthor and an alternate ending. When putting all of that together, there’s not just one, not two, not even three, but FOUR different versions of Superman II you can watch. Not even Zack Snyder can dream of having THAT many cuts for just one feature film!

I will say despite the two different versions of Superman II that I’ve seen, my opinion on the film is largely the same. In the sense, that it’s a very, VERY good sequel that perhaps falls JUST shy of the greatness the original film had, largely due to these conflicting directorial visions, confusing character motivations, and feeling the need to pull it’s punches more times than not. Even so, I will say that I still would consider it to be the second best Superman movie to date (unless my rewatch of Man of Steel or Zack Snyder’s Justice League changes my mind).

Had we got one complete version from either Richard Donner or Richard Lester from beginning of production to the very end, then I think we could have gotten a perfect follow-up to Superman: The Movie, acting as that perfect two-part story figure that Christopher Nolan got superbly right with Batman Begins and The Dark Knight many years later. Instead we can only imagine what would’ve happened if either one of these gentlemen got both of their hands on this sequel from the very start!

Next Up: Superman III

Most Anticipated Movies of 2025

AdamLeave a comment

2024 is now officially over which mean it’s now time to roll into 2025! And what better way to kick off the early part of January then to share what new films I’m looking forward to the most in 2025.

When looking through all the big and small movies to come out this year, 2025 has potential to be the biggest year for movies in the post-Covid era. This has to do with the fact that a.) more people are more comfortable going back to theaters than before and b.) the latest strikes in the entertainment industry let to plenty of projects get pushed back to this year and 2026. Because of that, these next few years might just be the kick in the pants that the industry needs to get things back into full gear before it’s too late.

The most impressive thing I’ve discovered when doing research of all the main films slated for 2025 is how there seems to be more variety between original projects and upcoming installments in long-running franchise IPs. If the majority of them are able to deliver, then 2025 should be a strong year in film and especially in theaters due to having the kind of film for any sort of demographic.

Also, I should give a warning that films that I put in my top 10 and for honorable mentions last year will NOT be on this list. Because of that, you won’t see Mickey 17 and Ballerina on this list. I’m very much looking forward to those films and they likely would have been on the list if I didn’t put it on there in the year prior. Nevertheless, since I already mentioned them, I decided to leave them off the list because you already know I’m excited for both of those films.

Honorable Mentions:

  • Wolf Man

After Leigh Whannell delivered big time with his spin on The Invisible Man (2020), I have no doubt he can do it again with this one.

  • Dog Man

If the trailer and marketing is anything to go by, this is looking to capture the spirit of it’s source material while sharing the same unique and colorful animation that Captain Underpants (2017) had.

  • Novocaine

An original action thriller with Jack Quaid (The Boys) and Amber Midthunder (Prey)?! Sign me up!

  • Karate Kid: Legends

Even in an age where soft reboots/remakes and legacy-quels are oversaturated, there might be something special with Karate Kid that might be able to make that work properly without getting too bogged down in nostalgia and callbacks.

  • 28 Years Later

I’m not quite as high on 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later as much as most people but after how hard the first trailer went, my curiosity has skyrocketed!

  • The Bad Guys 2

If there is one animation company I trust with delivering great animated sequels, that would be DreamWorks!

  • Predator: Badlands

After Dan Trachtenberg made the best Predator sequel with Prey, I’m looking forward to see if he can top himself with this one!

  • Wicked: For Good

Since Wicked: Part One turned to be a genuine surprise for me, I’m curious to see if Part Two can stick the landing.

  • Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery

I may not know much about this outside of it’s talented-heavy cast but if it manages to capture the spirit and enjoyment of the first two Knives Out tales, then it will succeed!

  • Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein

It’s Guillermo Del Toro taking on Frankenstein! How can I NOT look forward to this?!

10.) Paddington In Peru

Anymore remember when these movies were gonna suck because how bad the first teaser trailer to the original Paddington was? Those were certainly times! The first two Paddington flicks have to be some of the most heartful and lovable family films of the past decade. Although it has been quite some time since Paddington 2 came out and Paul King not being in the director’s chair this time around does strike some skepticism, I have no doubt that Paddington in Peru will still deliver as yet another immensely enjoyable motion picture about a bear who has no other goal than to spread joy and optimism to the world. If there is one film series you can count on as being the cinematic equivalent of a big hug, look no further than Paddington.

9.) Love Hurts

Here is the first of a couple of original films that was able to make my list! We see Ke Huy Quan in his next big action role after his Oscar win in Everything Everywhere All At Once with Jonathan Eusebio set to make his directorial debut. Quan plays Marvin Gable, a successful realtor whose past as a violent hitman comes back to haunt him when his former partner reveals that his brother is hunting him. All of these factors alone make Love Hurts an intriguing flick to watch out for once it comes out on February 7th. In an industry that has been extremely lacking in original, unique voices for a long time now, it would be nice if we can see this one become the next big thing and be an instant classic.

8.) Avatar: Fire & Ash

You can say whatever you want about the Avatar films but there is no denying this franchise knows how to deliver visually spectacle and thrilling cinematic experiences. Avatar: Fire and Ash will see director James Cameron continue to expand upon the world that he has been passionate about for over the past two decades while following up on the loose ends he left hanging in The Way of Water. Regardless of the outcome of this third installment, you can guarantee this will be yet another instant billion dollar grosser that will break records all across the globe. And considering we are living in dire times where the movie theater going experience is no longer prevalent, we needs films like Avatar: Fire and Ash more than ever.

7.) F1

Here’s a brand new film about formula one racing starring Brad Pit as a former hotshot driver who must get back in the game after retiring from an accident that left him shook. This is Joseph Kosinski’s next big feature film about Top Gun: Maverick, where he goes from blazing in the skies to vrooming on the race track. If he’s able to make the racing sequences as intense and captivating as he did with the flight scenes in Top Gun: Maverick (or even the racing scenes in Ford v Ferrari), this could make for yet another big crowd pleaser.

6.) The Running Man

If this was made by any other filmmaker, I likely could not give two craps about this. But because it’s made by Edgar Wright and stars a superb cast of Glen Powell, Katy O’Brian, Josh Brolin, Daniel Ezra, Lee Pace, and plenty others, The Running Man is among my most anticipated films of 2025. This is an adaptation based off of the 1982 novel of the same name by Stephen King, marking the second adaptation of the book, following the 1987 film with Arnold Schwarzenegger. If there is anyone on the planet that can make another remake/adaption feels fresh, unique, and feel like the definite version, it’s Edgar Wright. Also, the more Glen Powell, the better!

5.) Sinners

A new and original supernatural vampire horror flick that stars Michael B. Jordan in a new dual role and Hailee Steinfeld and directed by the GOAT Ryan Coogler, the man behind Fruitvale Station, Creed, Black Panther, and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. With the proven talent among the cast and crew and the superb first trailer of it, Sinners is looking to be a refreshing change of pace in the film industry that is stuffed with endless sequels, remakes, and legacy-quels. Not only am I looking forward to a film that is looking to push it’s own unique boundaries but also to see how the rising career of Ryan Coogler moves forward. It’s only a matter of time before Mr. Coogler becomes a household director name with the likes of Stephen Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, James Cameron, and Martin Scorsese.

4.) The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Yeah, I know it’s not popular to put another MCU film on the most anticipated lists because they are not as good as they used to be, even after one of their films just became one of the highest grossing comic book films ever last summer. However, I can’t help but be intrigue and filled in eager when it comes to Marvel Studios finally tackling Marvel’s first family in The Fantastic Four: First Steps. This is set to be the first film of Phase 6 and most likely leave the groundwork for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. With a talented cast, intriguing premise, and a direction that seems to have it’s own unique style to it that works for the Fantastic Four themselves, I can’t help but be super excited for this one. Please don’t screw this up, Marvel! Your first family desperately needs a legit great film at long last!

3.) Elio

I don’t think there is any animated studio that gets me most interested in an original film than Pixar. After becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time last summer with Inside Out 2, Disney and Pixar are looking to build upon that momentum with their latest original animated flick, Elio. This follows an eleven-year-old boy named Elio who is mistakenly identified by aliens as Earth’s ambassador. This has had quite a production history, being delayed by a full year with the impact of the writers strike along with changes in director and leadership. However, I still cross my fingers in the hopes that this is able to deliver. If Elio succeeds, this could be yet another classic Pixar original to add to their incredible library. For those that complain about Pixar making sequels over the years, you better support this one once it comes out in theaters in June or else you can’t complain!

2.) Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning

After nearly three decades, this franchise is looking to reach it’s endgame with Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. This films have been the textbook example of “understanding the assignment”. What has been Tom Cruise’s baby since the beginning, this series of films have succeed in delivering constantly entertaining action and espionage thrill rides. For this final chapter, we will see the crew picking up where Dead Reckoning started with them likely figuring out what to do with the keys that they have claimed. I don’t know if this will reach the heights of Fallout but I will be there day one to see how this superb action franchise will stick the landing. Fingers crossed there won’t be another Barbienheimer that will bury this film under the rug this summer.

1.) Superman (2025)

If there is one film that could change the course of Hollywood for the foreseeable future, it’s Superman (2025). While it may seem on the surface just another Superman movie, it means much more than that when looking at it from underneath. This is a film that is set to accomplish a lot of things. It has to act as a launching path for the next wave of DC movies and shows, it has to lift up the superhero genre that is suffering from great fatigue by each passing day, it has to present Superman in a way that no other film has had to this day, and it also has to act as the next big event for theaters if it is to thrive in the future. James Gunn will have his biggest challenge yet as a director with Superman (2025), tasked with having to carry DC Studios and the superhero genre behind his back for the future along with giving Hollywood a new successful franchise to profit off of. With a cast that consists of David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, and Nicholas Hoult as Lex Luthor, a premise that seems to portray Superman as not just a beacon of hope but something that always looks for the good in everyone, and even the freaking superpowered dog of Krypto, there is no film released in 2025 that has my curiosity and excitement than Superman (2025).

