Highlights

  • Aaron Cash's return in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League cements his status as a central character in the Arkhamverse.
  • Cash's presence adds a familiar and welcome connection to the lore of Arkham games.

The Arkhamverse has taken many drastic turns with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and seems to move away hastily from the world-building that its predecessors established. Batman’s death is symbolic of the Arkhamverse transitioning into a new era punctuated by the multiverse and zany spectacles, rather than the intimate and atmospheric one-night adventures of the Caped Crusader. However, the ties that tether Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League to the Arkham games are profound, with one of the franchise’s most invaluable characters rightfully returning.

Suicide Squad Batman Hero Villain
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Aaron Cash was a Must-Have for the Arkhamverse’s Continuation

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League was Right to Bring Cash Back

There aren’t as many nods, Easter eggs, or even characters from previous Arkhamverse games in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which is strange because seemingly nobody would have been displeased with seeing a lot more gratuitous fan service. In fact, Batman, Harley Quinn, Penguin, and Aaron Cash are the only truly explicit tethers to the Arkhamverse in terms of characters.

Cash appears in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League first at Arkham Asylum again, suggesting that he returned to work there following the events of Arkham Knight. He’s recruited by ARGUS and stationed at Metropolis’ Hall of Justice and becomes an NPC whom players receive supply caches from after Task Force X thwarts Brainiac enough drones trying to abduct civilians. It’s a small role, but a welcome one since it means Cash’s legacy in the Arkhamverse lives on.

If anyone playing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is unfamiliar with the Arkham games they won’t know why Cash returning is such a big deal, but his storied history in the Arkhamverse and place in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League confirms he’s one of the franchise’s central and paramount characters.

Aaron Cash’s History in the Arkhamverse

Cash has been around since the beginning of the Arkhamverse, appearing as a security guard at Arkham Asylum in the institution's eponymous game. He then appears in Arkham City with a similar role before having his largest role yet in Arkham Knight working at GCPD under Police Commissioner Jim Gordon.

Cash even has an easily missable Easter egg in Arkham Origins where players can find his locker at GCPD. It would be all too easy to chalk Cash up to a recycled security guard NPC in the franchise if not for how loyal, charismatic, and supportive he is throughout.

Each installment gives Cash a new opportunity to make a genuinely funny comment or let Batman know he’s in his corner and forever be a dutiful and beloved companion character. Cash even has an interesting history with Killer Croc having eaten his hand, resulting in him wearing a hook and emulating the dynamic between Captain Hook and Tick-Tock the Crocodile. Cash’s belief in Batman never wavers and his commentary on the villains who plague Gotham City is a great perspective from an authority and law enforcement perspective, particularly one more candid than Gordon’s, and his companionship is felt in each Arkham game.

If the Arkhamverse does continue onward from Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it would be great to see him have future roles regardless of whether Batman is in or out of the picture. Cash was never formally a Bat Family member like Robin, Oracle, or Nightwing, but his support is overwhelming and he’s as close of a companion as Batman ever has in the Arkhamverse.