The Justice League have opposite reputations, but one leader's callout shows that isn't the whole story. The Justice League are the greatest paragons in the DC Universe, made of superheroes like Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman who are treated like gods. The Suicide Squad, on the other hand, is a team of supervillains forced to do the government's dirty work. In Suicide Squad #11, when the League tries to crack down on the Squad's law-breaking, they give up when they're forced to it that they ignored the real villains that made it necessary.
Suicide Squad #11 is written by Tom Taylor with art by Bruno Redondo, color by Adriano Lucas, and lettering from Wes Abbott. Issue 11 is the end of a series that changed the Suicide Squad completely. The team was taken over by a villain who forced veterans like Deadshot and Harley Quinn to work with a close-knit team of sympathetic antiheroes called the Revolutionaries.
Together, the new Squad was sent on extrajudicial missions to kill innocents and fill their corrupt bosses' coffers, including being forced to assassinate President Mishra, leader of the country of Badhnisia. That was a step too far, especially because Mishra was the mom of one of the Revolutionaries. So the Suicide Squad turned against their masters, killing Amanda Waller's replacement and starting a rebellion that went all the way up to Black Mask, the mastermind behind it all.
The team defeats Black Mask and saves the president of Badhnisia, but they don't escape without catching the notice of the Justice League. Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, the Flash, and Green Arrow arrive at the president's doorstep with the plan to arrest and extradite Black Mask, then arrest the Revolutionaries for their own crimes, including hijacking and disarming nuclear weapons.
The Revolutionaries have a simple response: they're on Badhnesian soil, so the Justice League has to take it up with the President. Mishra tells Batman and company that Sionis can face justice in the United States, but the Revolutionaries just saved her entire country from being taken over by Black Mask, meaning she would safeguard them. But President Mishra has more to say to the League. She points out that everything Black Mask did was ed by powers within the US government who conspired with him to destroy her country for profit and that the Justice League would rather fight the people exploited by that than address the people who caused it. "I would recommend American heroes could better protect the world if they looked to clean their own house."
Batman has no counter; as the Revolutionaries' Wink put it, he's "spanked." The League leaves without an argument and the Revolutionaries walk free, Injustice comic. Secondly it's a harsh look at the fact that all the shadowy corruption in DC's political landscape goes on without the League's intervention. The Suicide Squad took direct action against government abuses with bomb collars in their necks. What's the Justice League's excuse?
Suicide Squad #11 is available now from DC Comics, Comixology, and local comics shops.