Streaming And Television Is Carrying The Superhero Genre

AdamLeave a comment

Venom: The Last Dance has just arrived in theaters and much like every other comic book film property released in 2024 that doesn’t star Mr. and Mrs. Blake Lively, it has massively underperformed critically and commercially. I was gonna do a review for it myself but I really couldn’t think of much to say that would make for a good review. It’s about as incoherent, disposable, and all over the place as the first two films except this time, it actually tries to have a deep and heartfelt story with emotional beats that doesn’t feel earn in the slightest. Also, Knull doesn’t do jacks*it in the movie and seemed to be saved for the future for…….whatever. Also, NO, there’s nothing in here that has potential set-up for Spider-Man 4 with Tom Holland that makes it worth watching. Unless you were actually a fan of the first two Venom films or have absolutely NOTHING to do at that moment, I don’t recommend this film whatsoever.

I do believe the worst part of Venom: The Last Dance is that it acts as a perfect reminder to how terrible of a year 2024 has been with comic book/superhero movies, possibly the worst year it has ever been in my life. Madame Web was a trainwreck with it’s only saving grace being it’s absurd amount of camp value and unintentional laughs throughout (Also, Sydney Sweeney!). Joker: Folie à Deux was an overlong and tedious slog that wanted to punish the audience for every caring about this iteration of Mr. J in the first place. The Crow was a competently made but ultimately pointless remake that didn’t do anywhere near enough to justify it’s existence. Hellboy: The Crooked Man was just……a thing that exists and nothing more. And while the year’s billion-dollar grossing blockbuster in Deadpool & Wolverine was a success in the eyes of Marvel fans and mainstream audiences, it really felt thematically empty and severely lacked the rewatch value that the first two Deadpool movies had once you got all the callbacks, easter eggs, and references. It’s really saying something that the actual best superhero film this year was The People’s Joker, an independent film that gave such a queer and punk rock take on Batman’s rose gallery of iconic villains, which tackled the kind of commentary and subtext that 99% of studios nowadays wouldn’t dare to greenlight.

To be fair, outside of Deadpool & Wolverine, I don’t think anyone had much faith in comic book films for 2024. I mean we were getting not one, not two, but THREE Sony related superhero movies that involved Spider-Man villains that no one asked for with ZERO Spider-Men to be found in it. The Crow and Hellboy: The Crooked Man were just newer versions of familiar comic book properties that just….existed without anyone really knowing. And The People’s Joker gained such a small theatrical released in theaters and film festival that it didn’t catch anyone’s attention until it hit digital. And considering the fact that James Gunn’s DC cinematic universe isn’t set to kick off in film form until next summer and the MCU will be back to releasing three films at a time next year, 2024 seemed to be as much of a filler year for superhero movies as it was for basically movies in general.

Many folks have claimed this is a sign of superhero fatigue, with the cast and crew of today’s superhero flicks no longer having any passion and mainstream audience no longer having any desire to watch them. I would take those words for it if it wasn’t for the superhero genre MASSIVELY evolving in the realm of streaming and television. If 2024 was a sign that superhero movies can no longer carry cinema, it should also be a sign that superhero shows and series can now carry streaming and television.

When it comes to Marvel, 2024 offered us Echo, Agatha: All Along, and X-Men 97. Echo was a complete mess in terms of pacing and structure but it did have an interesting dynamic with it’s two main leads in Maya Lopez and Wilson Fisk along with fight scenes and tone that perfectly resembled the beloved Marvel Netflix series that made it worth a watch. Agatha: All Along has been able to act as a proper follow-up to WandaVision while perfectly embracing it’s queer vibes and camp value that makes for the right watch at the right time of the season. And X-Men 97 was about a good of a revival as it could get, perfectly translating the traditional values and roots of X-Men into the modern times with beautiful animation, fun action sequences, and giving plenty of time for each cast member of the X-Men to sign. No offense to Deadpool & Wolverine and the two shows I just mentioned but I think most would agree that has been the best Marvel-related thing to come out in 2024, if not the best superhero-related thing.

When it comes to DC, 2024 gave us Kite Man: Hell Yeah, Batman: Caped Crusader, The Penguin, and a second season of My Adventures with Superman, with a fifth season of Harley Quinn and Creature Commandos set to arrive later this year. Kite Man: Hell Yeah made for a solid spin-off of Harley Quinn, fully utilizing it’s bizarre as hell premise to make it stand out for the better. Batman: Caped Crusader made for a nice reiteration of the beloved Batman: The Animated Series with a few modern tweaks to it, even if couldn’t escape the corrupted shadows of the series it’s clearly inspired by. My Adventures with Superman was able to carry the momentum of the first season, making it easily one of the best iterations of Superman in entertainment medium since Christopher Reeves. And The Penguin was able to be the perfect example on how to do a “grounded” superhero series correctly, with fantastic production values, intriguing world building, engaging characters and plot, a great central performance by Colin Farrell (who is still unrecognizable as Penguin) and a scene stealing turn by Cristin Milioti as Sofia Falcone, making for perhaps the best superhero property of 2024. While the quality of the newest season of Harley Quinn and Creature Commandos remains to be seen, I wouldn’t be surprised for these series to at least meet the quality of the majority of the successful DC shows thus far.

And of course, you also have to mention what is cooking over there at Amazon Prime, with Season 2 of Invincible and Season 4 of The Boys. Invincible Season 2 was able to deliver more of the same action, blood, and carnage that the first season had along with so much more. And while Season 4 of The Boys was intentionally controversial with politics that was COMPLETELY in-your-face, it was so bizarre, controversial, and in-your-face that you actually had to see it in order to believe it. And it was even able to predict the Trump assassination attempt before that even happened, which once again shows how disturbingly accurate that show is to real life.

There might be a show or two that I’ve missed but for the most part, that makes for the majority of superhero tv and streaming content released in 2024. While there are definitely some series that some like more than others, I don’t think it’s hyperbole to say that there have been more hits than misses in regards to superhero tv and streaming this year and that has been the kind of medium that has carried the superhero genre not just in 2024 but possibly the last couple of years.

Which once again begs the question as to whether or not the reason superhero movies are underperforming critically and finically right now really has to do with superhero fatigue or is it just because that is no longer the best medium in telling superhero stories with comic book characters? Fans of Marvel, DC, and Amazon seem to enjoy the majority of these shows with minimum fandom controversies involved in it and don’t seem to be worn out by the superhero genre that the media claims they are. I’m gonna go with it’s not so much superhero fatigue but more of a fatigue with mediocrity and repetition. Outside of a handful of exceptions, the 2020s era of superhero movies fits into that criteria and audience just no longer have any tolerance for it.

I don’t deny there has been a cultural shift in consuming products in entertainment since covid hit. Folks no longer have the time, money, or patience to see a film in theaters that will likely be dropped to digital just two weeks later. Yes, there are definitely exceptions but that’s all they are….EXCEPTIONS and NOT the main course. However, that doesn’t change the fact that recent shows and series with superhero and comic book properties have been able to make for the very best of the medium it is adapting, more so than the recent film adaptions. Because of that, it’s superhero television and streaming that has been getting the love and praise it deserves instead of the superhero movies.

There is a chance that this narrative could change in 2025 and beyond. Maybe James Gunn will be able to deliver the consistent and beloved cinematic universe for DC he has envisioned. Maybe Matt Reeves will be able to continue his own Batman crime saga with the strong quality of The Batman and The Penguin with The Batman: Part II, Part III, and whatever villain spin-offs await. Maybe the MCU will be able to close out the multiverse saga in good graces, sticking the landing to what has been quite a bumpy ride for the 2020s. And hopefully Sony will just give up on their dumb villain cinematic universe experiment and just stick with more Spider-Verse content for the immediate future. There are definitely plenty of cinematic projects in the works that can help turn things around for superhero movies.

However, as of right now, if you really want to see the best kind of modern superhero and comic book medium, look no further than streaming and television with any of the examples I just mentioned.

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024) Spoilers- Unmasking The Clown

AdamLeave a comment

Joker: Folie à Deux is now out in theaters and you can say that everyone has (no pun intended) CLOWNED on this film over the past weekend! As the time of this writing, it has a 33% critically rating and a 30% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. PostTrak had audience giving it a 1/2 star rating in a survey, with only 24% of folks recommending the movie. It’s also the first ever comic book film to receive a D rating on Cinemascore (even Madame Web this year received a generous C+ rating). It’s quite baffling how just a month before we have to endure the most controversial election in America history, it’s a freaking Joker sequel of all things that actually managed to bring the country together for possibly the last time……ever. The critics don’t like it, the fans don’t like it, and not even the easy to please general movie going public seems to like it. There’s certainly a loud minority on Twitter that have singed their praise for it and it will no doubt receive the “reappraisal” substance a few years down the line but for the most part, Joker 2 is not being well liked by the majority of folks that have seen it.

What the hell happened here?! How is it that a sequel to a popular mainstream film that made a billion dollars and was nominated for a bunch of awards managed to misfire THIS badly both critically and (likely) financially?!

Even taken away the fact that Warner Bros NEVER attended for Joker to have a sequel or how Todd Phillips is the KING of making bad sequels (See The Hangover: Part II and III), there was potential for a Joker 2 to deliver. You had a bold (if not odd) direction to make it a musical, you had a masterful singer/growing actress in Lady Gaga as Harleen Quinzel, and it provided a chance to explore this world with the clown prince of crime in his early days of being the clown prince of crime in a way that no other Batman medium ever has. Unfortunately, it seemed like delivering ANY of those elements in a satisfying way was the LAST thing on Todd Phillips’s mind when making this sequel.

