Why Batman's Printouts In Suicide Squad Make No Sense

"Suicide Squad," writer-director David Ayer's 2016 entry into the DC Extended Universe, is the gift that keeps on giving for those who love to poke holes in movie plots. The film ostensibly follows a group of villains imprisoned by the federal government and tasked with carrying out a mission for Amanda Waller (Viola Davis), the Director of ARGUS, under the threat of execution should they fail to comply.

Following its release, the movie was widely panned for what many judged to be an incoherent and contradictory plot made worse by bizarre editing. Even with a follow-up from James Gunn (of "Guardians of The Galaxy" fame) set to arrive some five years later, pop culture obsessives are still finding aspects of the original "Suicide Squad" that make no sense when viewed through the lens of the DCEU writ large. Here's one particular problem fans have with Batman's brief role in the movie.

In "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," the Zack Snyder-helmed film which preceded "Suicide Squad" in the DCEU's timeline, Ben Affleck's Batman receives a set of files stolen by Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman from Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor. These files contain footage and information regarding other metahumans, and Batman uses them later on to assemble the first iteration of the Justice League.

However, as pointed out by Digital Spy, an inscrutable mid-credits stinger scene in "Suicide Squad" depicts Bruce Wayne cutting a deal with Amanda Waller in order to obtain paper files on the same individuals. While Waller does provide him with a file on Enchantress (Cara Delevingne), the other documents shown contain info on the Flash (Ezra Miller) and Aquaman (Jason Momoa), individuals whose identities, powers, and whereabouts are already known to Batman.

Amanda Waller knows Bruce Wayne doesn't trust her, and the film goes to great lengths in order to prove her ruthlessness. She even asks Bruce why he would consider making a deal with her as she hands over the Justice League files. When Bruce answers that he likes "to make friends," she replies that she doesn't believe in friendship, only "in leverage." Although some explanations have been presented, the idea that a person as strategic as Batman would deal with someone like Amanda Waller to obtain information he already has feels implausible.