Is the Joker a homicidal, nihilistic supervillain, or a prankster lashing out to mask his insecurities?
Most comic book fans would opt to describe him as the former.
Despite that commonly accepted interpretation, the upcoming video game Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League portrays the famed Batman arch-nemesis as the latter.
The game is famously (or rather infamously) set within the same universe as the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham series. The original Joker of this fictional world — who was not at all insecure — voiced by Mark Hamill, died earlier in the series.
This new Joker, according to developer Rocksteady Studios, is apparently an alternate-universe “Elseworlds” version of the character.
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“I think we’ve taken him back to the kind of more vaudeville roots of the Joker,” Kate Watson, the game’s “Advanced Scriptwriter,” said in a behind-the-scenes video for the upcoming game released Jan. 22.
“He’s masking insecurities with traditional Joker behavior but deep down he’s not sure who he is yet.”
In response to the reveal trailer, fans online have been absolutely roasting the game and Rocksteady Studios in general for this character choice.
Would you play this game?
Gay Joker loves his fashion trends pic.twitter.com/oj3hMATz5d
— Flash (@YellowFlashGuy) January 23, 2024
I swear DC and Marvel are in a race to see who can go bankrupt first.
— Jason McLaren (@theoutfitters23) January 27, 2024
No one asked for Mary Poppins Joker.
— MiddleMaga.com (@StucknDaMid) January 28, 2024
Suicide squad kill the Justice League, has killed itself. You hire garbage writers, openly disrespect things that people enjoyed, make the joker a Twink and then brutally murder the Arkham Batman and someone, someone said, that’ll make money.
— Nate, or, Mr H Reviews (@MrHreviews) January 29, 2024
For Rocksteady, the developer behind Kill the Justice League, it seems like one bad press incident after another keeps popping up in regards to their ballyhooed new game.
The game was previously criticized for several other reasons, including its depictions of Batman and longtime Batman supervillains Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn, which made their way online via leaks.
What’s more, according to a Monday report from Variety, the early release version of the game was pulled in order to correct a glitch that allowed players to beat the game as soon as they booted it up for the first time.
The cost of these controversies may be adding up, considering the fact that — “unlike essentially every AAA game release” — Rocksteady Studios chose not to allow early reviewers to sample the game ahead of time, according to Forbes.
“[I]t seems pretty clear that there was some level of concern within the studio about how the game would review based on mixed-to-not-great previews from the games press weeks earlier,” Forbes senior contributor Paul Tassi wrote.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is set to launch worldwide Friday.