Before I start to (also no pun intended) unmask the clown in the room, I want you to close your eyes and imagine being Todd Phillips. You just made a movie that managed to be a genuine crowd pleaser that grossed a billion dollars and was nominated for a bunch of big awards, including the Academy Awards, A.K.A. the Oscars. Your career has initially skyrocketed as basically any studio is bounding to come knocking at your door in the hopes of securing you for their latest major IP. You have all the reasons in the world to bask in your own glory. You are at an all time high in your career, putting yourself on the map everywhere!

However, you have a certain group of folks that watched and loved Joker that seemed to have enjoyed it in a way that you didn’t attend for. Sure, it didn’t lead into a major uprising of incels and losers empowering themselves to become a threat to society like mainstream media predicted but there are many folks that seem to claim that the Joker was in fact intended to be a hero that was able to take matters into his own hands. They are in the mindset that he did NOTHING wrong in that film and all of his actions were COMPLETELY justified! And considering we are now living in a timeline to where there’s a DISTRUBING amount of praise for Nazis and Adolf Hitler, that has to be in the back of your mind with looking back at the success of your film.

Fast forward to the Oscars, while Joker was able to secure the awards for Best Actor and Best Score, it lost the Best Picture to Parasite. That in of itself causes a major portion of the fanbase you created to be OUTRAGED. Typing out angry tweets and making RANT videos about how the Academy Awards are rigged and Joker deserved to win over Parasite. Hell, even former president (at least at the moment) Donald Trump made a comment about how “odd” it was that a foreign film won Best Picture and he likely would have preferred for Joker to win (It was reported that he watched Joker and enjoyed it!). And of course, do I even need to mention this bizarre rant from infamous YouTuber Robert Storms about Parasite winning Best Picture over Joker.

So, you basically have two distinct ways which you could look back on the success of your film take on the clown prince of crime. You can either just be proud of the fact that it made a billion dollars, was nominated for a bunch of awards and won some, and that the majority of the (sane) public was able to enjoy it when it came out during the Fall of 2019. Or you can be embarrassed at the fact that so many folks took the “wrong” idea on how the Joker was portrayed in the film, being a major reason why the film received so much pre-release controversy, and made nothing but rage videos when it didn’t win for Best Picture at the Oscars.

Warner Bros comes up to you and confirms they want a Joker 2. Even if the original plan was for Joker to be a one-and-done kind of film, the success of that film was too massive that studio execs are demanding for a sequel. In the back of your mind, you really don’t want to do it because you originally signed up for just one. Not to mention, if a Joker 2 is even remotely successful as the first one, they will no doubt demand a Joker 3, 4, 5, along with a bunch of spin-offs that you will be stuck having to make for the rest of your life. You also don’t want to go through yet ANOTHER tiresome press tour, answering the same questions as to whether or not the Joker is “dangerous” to society and if certain folks are still getting the wrong idea from the character. At the same time, you don’t want someone else taking over because you will have a much higher salary than with any movie that you’ve made nor do you want to risk someone else “tainting” your masterpiece.

It’s then you decide, “Screw it! I’ll make another one!” Not because I HAVE it, but because it’s what literally EVERYONE else wants. However, I’m going to do EVERYTHING in my power to make sure I don’t go through the same experience as last time. I will NOT leave a cliffhanger for a Joker 3, I will make sure to have the entire plot centered around telling those certain folks they were wrong for liking Joker the way they did, I’ll make it a musical staring Lady Gaga just to stick it to does that HATE musicals, and best of all, I’ll make a film that undoes EVERYTHING the previous film established, that is guaranteed review bombings and low Rotten Tomatoes, just so there’s NO way the studios will ask me to come back for another one. That sounds like a plan!

I’ll get the highest salary of my career, I will make a film that spits in the face of those idiots that actually thought Joker was suppose to be the “good guy” in all of this, I will make sure to have the entire film build up to an ending which makes a Joker 3 or ANY other film in this universe impossible, and I will be FREE of having to do anymore of these movies. Who cares if it makes fans or critics angry? They are the ones that asked for it, even though you didn’t whatsoever. Because of that, let’s make this whole sequel THEIR problem too and make them feel stupid for even imagining a Joker 2 of any kind.

To be sure, I can’t say for certain this was the mindset that Todd Phillips had going into making Joker: Folie à Deux. Perhaps he did attended to make a genuine crowd pleaser that the mainstream audience would be “smart” enough to understand. However, when watching this dreaded sequel, you can’t help but wonder if Todd Phillips’s only motive for making this film is to tear everything down as punishment to those that enjoyed the original Joker the “wrong” way. To prove those claims, now it’s time to get into the major spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux.

*Warning! The rest of this articles contains MAJOR spoilers for Joker: Folie à Deux. If you haven’t seen the movie yet and/or don’t want anything spoilers, then you might want to click off the article right now! You have been warned!*

We started off with an odd animated sequence that feels like it was ripped straight out of The People’s Joker (A.K.A. the best Joker film and even best comic book film of 2024), which sees the Joker being impersonated by his shadow. It’s his shadow that takes his place to perform the singing number for a tv show and then abandons him on stage half-undressed, before three policemen arrive and beat the shit out of him. This opening in of itself sets the stages of what’s to come for Joker: Folie à Deux, highlighting the difference between the Joker and Arthur Fleck. And it also even foreshadows the most awful and disturbing scene in the film which we will get to later!

Once we get to real time, we revisit Arthur Fleck, who has been in custody at Arkham State Hospital awaiting trial for the crimes he committed two years ago. His lawyer, Maryanne Stewart, seems to suggest that Arthur himself has dissociative identity disorder, which is basically a split personality. There’s the the normal, innocent Arthur Fleck side of him and there’s his evil, chaotic “Joker” side of him. She plans to argue to the judge that it was the “Joker” side of him that was responsible for committing the crimes he did and NOT Arthur Fleck himself.

Arthur meets another patient, Harleen Quinzel, or just strictly going by Lee, because this universe needs to be more serious and grim and the name “Harley Quinn” is too fun and jolly. Lee, much like a certain group of those that love the first film, felt empowered and inspired by what Arthur did in the previous film, while also looking up to him deeply. Much like Mr. Fleck, she grew up in the same neighborhood he did, had an abusive parent figure who died in a car crash, and went as far as to burn down her parents’ apartment building, which is what let her to be imprisoned at Arkham Asylum. She did all of those things just so she can one day meet her idol.

Lee wants to run away with Arthur, where the two can start a life together. Arthur, believing that he has finally found someone who loves him for what he is, wants to try and escape with here. Lee starts a fire to free the two of them from the prison but both are caught by the guards. While Arthur is put in solitary confinement, Lee has been released to avoid his influence. She promises to attend his trail and be there with him during his trial. All before they have the most awkward sex scene you have ever seen in your life, which makes you NOT want to look at the first officially released pic of Joker and Harley together EVER again!

*insert barf meme*

On the day of trial, Harvey Dent (who I completely forgot to mention in my review because of how irrelevant he is for the majority of it) calls witnesses to those dismiss Arthur’s claims of insanity, hoping this will leave to the death penalty for him when all is said and done (even though this film takes place in 1983 and the death penalty didn’t get reinstated in New York until 1995). With former co-worker Gary Puddles (who witnessed Arthur beat the death out of one of his co-workers) and neighbor Sophie Dumond (who was Arthur’s imaginary girlfriend in his hallucination) being brought forward to speak, Dent rest his case.

When getting back to Arthur’s relationship with Lee, his lawyer Maryanne reveals that she has lied to him quite a bit about her history. She was someone that grew up in the Upper East Side, NOT in Arthur’s neighborhood. Her father is a doctor and is still alive. Plus, she voluntarily committed herself at Arkham, checked herself out, and never burned down an apartment building. Because this is a film that is by design done to remove any sort of ambiguity from the first film, Lee tells Arthur that she lied to him because she wanted to get close to Arthur, hoping the two can one day be together. She also states that she’s pregnant and has moved into his old apartment building to create a home for them. Even though Lee literally JUST admitted to lying, Arthur believes her anyway and will make his best efforts for the two of them to be together by the end.

After going through uncomfortable sequences with Arthur getting brutally assaulted and prison raped by the guards (Yes, really!) and his friend Ricky being strangled to death for stepping up to them (Again, yes really!), Arthur reminisces about the aftermath of his actions in the first film, finally realizing all the terrible things he had done.

He killed people in cold blood, he led an army of supporters that were inspired by his Joker persona and not for his Arthur Fleck persona, there’s great many people in Gotham that want him dead, and worst of all, everyone now has the wrong idea of who Arthur Fleck is. He was able to be seen in the public eye the way he wanted but not in the way that he ever imagined. People still don’t like Arthur Fleck, they only like Joker.

In court the following day, during his closing argument, a devastated Arthur comes to terms with the fact that it was himself that was responsible for his actions, NOT his Joker half. In a statement that almost seems like Todd Phillips himself is directing a sincere apology and/or “F**k you!” to the audience of the first film, Arthur Fleck renounces his persona and takes full responsibility for his actions. There was never a “Joker” half of him, there is not even a Joker at all. It’s just Arthur Fleck himself, a sad, broken man with a tragic backstory and mental illness and NOTHING more!

At the exact moment that I imagined 90% of audience left the theaters, Lee storms out of the court room, enraged and disappointment. The Joker that she looked up to and worshiped doesn’t exist. This is NOT a movie which Lee and the audiences get to see Arthur Fleck be full Joker, this is a movie where they see the Joker in his cosplay make-up only, leaving just Arthur Fleck. The jury finds Arthur guilty of first-degree murder.

Out of nowhere, a car bomb explodes outside the courthouse, which injures and kills numerous attendees. In the process, it also scars HALF of Dent’s face, turning him into Two-Face supposedly. Two of Joker’s followers helps him escape from the courthouse. Once he regains his conscious, Arthur flees from the Joker supporters, realizing they only see him as Joker and not his actual self.

