In the wake of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s disappointing launch and the ensuing backlash over its microtransaction-heavy model, many fans have been left wondering how Rocksteady—the studio behind the beloved Batman: Arkham series—could have strayed so far from what made their previous games great.
But newly uncovered concept art suggests that at one point, Rocksteady had a very different vision for a Suicide Squad game — one that could have been a true successor to their Arkham legacy.
The Lost Suicide Squad of Batman Arkham Origins
The concept art in question comes from artist Callum Alexander Watt, who, back in 2017, posted a series of images on their Instagram page labeled as “old work for an unpublished game title featuring a few of DC’s villains from around 2012.”
The concept art depicts a gritty, militaristic take on various members of the Suicide Squad, including Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, Deadshot, Captain Cold, and Heatwave, among others. The muted color palette and rough, sketchy quality of the concept art evoke a sense of a darker, more realistic take on Task Force X than what we’ve seen in other media.
Interestingly, the ending of Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, a handheld spin-off released in 2013, featured Amanda Waller recruiting inmates into her antihero/supervillain team. This leads to speculation that Watt’s concept art could be from a planned sequel to Blackgate, or perhaps a separate Suicide Squad game set in the Arkham universe.
It is an intriguing glimpse at what could have been — a title built on the solid foundation of the Arkham series, before the allure of live-service gaming and microtransactions took hold!
The High Cost of Chasing Trends
Of course, we’ll never know for sure what this scrapped project would have entailed, or why it ultimately never saw the light of day. But in the context of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League‘s troubled release, which has reportedly cost Warner Bros. Games upwards of $200 million in lost revenue, it’s hard not to see it as a missed opportunity.
Had Rocksteady been able to bring the same level of care and craftsmanship to this game that they brought to the Arkham series, perhaps we’d be looking at a very different outcome today.
It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most exciting games are the ones that never get made—the tantalizing “what ifs” that leave us wondering what could have been. But it’s also a cautionary tale about the pitfalls of chasing trends and losing sight of what made a studio’s games special in the first place.
As the developer moves forward from the disappointment of Kill the Justice League, perhaps they would do well to look back at these old concepts and remember the studio they used to be. The studio that put story, character, and player experience first, and in doing so, created some of the most memorable superhero games of all time.
What do you think about the concept art for this scrapped Suicide Squad project? Do you think it could have been a worthy follow-up to the Arkham games, or was the developer right to take the series in a different direction? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
