Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League calendar Easter egg teases more Batman
Bat in business.
A series of Easter eggs point to us seeing more of Batman in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, presumably as part of a forthcoming post-launch update.
In-game calendar pages posted around the game's Metropolis map have been spotted by Batman Arkham Videos, and verified by Eurogamer. Each features a circled date, with a hidden code that spells out a secret message.
Substituting the date marked on each calendar page (the eighth of January, for example) with the corresponding letter of the alphabet (H, the eighth letter) spells out the following phrase: "He Will Return".
While calendar pages immediately bring to mind the Batman villain Calendar Man - who himself popped up in previous Rocksteady titles set within the Arkham universe - these pages instead seem to distinctly reference the Dark Knight himself.
The final calendar page for December clearly features a Batman symbol instead of a circled date, as shown below in Eurogamer's screenshot. The page is also located at Metroplis' Centennial Park - where Batman's showdown with the Suicide Squad takes place.
Warning: plot details for Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League follow.
In what should not come as too much of a surprise for a game subtitled Kill the Justice League, the Suicide Squad do indeed appear to kill off various Justice League members - including Kevin Conroy's beloved Arkham series Batman via a bullet to the head.
It's a seemingly straightforward and final demise, but this is of course a video game based on a comic book - so who knows?
Ever since Batman's final scene leaked online, weeks before the game's launch, fans have been theorising how the Brainiac-controlled Bat could be resurrected. One popular theory suggests the Batman that got killed was just a clone. Another option could lie in the multiversal aspects of the game's story. After all, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League will introduce a new "Elseworlds" Joker, following the demise of the Arkhamverse's original.
The idea that Batman's death will be undone is also supported by datamined dialogue that has been posted online - and later pulled down - referencing the return of other offed Justice League members.
Batman's "death" in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League has been a huge point of contention for some fans upset at the end of the Arkham series' hero. But perhaps it was always meant to be temporary? Mark your calendars - only time will tell.
"Rocksteady's talent is so evident in the game, it almost overcomes the terrible decision to try and make it," Chris Tapsell wrote in Eurogamer's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League review.