Arthur wanders through Gotham and makes way for his old apartment only to find Lee right outside of it. Arthur confesses that he’s ready to start a live with her but Lee rejects him. She admits that she only loved him as Joker and NOT as Arthur Fleck, stating exactly what the audience are feeling at that exact moment. She also claims that her pregnancy was another lie because……of course. As she leaves, the police apprehend Arthur and return him to Arkham.

It’s at this point where Arthur is basically right back where he started at the beginning of the film. The main difference is that he no longer has the Joker persona within himself. All of that love and support that Arthur got not as himself but as strictly Joker is all gone, leaving him sad, lonely, and broken once again.

As to add more salt to the wound, there’s a young patient that arrives, who Arthur has bumped into already a few times in the film (even kisses him at one point). He begins to tell him a joke, which is suppose to mirror the “joke” that he told Murray Franklin in the first film. And just like what happened during that moment when Arthur told his “joke” to Murray, the young patient tells Arthur that “YOU GET WHAT YOU F**KING DESERVE!” and proceeds to kill him. He stabs Arthur repeatedly in the stomach, leaving him to bleed to death. Just like that, Arthur basically got killed by his own original joke.

So the movie ends, and right before Arthur is 100% dead and one last song plays, the patent is seen in the background carving a smile on his own face while laughing hysterically. This moment is suppose to resembled Heath Ledger’s Joker from The Dark Knight (Fyi, NO I do NOT think those films are connected with one another whatsoever!). Even if Arthur Fleck was never the Joker, that doesn’t change the fact that his now dead persona has inspirited others and will lead to actual Jokers in the future. Arthur Fleck himself may be gone but his infamous legacy of the Joker will continue on.

So, yeah! I think you can now understand entirely why this film seems to be pissing people off! Instead of doing the most logical thing a sequel can do which is basically take the character to their next step forward, give the audience more of the same things they enjoyed about the original, and throw in a few new elements for good measure, Joker: Folie à Deux is a film that basically refuses to meet any one of those expectations whatsoever.

It doesn’t want to take the character of Arthur Fleck in a new and proper direction, it doesn’t want to commit to being labeled as strictly a musical, courthouse drama, or love story between Harley and the Joker, it doesn’t want to see Joker being on the top of it’s game, and it doesn’t want to expand upon this version of Gotham City in any meaningful way. All Todd Phillips seems to want to do is to sit the fans and critics of his previous film down, lecture them about how wrong/right they were with how they reacted to the previous film, and have it led to a resolution that prevents the general public’s wants or needs for a Joker 3 to happen.

To be sure, these elements themselves COULD have worked. After all, we are living in a time where superhero movies need some extra variety to them if they are to continue to dominate Hollywood blockbusters. Not to mention, fandom in any form of media have become more toxic and hateful than ever before, almost feeling appropriate to annihilate the “wrong” kind of fans that this stuff way too seriously. The problem isn’t so much that it chooses to go against the grain, but so much the film doesn’t necessarily know what grain it is trying to go against. It claims to be trying to avoid all these tropes yet still commits to them whenever the film requires it.

It doesn’t want to have a Joker in his prime and the big man of crime at Gotham City yet they keep showing fantasy sequences which hint at what a prime Joker would look like in this universe. It doesn’t want to be label as a musical but there are plenty of musical numbers here and has the presence of Lady Gaga that warrants calling it a musical. It doesn’t want to be the standard sequel that folks would have expected for a Joker sequel but ends up following the same beats from the original film regardless, right down to having the titled character being right back where he started before he even became the Joker, only to then be killed off in an unsatisfying way.

This isn’t so much a film that’s trying to have the best of both worlds but achieve the WORST of both worlds. It’s a film that basically fails at failing. No matter what way you look at or examine it, Joker: Folie à Deux doesn’t work in any form of capacity because it’s not trying to work in any form of capacity. When you do that, that’s how you get a low 30% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the lowest scored comic book film ever on Cinemascore, and a opening weekend that is looking to be on par with Morbius (only there will be no memes to save it this time).

Todd Phillips after this weekend!

To tell you the truth, for as bad as Joker: Folie à Deux is and deserving it is for all the hate it is getting, I can’t help but grimace about how much of a bomb it’s going to be at the box office. Not strictly because of the narratives of superhero fatigue and theaters dying along with this being Todd Phillips’s plan so Warner Bros don’t ask him back for a Joker 3 come Monday morning but more how studios will take the wrong lesson from the film’s mostly negative reception. That being that filmmakers should have less creative control on their projects and more creative influence should be given by fans and focus groups.

I am of course talking about the recent reports of studios constructing superfan focus groups to evaluate various projects for franchises to avoid severe online backlash. With toxic fandom being at an INCREDIBLY all time high, studios are now looking to be much more careful with constructing their latest installments for said franchises in the hopes that it doesn’t lead to review bombings on big movie sites such as IMDb and Rotten Tomatoes, online harassment of it’s main cast and crew, and countless hate YouTube videos made by mostly alt-right grifters. Films like Joker: Folie à Deux are the kind of ones that would have likely played out INCREDIBLY different if these so-called superfan focus groups were able to contribute. I mean, there’s NO way in hell that these groups would have approved of Arthur being killed off by the supposed “real” Joker at the end of the movie.

Because of that, I can’t help but feel like Joker: Folie à Deux as being the beginning of the end of this current era of blockbusters we are living in. Instead of getting filmmakers to make films based off their own desire, voice, and ambition, the majority of big films now will likely get completely reworked because it might make Super Fanboy #172 too angry since it didn’t have enough jokes, references, callbacks, or lightsaber fights. We are on the verge of living in an era of big movies being written directly by Reddit and ChatGPT. And that’s an absolutely BRUTAL future to think about!

While I highly doubt this will lead to a massive removal of characters that are black, person of color, female, or identify as LGBT+ as many folks have been speculating, it makes me think that blockbusters are going to be much more dumbed down than usual, even more so than they already are. Strong storytelling, great character development, and bold filmmaking will be abandoned for the sake of spectacle, easter eggs, and “fan service”, for those that don’t want to think during a film but just be strictly pandered too. I want to be more optimistic and believe this will lead to more quality mainstream films and franchises installments with studios being more open to feedback from real and honest fans but this is literally Hollywood we are talking about. They ALWAYS learn the wrong lesson for all their successes and failures, just like how I imagine they will for the likely box office failure that Joker: Folie à Deux will be.

Still, if Todd Phillips’s goal in all of this was to really waste 200 million dollars that Warner Bros gave him, while that company is on the verge of bankruptcy, and potentially put a final nail on the coffin to this rather bleak era of cinema we are living in to make for ANOTHER bleak era of cinema, then mission accomplished! It’s only then might we look back at Joker 2 as being the last special kind of bad movie that we will be getting for a very long time. Because of all that and more, who would have guessed that it would be Todd Phillips of all people that would get the last laugh in all of this!

Help us James Gunn, you are our only hope!

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (2024) Season 1 Review- The Game Is Saved!

AdamLeave a comment

At long last, the first season of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has FINALLY launched! I don’t know about everyone else but I was pumped out of my MIND for this update! After how AMAZING the main campaign was and the way it ended on a MASSIVE cliffhanger, I could not WAIT to jump back into Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League! After all, who WOULDN’T be excited when the overall gameplay was nothing but the exact same three missions over and over and over again and getting to face off against the Justice League with boss fights that were clearly not finished?!

Rest assured, Rocksteady has officially launched their latest update where you get to play as the Joker and all I can say is WOW! For any of those haters out there who likely were the same folks that were jerking off Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and are hyped for that obvious Overwatch rip-off, Marvel Rivals, perhaps to eat your words because Season 1 has without a doubt saved Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and proves that Rocksteady and DC are still at the TOP of their game!

What makes this update so amazing you may ask? Well, it’s quite simple! It’s literally the exact same game all over again but with the Joker in it! And you don’t even get to play as him right out of the gate! Instead you have to work HARD by playing the exact same three to four missions over and over and over and over again! You play through these same missions until you upgraded all off your players at MAXIMUM level to beat the boss and THEN you get to play as the Joker!

Of course, you can do the cowardly thing and BUY your way to getting the Joker! (Wait, wasn’t this all suppose to be for free?!?!) However, for all the REAL gamers out there, you get to GRIND your way into getting the clown prince of crime!

There’s no extra story missions, no extra side missions, no new enemies, no new gameplay styles added in, there’s only one new cutscene with the Joker himself, and the Joker basically plays the exact same as all of the other characters but with a new umbrella move thing-y! I know that might sound underwhelming to closed minded DC haters out there but come on, after all this seasonal update is absolutely FREE until it isn’t so STOP COMPLAINING!

Not to mention, you get an animated comic intro with the Joker that feels like it was made by an intern at Rocksteady during their lunch break! Can you think of ANYTHING game out there that did that?!

I certainly had an absolute blast once again playing through all these exact same, repetitive missions! There’s the missions where you have to escort some random nobody to a particular rendezvous point, there’s the missions where you have to aid baby face Poison Ivy, there’s the missions where you have to play capture the flag and then destroy your flag, and then there’s the missions where you have to kill a bunch of enemies, you know the things you are ALREADY doing when you are roaming around Metropolis anyway!

We also can’t forget the elseworlds missions where you have to travel to another multiverse! And what do you do once you make to the elseworld you may ask?! Why, the EXACT SAME THREE TO FOUR MISSIONS YOU WERE ALREADY DOING IN METROPOLIS, OF COURSE?!?!?! However, before that you have to grind for enough points to play these same three to four missions by playing through these same three to four missions in Metropolis first BEFORE going to the elseworlds to play the same three to four missions! In a nutshell, this is a game you have to grind for points, tokens, and upgrades to play new elseworld levels so you can do more grinding! It’s a game where you have to grind for progression where you will have to more grinding for more progression! This is not lazy and incompetent on ANY LEVEL!

