Warning: The following contains spoilers for Justice League #55 by Joshua Williamson, Robson Rocha, Daniel Henriques, and Romulo Fajardo Jr., on sale now.
The Justice League has been in some tight spots before, but the situation in which they find themselves in Justice League #55 might just break them. Led by Nightwing, the Justice League is on a mission through the barren world of Dark Nights: Death Metal to save Martian Manhunter and free the Legion of Doom from Perpetua's throne, which is also her main power source.
As the team fights their way through the Valley of Starro and come to terms with the fact that they need Lex Luthor's help, the Leaguers find themselves in what is perhaps their most dangerous predicament yet. And as one of the team's heroes, Detective Chimp, puts it in Justice League #55, the team is far more like the Suicide Squad than any incarnation of the League.
The current roster of the Justice League that has gathered together to try and stop Perpetua includes Nightwing, Detective Chimp and Hawkgirl, plus Starfire and Cyborg, who recently returned to Earth after battling Darkseid in the Ghost Sector. They're accompanied by Lex Luthor, who is fresh off of being doublec-rossed by Perpetua and the Batman Who Laughs and is looking to stop them both. He's still just as untrustworthy as ever, but his current goals align enough with the Justice League's mission that the heroes reluctantly bring Luthor along.
As the team treks through the Valley of Starro, each team member is psychically attacked by Starro and haunted by various visions. Nightwing has the vision of Batman's approval and the comfort of having Alfred alive while Starfire is attacked by her sister, Blackfire. Cyborg is also attacked in his vision and has to fight his disapproving father. Detective Chimp, though, isn't tortured by Starro's mental attack and instead sees a vision of his late best friend, Nightmaster. Nightmaster tries to console Chimp and tells him that he no longer has to carry the burden of the Sword of Night.
After the team realizes they were under a mental attack from Starro, they shake off the attacks and regroup. Detective Chimp, though, even after knowing that Nightmaster really isn't there, continues to talk to his friend. After Nightwing grabs him and he wakes from the vision, Chimp is angered and screams at Nightwing, "Why couldn't you just leave me?" Chimp is tired of all the death he's seen and with all the friends he's lost. "What kinds of heroes are we?" Chimp asks the other Leaguers. "The odds are stacked against us and we're not coming back from this one. We're done."
Cyborg tries to give Detective Chimp a pep talk by pointing out that the Justice League has been in bad spots before and have always triumphed. To this, Chimp points out that in this situation they aren't the Justice League, "We're the Suicide Squad." This makes the other Leaguers stop and realize that the odds are greatly against them and that they are indeed on a suicide mission to free the Legion of Doom from Perpetua.
Give the dire stakes this team finds itself in, Detective Chimp isn't out of line in his assessment. As the Justice League draws closer to Perpetua's throne, they are attacked by the powerful Omega Knight. Their chances of survival have been drastically reduced as they're all blasted by the Omega Knight's beams, validating Detective Chimp's observation that they are more like the Suicide Squad that the League. While the Suicide Squad is famous for losing its members on deadly missions, it's only a matter of time to see how closely this team will live up to that grim legacy.