I should also mention the new Brainiac you fight here, which is the second of a total of 13 Brainiacs you will need to fight, assuming this game doesn’t get shut down by the end of summer! Despite the trailers for Season 1 suggesting the exact same boss as Superman in the main game, you instead get the EXACT SAME BOSS as Green Lantern in the main game! Exact same tactics, exact same ways to beat them, and the EXACT SAME RESULTS! This is not lazy and incompetent on ANY LEVEL! I sure can not WAIT until I get to the fight the exact same boss ELEVEN MORE TIMES!

After you free the Joker from Brainiac, you take him back to the Hall of Justice, he said some cringy lame puns in a more high pitched voice, and you put in the cell where he belongs! Not to mention, Harley Quinn doesn’t seem to care that a version of her pudding is still alive because well, she’s just over him now all of a sudden! Never mind the fact that she was the ultimate simp who would do ANYTHING for her Mr. J and was completely HEARTBROKEN over his death! She’s just over him now because…..she’s now a strong independent woman, I guess! I guess a good five to six years can REALLY change a person! Almost as if this game wasn’t meant to be in the Arkhamverse and was added in at the last minute to boost sales!

Also, The Riddler is still here because…………………..

Overall, I can NOT recommend Season 1 of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League enough! It takes everything that didn’t work about the original game and somehow makes them even worse! The missions are more of the same and even more repetitive, the grinding is increased ten fold, there’s no real story progression, each character still plays exactly the same, and you don’t even get to play as the Joker until the very end after you have already done all the busy work to get him! At least you get to see him going on that memory lane tour of the previous Batman: Arkham games, which only exists to remind you how good Rocksteady USED to be at making games!

Even so, that still doesn’t take away the fact that this latest update of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is a MAJOR step in the right direction! With this game along with DC Universe Online still getting TREMENDOUS support 14 years later, DC is crushing Marvel in their video game department just like how they are in their movie department! No amount of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Midnight Suns, and Marvel Rivals can hold a candle to what Warner Bros Games is doing right now with their DC properties!

In my initial review, I said I would only talk about the season passes if I felt they were worth recommending! And considering the fact I came up with this piece, I can with confidence that it 100% absolutely IS and you should go play it ASAP! Nice job, Rocksteady! Keep up the good work! I will be among the first in line of two folks online that will ready and waiting for you next big update on Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League!

This update gets a five out of five star rating for me! Absolutely SPECTACULAR!

Take notes, Avengers! THIS is how you do a live-service superhero game!

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APRIL FOOLS!

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Nah, but seriously, this season was a GIANT waste of time and my patience with this game has officially expired!

This game now gets a two out of five stars for me! Great job, Rocksteady! Keep up the “good” work!

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Also, FYI, congrats to Jared Leto! You are no longer the worst Joker ever!

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League- About Batman

AdamLeave a comment

*Warning! This article contains MAJOR spoilers for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League! If you haven’t played the game yet and/or don’t want anything spoiled for you, then you might want to click off the article right now! You have been warned!*

Oh, boy! Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is perhaps the hottest and most controversial game at the moment! Even before it’s release, there has been plenty of things that have inspired it’s controversy. From the required online services to it’s obsessed looter-shooter mechanics to this not being a Superman or Batman Beyond game, things were not looking too bright for Rocksteady’s first console game since the mid 2010s. And the fact that it was delayed numerous times didn’t seem to help much either! However, there is certainly not been a bigger controversy of this game than that of Batman’s role. Before we dive deep into why people are angry about how Batman was handled in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League and whether or not it’s justified, let’s go back a bit to see what happened with the Caped Crusader between Arkham Knight and into this game.

As we all know, Batman: Arkham Knight for a while was considered the definite conclusion to the Arkhamverse. After all, the game ended with Bruce’s identity being revealed to the world by Scarecrow, which gave the orphan playboy billionaire the impression that his time as Batman in Gotham has come to an end. By installing an emergency protocol he activated in case his true self ever got exposed, formerly known as the Knightfall protocol, that led Bruce to faking the death of himself and (presumably) Alfred to have the world think he is dead and hopefully keep those he cares about out of harm’s way. Despite everyone else in Gotham believing he is dead, it’s revealed in the very last scene of the game where two muggers attack a family in an alley that Bruce might in fact still be alive but cosplaying as a nightmarish figure resembling Batman, using the fear toxin from Scarecrow to make that happen.

Even though Arkham Knight was designed to be the true endgame for this iteration of Batman, it still had such an open ending that could open the door to pretty much anything if this series would ever be continued. For a while, there were rumors and speculations that suggested this would lead to the likes of a Damian Wayne-lead Batman game which would have Bruce Wayne in his “Batman Beyond” phase. This game was confirmed by voice actor Josh Keaton to be true and he would have been the voice of Damian Wayne himself. However, due to leaks and potentially WB Games Montreal (the studio that was developing the game) having cold feet on having a game focused on Damian Wayne taking on the Bat mantle, that project never came to pass.

It was then that project would later turn into Gotham Knights, putting the focus on the other members of the Bat family with Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Batgirl after Bruce Wayne’s supposed death. Despite being a reasonable thematic follow-up to Arkham Knight, that game was not considered part of the Arkham canon and stood alone as it’s own game. After several years of rumors of a potential Superman game set in the Arkham universe along with the un-canon release of Gotham Knights, the true continuation of the Arkham canon came with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, which the version of Batman would be the same one as we’ve been following in Arkham Asylum, City, Origins, and Knight.

The game states that after Arkham Knight, Bruce disappeared for several years until Superman found him. After he found Bruce, Superman asked for him to come back as Batman and join the Justice League. An offer which Bruce accepted. So now, Bruce as a new home in Metropolis and a new purpose as Batman in the form of the Justice League. Because of all that, the story of Bruce Wayne as Batman continues….even though everyone in the world knows his true identity.

And…that is literally all the context that the game gives us. There have been a few expansion novelization that suggest that post-Arkham Knight, Bruce was depressed and felt his live was ruined after Scarecrow revealed his identity, with the mindset that joining the Justice League would cure him of his depression and allow him to continue his crime fighting persona. But other than that, just about everything that has gone on with Batman between games happened offscreen with major important context being completely handwaved.

When you view that status quo with the little context the game offers us, that basically renders the ending of Arkham Knight rather meaningless. Why did Bruce go through all that trouble in faking his death to protect his friends if he was just going to come back in another city as Batman? By that point, criminals were no longer afraid of him and the world knowing his identity would put his friends in graver danger than ever before. Did Bruce just assume he trained his companions hard enough where they could handle any danger by themselves without his presence, even though Arkham Knight showed us they clearly can NOT?! And what happened with Alfred? Did he die with Knightfall Protocol or was he presumably killed offscreen by evil Batman like his other companions have been (We’ll go into THAT soon enough!)? The game doesn’t really give us any answers to those questions. While that is understandable from a narrative standpoint because this is suppose to be a Suicide Squad game first, it just makes it all the more clear that this could not have been a worse game to continue the plot threads of the Arkhamverse. Instead of getting a Superman or Justice League game first that might expand on that status quo and even justify it, it’s thrown to the wayside where you basically have to fill in the blanks yourself.

When it comes to Batman’s role in the game, he is basically in his pure evil form the whole way through due to being mind controlled by Brainiac. So much so, that he does what normal Batman would not do….kill people. This is shown in the very first sequence with him when he encounters the Suicide Squad. He blatantly uses his batarang to murder security guards and comes close to beating mind-controlled Barry Allen to death until he is ordered by Brainiac to keep him alive. Although, as usual in mediums where Batman breaks his “no kill” policy, it’s incredibly inconsistent. Like, he has no problem wiping out security guards and even the freaking FLASH but when he has the squad pinned down, he just screws off because otherwise….the game would be over in an hour.

However, as someone who tries to overprepare for EVERYTHING in his life, Batman even offered preparations in case something like himself and the Justice League being mind controlled by Brainiac happened. This is revealed in a recorded message once the Suicide Squad breaks into the Batcave. This was a message intended for his companions: Robin, Nightwing, and Oracle (which I guess answers one of those questions I stated before) as a guide on how to stop the Justice League if the group became compromised. Unfortunately, it’s revealed that Robin got taken out by evil Batman with the fates of the other two, Jason, and Alfred being unknown (which proves how dumb of a decision it was for Bruce to come back as Batman leaving his companions defenseless).

It’s then you fight Batman in his nightmare form he had been fighting in since Arkham Knight. After a rather intense sequence where you have to spread the Bat lab with fear toxin gas, you confront the nightmare fueled caped crusader head on until you’ve shoot at him enough times to beat him. The end results leaves Bats badly wounded and bleeding everywhere. The squad takes him to Lex Luthor’s lab, who uses Batman to develop golden kryptonite weapons to kill Superman. In comes the most talked about scene of the game!

In order to lore Superman out of hiding, the squad takes Batman out in the open to execute him. After Harley gives a speech about the history the two have shared throughout this series of games and Batman calling the speech s*it, Harley shoots Batman blank in the face and kills him. Supposedly putting an end to the Arkham Batman as we know it and possibly the last time we will ever hear Kevin Conroy’s voice as Batman.

To say this has pissed people off would be an understatement! To take a version of the character that is considered to be the definite Batman medium in terms of video games and possibly all forms of entertainment and kill him off in such an unceremonious way is guarantee backlash from day one! However, there may be something here that we are NOT aware off and will have to await for seasonal content to determine the true outcome.

First off, I will say right off the bat! DO NOT USE KEVIN CONROY’S DEATH TO DRAG BATMAN’S TREATMENT OF THIS GAME THROUGH THE MUD! THAT IS DISGRACEFUL AND UNCALLED FOR!

No one at Rocksteady could have predicted his death and I’m fairly certain his voice work was recorded at least a few years before his untimely passing. Let’s also not forget that Kevin Conroy himself DID agree to do the voice work for Batman in this game and (if sources close to him are any indication) was perfectly okay with what was done with Batman in this game. It’s not like this is some A.I.-generated voice or anything, this was in fact all Kevin Conroy. The man NEVER once stated that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League would be his final time voicing the character. It was just unfortunate this had to be one of the very last times for him to do it!

Secondly, let’s not act like Harley Quinn or anyone else is incompetent or isn’t capable of taking the Bats down. After all, this was the same Harley Quinn that was able to capture Batman in her DLC for Arkham City and would have in fact killed him due to lack of oxygen if it wasn’t for Robin saving his life. And if you continue to treat this game as canon to the Arkhamverse, it does tie back to Arkham City and Arkham Knight of Harley Quinn seeking vengeance against Batman for the death of her pudding. Yes, it seems like little HQ is over her pudding’s passing throughout the game, but it does thematically feel natural to her character.

Thirdly, and I’m pretty sure this has basically been confirmed through leaks, this is NOT the same Batman as the one we’ve been following since the Arkham games. What I mean by that is I’m fairly certain that upcoming DLC will reveal that the evil Batman presented throughout the game is not the real Batman but a clone made from the same DNA by Brainiac. The evil Batman that is presented throughout feels so out of left fired compared to the prior Arkham games that I would be shocked if it was not revealed that the Batman in this game is a fake and the real one is still out there somewhere.

If you don’t believe me, there are plenty of hints throughout the game that give the indication that the Justice League presented in the game are in fact not the real ones. You have the Flash that was able to regrow his finger after it got cut off, there’s Green Lantern whose ring doesn’t act the way it normally does, Superman surviving the kryptonite from Wonder Woman, all of the bodies of the JL after their “death” being teleported back to Brainiac’s ship, and even just the fact Brainiac refers to the Justice League at the final battle as MY Justice League and not THE Justice League. Not to mention, this is literally the same game where you have to go to another world to find another Lex Luthor after the one in this universe was killed off by The Flash. It’s time travel at will!

And if you are wondering about the hints of Batman’s potential resurrection, a recent video by the GOAT Batman Arkham Videos, found a hidden easter egg that teases that exact possible outcome for the future. There’s a hidden message in the forms of calendars scattered throughout Metropolis, each highlight a specific date, which the one from December has the bat symbol labeled on the date of the 14th. These calendars serve as a nod to Calendar Man, a villain from Arkham City, and spells out a message in twelve letters that makes sense once you crack the code. That message states, “He will return!” If that’s not a sign that Rocksteady is not done with their version of Batman yet, then I don’t know what is.

I’m sure there will be PLENTY of folks that will claim that Rocksteady would only resurrect Batman and the other previously fallen Justice League members due to the massive backlash of the game but if the hints, easter eggs, and leaked audio of the upcoming DLC is any indication, it’s clear this was planned from the very beginning. Plus, as we should all know now the old saying of comic book storylines, no one ever stays dead except for Uncle Ben and the Waynes.

The bigger question isn’t so much about if Rocksteady plans to revive Batman and the rest of the Justice League but more of when and how? Will they stick to their guns and release the seasonal content when they originally planned to? Will they release ASAP in response to the negative reception of the game? Were they able to get voice recordings of Kevin Conroy’s Batman for this DLC before his death or would they need to recast in order to do so? I’m sure those questions will be answered as 2024 goes around but I’m fairly certain that this will be the final outcome for the Arkham Batman.

Although this is the main problem with live-services games that rely on seasonal content to determine the final outcome of the game but the only thing we can all do is wait and see. While Batman’s resurrection will not solve all of the problems with his inclusion in this game, I am hopeful Rocksteady is able to find some alternative that can either continue his story in this universe or find a real proper ending for the character.

Even if Batman is getting much proper treatment in the upcoming DLC, I still consider Arkham Knight to be the true definite send-off for this iteration of Batman. Anything afterwards to me is basically a “What If?” scenario and nothing else. If it’s done well, I can be like “Yeah, I guess that would be cool!” If it’s not done well, I can then be like, “Well, at least it ended with the last game for me!” I have my Batman games to look back upon fondly and nothing this game does can take that away from me!

Regardless, I’m grateful we got to hear Kevin Conroy voice Batman at least one more time for a big major title! And as I said in my main review, he sounded just as good there as he did when he first put the cape and cowl on back in the 90s with Batman: The Animated Series!

Thanks for everything, Kevin! We will miss you!

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (2024) Game Review: The Best Of The Worst But Still The Worst

AdamLeave a comment

After a near decade long wait, Rocksteady has FINALLY return to the scene with Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, the studio’s first console game since Batman: Arkham Knight. After the massive success and acclaim of the Batman: Arkham series, I’m pretty sure everyone and their mother had been wondering what this studio would tackle next after such an impressive achievement with that beloved franchise of games. Would they continue that timeline with a Batman Beyond game with a big focus on Damien Wayne? Would they do a modern Superman game running on the same Arkham engine? Would they do a full-on Justice League game? Or would they do something completely original that doesn’t involve DC superheroes? While all of those development cycles had been rumored or speculated for years now, none of those ended up being the case whatsoever. Instead what we have is a brand new Suicide Squad game with the subtitled Kill The Justice League.

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League takes place in that same Arkhamverse as the Rocksteady Batman games and the one from WB Games Montreal, that puts an emphasis on third-person shooting, exploring an open world, and (at least at the time of writing) requires your service online to be able to experience the game fully. The game was announced in August 2020 was set for a 2022 release date until that got delayed multiple times to improve the overall quality of the game. More DLC in season passes is expected to arrive over the course of the year and possibly even more depending on how the services are later on down the road.

I can’t speak for everyone but I really don’t think a Suicide Squad game was the follow-up of Batman: Arkham Knight from Rocksteady that we all expected or even wanted. Perhaps had there been a few games before this on, such as the previously mention Batman Beyond, Superman and/or Justice League game, it would feel more welcome. But, for a game that has been reported to be in development since at least 2017 and coming from a successful studio who hasn’t released a full game since 2015 (Batman Arkham VR does NOT count!), Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League acting as the first blimp in the radar in what seems like forever doesn’t really inspire much courage.

However, at the end of the day, you can only judge a game based off the final product. And considering I already promised I would do a review for this game when it came out as a means to include my Batman: Arkham marathon, I have no choice to do just that. Is Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League able to make the best out of the worst possible situation or does it really deserve to be dragged through the mud like it has been by the majority of the internet? Let’s start off by talking about perhaps the most conversational aspect of the game, the story!

Story:

First off, I will say I will try my very best to avoid major spoilers. However, considering the fact that the actual premise of the game could be considered a giant spoiler with itself along with the actual subtitle of the game, I can’t make any promises that you won’t at least read between the lines with what I’m about to talk off. And that’s not even mentioning the leaks to the upcoming DLC that basically confirms that events of this game will be retconned or at least the supposed body count will likely not lead to having to carve headstones after all. Either way, if by some chance, you have NOT been spoiled by Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League in ANY way, I would advise skipping this part of the review. There is your warning!

Taking place five years after the events of Arkham Knight, we turn our focus of the series to a group of criminals imprisoned in the Arkham Asylum assembled by A.R.G.U.S. director Amanda Waller. This group is known as Task Force X, A.K.A. the Suicide Squad. The members of the Suicide Squad include Harley Quinn, Deadshoot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark, who are all forced to fight against their will by Amanda Waller because of little bombs that are implemented inside their head, which Waller can activate at any given moment.

Waller sends the team of Arkham misfits to Metropolis, which is under attack by an all-powerful villain known as Brainiac. It’s discovered that Brainiac has took control over the minds of four of the five members of the Justice League, which includes Superman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern, with Wonder Woman being the only member free from his clutches. At first, the team is instructed to find a way to free the male league members from Brainiac’s control and save them all from their evil form. However, after encounters with a brainwashed Green Lantern and Batman along with butting heads with a brainwashed Flash, Waller and the Task Force team soon come to realize that saving them can no longer be an option. The only way to save Metropolis now is by killing the Justice League members all together with Brainiac along with them.

But because most of the Justice League consists of all-powerful superheroes that have special powers that no ordinary living being does, they can’t take beat them with their normal wits and weaponry but need knowledge and resources from a special someone to unlock the secrets to murdering each Justice League member one-by-one. That special someone is no other than Lex Luthor.

However, after something happens to the Arkhamverse Lex Luthor that makes him no longer available, the squad teleported themselves into the elseworlds (basically the DC equivalent of the multiverse) to find a Lex Luthor from another world. The elseworld Lex Luthor confirms to Task Force X that he had worked with the Lex Luthor from their world to prepare for Brainiac’s invasion after he failed to do so in his world. He agrees to go to the world of the Suicide Squad and help them find a way to stop Brainiac and the evil Justice League before Metropolis is completely destroyed.

Commanded by Amanda Waller and assistance from the likes of Lex Luthor and a still-good Wonder Woman, the Suicide Squad must risk their neck and lives to wipe out the members of the corrupted Justice League and Brainiac before even more damage is done in Metropolis and possibly the entire Arkhamverse and elseworlds.

Okay, before I got into how much this story just does not work in the context of being set in the same universe as the prior Batman: Arkham games, I feel like it’s only fair to discuss why this story just doesn’t work on it’s own terms. It starts off decent, with solid introductions to the squad, a fun tour of the Hall of Justice and viewing the status quo of the Arkhamverse, and a tense boss sequence once you come up against Evil Batman for the first time. However, after a somewhat promising start, it falls off the rails completely once it really gets going.

You have ideas and concepts that are barely explored, a pace that seems rushed and all over the place, outcomes of major characters that are handwaved and/or treated as edgy jokes, and an ending that makes it feel like nothing much was accomplished. It’s baffling after making fine use of it at the start that the story seems to lose interest in it’s own concept, trying way too hard to make the Suicide Squad the REAL heroes of the story and not act as the criminal freaks that they are.

The idea of the plot itself could make for a fun spoof of a comic book game storyline with such a ridiculously unapologetic “I don’t give a f*ck! We’re playing by our own rules!”, mirroring the likes of Deadpool, Metal Gear Rising Revengeance, and Sunset Overdrive. However, where as those games at least have a self aware charm to it that lets it’s audience in for such a crazy ride, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League comes across as more crude and mean spirited than anything else.

That’s not even going in how distractingly similar this is to the plot of Marvel’s Avengers (2020), which this game falls to many of similar trappings with but with different results. Just replace the Avengers with the Justice League, M.O.D.O.K. with Brainiac, and instead of saving the heroic team, you have to kill them, and it’s basically the same plot at it’s core. It’s so familiar that it makes me wonder if this was originally suppose to be a full-on Justice League game but decided it against after seeing the backlash that Marvel’s Avengers got.

When talking about this plot within the context of the Arkhamverse, it’s even worse. This doesn’t so much feel like a continuation of the Arkham canon but more as a 12 year old “What If?” edge lord fanfiction that has only slightly more thought put into it than that Death of Batman fan film. The characters brought back from the prior Arkham games don’t feel even remotely like their previous versions.

Harley seems to have long forgotten about her pudding (Which she doesn’t even say in the game btw!) and feels more in line with the Harley Quinn from the Max animated series than she does of her Arkham counterpart, and that’s not just because she revealed to have actually been in a relationship between Poison Ivy, despite them never EVER being a thing in the previous Arkham games. Riddler and Penguin feel like they were shoehorned in with not much explanation as to why they are no longer in Gotham. And I would say something about Batman’s characterization but I’m saving an entire piece for that.

It’s not that this story couldn’t work within the Arkhamverse but this just seemed like the very wrong game to continue that story with. It’s because having to focus on the Suicide Squad themselves that big questions that people have had since Arkham Knight such as why Bruce came back as Batman and when did the Justice League assemble are given the most “hand-wavey” answers imaginable that gloss over big important context. It only seems like Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was included in the Arkham canon just for the sake of boosting sales and NOT for the sake of expanding the world even further. When even Gotham Knights feels more like a thematically worthy follow-up to Arkham Knight, you have a big problem on your hand.

The only time the story itself shines is within the characterization of it’s main cast and a handful of interactions. The entire sequence in the first hour where you tour the Hall of Justice and see the way the Justice League team in this universe is characterized within recorded hologram messages is very satisfying to see. It really felt like the writers did their homework when it came to realizing the true appeal of these characters. So much so, it makes you wonder why they went through the trouble of making them feel likable when we are going to have to kill them anyway. The main standouts here involve Superman and Wonder Woman, who basically acts as the protagonist of the story and a guide for Task Force X themselves. It only makes you wish you were playing a Superman or Justice League game instead of this one.

The Suicide Squad members do get some fun moments to themselves as well. Even within the rather crude and tryhard like tone, there’s a few times where most of the jokes and banter pays off. The back-and-forth between the squad and the Flash is fun, it’s cute to see Harley being a Wonder Woman fangirl all of a sudden (even if it makes zero sense in the context of the Arkhamverse), Boomerang gets the most hilarious lines in the game and there’s one sequence which Amanda Waller goes batshit crazy that’s actually satisfying to watch. It sucks that most of the characters are as enjoyable as they are and makes you wish more effort was put into the actual plot itself.

The story itself is possibly the worst thing about this game. It doesn’t work as it’s own thing and it most CERTAINLY doesn’t work as a continuation of the Arkhamverse. Even if there were ideas that might have been interesting on paper, the execution could not be anything less than before. It’s clear that the story took a backseat for everything else about this game and it clearly shows.

However, considering this is intended to be a live service game first, the gameplay is what matters the most. Does that fare any better? Kind of, but not really.

Gameplay:

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is an action-adventure game that is set in the open world of Metropolis. It features four playable characters which are no other than the Suicide Squad members themselves. There’s Harley Quinn, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark.

Despite all four characters controlling similarly, each of them has their own kind of weapons, melee combat style, and traversal method for them to chose from. When it comes to weaponry, it involves each class being shared by two of the four characters that are available at the time of release. When it comes to unique move sets and ways to travel, each of the them has a feature that stands out. You have Harley Quinn that has a baseball bat and travel using Batman’s grapple gun, you have Deadshot that has his own guns and can jetpack his way throughout Metropolis, you have Captain Boomerang that can you his boomerang to teleport to where ever it goes and his own gun, and you have King Shark that can jump high and far and his own lovely machine gun. Despite having similar controls, they all are designed to feel differently from one another, making certain missions feel like you should play as one specific character over the other three.

There is also a progression skill tree that is included here. It allows for player to level up to stronger and different skill sets at any point of the game. The more enemies you kill and more missions you complete throughout the game, the higher your ranking will go for ever character. However, each character can only level up individually and is not something you can do with the whole group at one time. The only exception is if you playing through multiplayer mode.

And speaking of multiplayer, while the entire game can be played solo, it does include a four-player co-op multiplayer mode, that can be play with someone you are playing with in person or through online. When playing solo, players can switch between any characters while the other characters are controlled by the game’s AI. However, you aren’t allowed to switch between different characters during a certain mission and can only do that again once you have completed that mission or die before switching up again.

When it comes to the missions themselves, there is literally about three different types that are introduced here. All of them are ones you can beat with the most mindless button mashing and straight forward objectives imaginable for a loot box filled, third-person shooter. You have missions where it involves taking control of enemy bases, there are missions where you have to protect enemies from your allies, and missions where you have to escort someone in a big truck. And that’s basically it when it terms to variety with the missions.

None of them play differently than the other, there’s no interesting mix thrown in between each one, they don’t seem to get much harder or easier as it goes on, and it involves accomplishing the exact same objective over and over and over again. Sure, playing the missions as each individual character can make the experience slightly more different but once you beat each one of these missions with all four members of The Suicide Squad, you have basically seen everything that the missions in these games provide.

I wish I could say more but that’s just about how the mission structure is laid out throughout the entirety of the game. It’s the same rinse and repeat formula that makes each objective clear as daylight without much new added to it except you are playing as DC bad guys now instead of super heroes. It’s certainly functional and works the way it was programmed but there’s very little variety here and that makes it feel like the same loot box, third-person shooter but with a different coat of paint.

The only other exception for the variety of missions are the sections with The Riddler. Yes, The Riddler has returned in the Arkhamverse and is now in Metropolis instead of Gotham for some odd reason that is never explained. As with the prior Batman: Arkham games, there are side quests and missions where you can go out of your way to collect Riddler trophies that are scattered throughout the open world, solve puzzles that have been laid out in the map, and designed obstacle courses that you are given a star rating on depending on how fast you are able to complete each course.

Even taking out the fact that The Riddler’s return here makes ZERO sense in terms of story, I really don’t see the point of these side missions existing. There’s nothing creative or inventive about any of the courses and you never feel the strong desire to take time out of the main story to collect these trophies and solve the puzzles. At least in the prior Arkham games, doing all of The Riddler’s work felt rewarding by the end of it and made beating him all the more satisfying. Unless you are an achievement/trophy whore, you will not feel any obligation to want to play these side missions. I never even bother looking up to see what happens when you get everything or if there is a cutscene with him because I was so uninterest in his presence here.

Just like the story itself, it only feels like The Riddler’s missions are here because they were a staple of the previous Batman: Arkham games and Rocksteady hoped it would help with sales by banking on that Arkham nostalgia. Also, apparently, The Riddler also took time out of its day in the actual ELSEWORLD to laid out trophies to find and puzzles for you to solve. Can this guy just go away please?!?! I NEVER want to see his face ever again!

And of course, there’s the main selling point of the game, the boss fights with the evil corporate versions of the Justice League and eventually Brainiac himself. Throughout the game, you will eventually find yourself encountering with one member of the Justice League, aside from Wonder Woman, and you will have to face off against them. What should be the best part of the game is unfortunately no different than the missions you are already playing.

Sure, some of the earlier boss fights in the game are somewhat different and even fun to play. However, after the first two, it’s like the developers either ran out of money or simply stopped caring because it soon revolves to the same rinse and repeat formula. Even the final boss with Brainiac, is largely just the EXACT SAME BOSS as the very first one in the game. I’m not even joking! He even transforms in that EXACT SAME CHARACTER! How lazy can the developers possibly be!

All these fights come up to is shooting the enemy with one gun, shooting the enemy with another gun, and tossing a few grenades to increase the damage. All you have to do is perform these move sets multiple different times without too many hits and you’ll eventually get them. It’s odd how the story implies that there are only certain ways to beat the Justice League but when you can confront them, it mostly involves just doing the exact same move set you were doing when fighting previous enemies. If this is not the most washed up Justice League that’s ever existed, then I don’t know what is.

When describing the gameplay overall, it’s functional and competent but there’s no variety here whatsoever. There’s nothing here that’s aggressively glitchy, impossible to control, or inherently broken. Aside from having to get used to the different ways certain characters control along with the occasional times I would have to restart the game because my internet disconnected for a split second (Again, WHY is this live-service?!?!), there was nothing here I found inherently difficult to play or get used to. As a matter of fact, once you start to get the hang of it, there is some MILD enjoyment to be had here.

The real main issue here is it’s overall lack of innovation. It’s very clear that someone at Rocksteady and Warner Bros Games had a simple desire of wanting to match with the current trends of games that has grown accustom in the mid 2010s to now mid 2020s. The way the missions, open worlds, and amount of content both at launch and post-launch was clearly inspired by games hot at the moment such as Overwatch and Fortnite. However, where as those games were able to thrive off on unique character designs, creative mission and objective structures, and live-service elements that actually ADDED to the game rather than hinder it, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League plays off more like if you just took these characters and plunged them into one of these worlds but remove any of the fresh and uniqueness of those games.

Once you really get the hang of the formula of the game, there’s not much here that hasn’t been done in literally every other live-action service game. Once you played all four of these different kinds of mission I mention earlier, you have basically seen everything that the game itself has to provide.

On one hand, that might be a welcome thing to certain folks. After all, in an age where Generation Z tends to have a much shorter attention span than before (and I say this as someone that is in fact part of that Generation), this kind of game is always welcome. It’s basically the perfect game to play while listening to a podcast and watch YouTube too. This was clearly aimed to cater to a certain ground that enjoys those “turn your brain off” games that involves simple button mashing.

If you are part of that group (and again no judgement here), you might enjoy this game. However, for those that were expecting even the tiniest bit of innovation on part with Rocksteady’s previous work and to not fall into the trappings that took down previous live-service superhero games such as Marvel’s Avengers and Gotham Knights, you will likely find yourself disappointed.

Of course, there is also the mention of the confirmed post-launch content (which I go into more in the Upcoming DLC section) that the game itself will provide in the form of seasons throughout the year. There has been confirmation of what Season 1 will include along with teases of what Seasons 2 through 4 will have. There’s even been leaked audio recording of certain characters that could make a surprise return or appearance.

For a while, this was the most controversial aspect of the game. Yet again, here we have a game with required online services with developers that have a hard-on for season passes and loot boxes. Much like Marvel’s Avengers, it feels as if the main full game had only scratch the surface of the main gameplay because it’s saving the extra content for the future. However, if there is one thing that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League has over Marvel’s Avengers, it’s that that content has been confirmed to be free and you can unlock certain loot boxes and items WITHOUT having to pay more money out of your wallet.

While there are definitely loot boxes and special items that should have been unlocked at the start of the game, these are all still free and things that can be unlocked the further you play along in the game. It might take a little extra work but it’s not more work you are forced to spend a few extra dollars on, unlike say Star Wars: Battlefront II. And as I just said, the seasonal content that will be included with the game’s frequent updates is said to be completely free. No need to charge extra for the game, even if you have to wait a little longer than you should. Considering this game from the same studio that was charging a full season pass for the DLC for Batman: Arkham Knight, the fact they are allowing this all for free is quite surprising and even refreshing. Too bad we have to wait until then to see if ANY of those factors come with the seasonal content!

While certainly not as lackluster as the main story itself, the gameplay of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League leaves PLENTY to be desired. It’s playable, functional, has and/or will have free extra content, and once you get the hang of way each character’s control and their playset, it can be enjoyable at times. The problem is that we have seen this done with MULTIPLE other games and done MUCH better in other live-service games. There’s no variety in the missions, no progression system that makes you eager to level up your characters to the highest degree, and the boss fights with the Justice League could not be more underwhelming.

It’s an absolute shame that the game itself doesn’t even bother to hide the fact that it’s basically chasing trends and Rocksteady isn’t trying to be as inventive as it once was. Whether this is their doing or Warner Bro Games’ doing is beyond me but it still stinks regardless. If the main objective of Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League was to prove that live-service superhero games can in fact work, it failed spectacularly.

Graphics:

Normally, I would say the graphics for Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League are about as good as it can be for a next-gen 2024 game. After all, the environments look good, the models for the characters fit their designs incredibly well, the cutscenes are delivered at top notch, high quality, and the fact I’m able to see Metropolis exist in the Arkhamverse makes it itself a treat for the eyes. However, following Batman: Arkham Knight, which set a high standard for quality in terms of graphics that still hold up SPECTACUARLY nine years later, I can help but see it as quite a downgrade. Expectations on that front was always gonna be near impossible to match but it really doesn’t seem like anyone at Rocksteady even attempted to top or at least match it, which is the most unfortunate.

I understand that perhaps Rocksteady was wanting to go with more of a cartoon or comic book-like style considering this was meant to be a more gloriously excessive game that didn’t take itself as seriously as the other Batman: Arkham games but I kinda expected the next best thing to come in terms of the advanced technology they have worked on since 2015 and it doesn’t really show here. The game itself looks, sounds, and moves just fine (at least when your internet doesn’t disappear for a split second or later), but for those expecting the next best looking thing after Arkham Knight will likely be disappointed.

Sound:

The score for this game was done by composers Nick Arundel and Rupert Cross. Arundel returns here after doing prior gaming scores with Rocksteady with Arkham Asylum, City, and Knight. Cross, on the other hand, had done prior works in other entertainment medium such as theater (Hamlet, Frozen, Macbeth), television (101 Dalmatian Street, Everything Now), and film (Thor, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Brave, Cinderella (2015), and Beauty of the Beast (2017)). Kill The Justice League marks only the second score for a video game he’s ever done, with his first being 2013’s Puppeteer. Despite having proven talent to do the score, I couldn’t help but feel the score was lacking.

While it does it’s job as delivering a more rock-and-funk feel to the whole game, I can’t recall very many tracks that stuck with me or made me want to go out of my way on my own time to listen to them on YouTube. The main track that stood out for me was Batman’s theme when he first appeared in the Suicide Squad’s first encounter, even if it felt like an unuse track in one of the Christopher Nolan’s Batman movie. There are also a couple of decent tracks with the Justice League themselves but aside from that, the score is serviceable at best and forgettable at the worst.

I knew this would have a different style of music compared to the prior Batman: Arkham games but it’s baffling how not one track stuck with me the way the best tracks of those games were able to stick with me and even the not-so-great tracks did.

The voice work in this game is very strong. Nearly every actor and actress notable here are able to fit their role perfectly and have their voices completely match the designs of the characters and the dialogue given to them. With at least one notable exception (which I will get into), almost every voice actor suits their role very well. The biggest standouts come from the Justice League themselves, so much so that it makes you wish you were playing a full game with them.

Nolan North is able to be as perfect as Superman as he is as Nathan Drake, Deadpool, and the Penguin (which he also returns as). He perfectly captures that sense of hope and optimism that the Superman character always stands for and even works when presented as evil superman. Scott Porter is able to get the game’s best laughs as The Flash, Dan White fits well as the John Stewart version of Green Lantern, and Zehra Fazal brings such raw charisma as Wonder Woman. And of course, even though having an evil Batman presence could not have come at a worse time, Kevin Conroy gave it his all as this more twisted version of Batman, clearly having an absolute blast in the role the whole way through. The Suicide Squad team along with the rest of the cast don’t measure as high as the Justice League members but they all do fine work (Even though I wish folks would bother to redesign video game characters played by Debra Wilson), with one notable exception.

That exception is no other than Tara Strong as Harley Quinn. I’m just gonna come out and say it….I can’t stand her as Harley Quinn. I’ve tried given her the benefit of the doubt many times in the past when voicing this character but I can no longer do that. Her HQ’s voice is just way too raspy, ridiculously high pitched, and sounds more like she’s trying to impersonate a cartoon character rather than just sounding like…..a person. And no, the fact that Mrs. Strong has revealed herself to be not so bright doesn’t factor into my opinion on her as the Joker’s pudding, she is simply not a good Harley Quinn whatsoever. Arleen Sorkin (May that angel RIP!), Margot Robbie, and Kaley Cuoco are the real trio of the Harley Quinn Hall of Fame!

Upcoming DLC:

As previously mentioned, Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League will be provided with plenty of additional content that will expand the overall gameplay of the regular game. This will come in the form of seasonal passes that will be updated as the year goes on. All of these will be divided into four separate seasons that will unlockable new playable characters, new playable environments, new boss fights, new weaponry, new missions and activities, and even *shivers* new Riddler content because….why not.

Season 1 in particular has been confirmed to have a Joker from another elseworld as a playable character, new boss fights with the likes of Green Lantern and Superman, new playable environments, new dc villain themed weapons, new activities/strongholds, new Riddler content, and even two episodes with fan-favorite villains such as Two-Face and Scarecrow. Seasons 2 to 4 have not had much detail of it’s content just yet aside from most of the kind of content already mentioned but I wouldn’t be surprised to see us back in the Arkham Gotham that we all know and love.

Like with Marvel’s Avengers and even EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront 2, I’m sure this expansion of content might be good enough to improve the quality of the game for a good number of folks. Especially since, in this case, this is all said to be completely free content with no need to buy multiple passes or loot boxes.

On one hand, credit for Rocksteady to be able to avoid that trapping of trying to needlessly squeeze more money out of consumers, even if they couldn’t avoid the other ones. But considering the way that these along with other leaks gives confirmation that certain events from the game might be undone or rewritten entirely, it might just make the overall point of this game feel pointless. Even if those that hated the game will find themselves won over after certain characters are confirmed to be not dead after all, even they will wonder why this was made as DLC or seasonal content and not for say….it’s own actual game.

I don’t know if I will make a piece in the future once all this content is made available but considering it’s suppose to be free, I will certainly tried them out once they are released. Even if Rocksteady was basically forced by Warner Bros Games to make a game that rely heavily on live services and online action to chase the trends of Overwatch and Fortnite, this might’ve been the best results of this we could possibly get given the dire circumstances that surrounded it all.

Conclusion:

Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League feels like a game that was basically doomed from the start. Not just because this was a game nearly a decade in the making and following Rocksteady’s previous track record with their successful Batman: Arkham games but it was basically by design made to chase the worst kind of trends in modern gaming imaginable. It does some of those trends better than most but like most, it’s own restrictions holds it back from its true potential.

It may get the job done by offering a typical action and shoot-them-up game for those that crave for it but it really doesn’t bother to be anything much else than that and basically hopes the upcoming seasonal content will be enough to save the day. And considering the vital reaction this game has gotten online, it will take a LOT of convincing for folks to get this game another chance once the expansion of content have arrived.

If Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League is the DC equivalent of Marvel’s Avengers, then we can only hope that Monolith’s Wonder Woman will be the DC equivalent of Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, a superhero licensed game that ends up being a pleasant surprise following a previous underwhelming superhero licensed game.

That being said, I sure can’t wait until Marvel responds to this game by making the game, Thunderbolts: Kill The Avengers game. That will SURELY be a banger!