In film franchise building, stingers have almost become a requirement. The audience is hungry for the next installment, so you include a little ad for an upcoming movie in the credits of your current movie. Sometimes, it’s a welcome glimpse or an enticing promise. But other times it’s a sacrifice, and Suicide Squad, a film that’s already a mess, becomes even more damaged by trying to get audiences interested in a future DCEU movie.

[Spoilers ahead for Suicide Squad]

In the stinger for Suicide Squad, Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) has a meeting with Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) where she asks for his protection. In exchange for him covering up her involvement in the catastrophe at Midway City, she’ll give him files on people who could be “friends” to him. Wayne flips through the files and sees photos of Barry Allen (The Flash) and Arthur Curry (Aquaman). As Wayne is leaving, Waller warns him not to keep working such late hours, heavily implying that she knows he’s Batman. Wayne retorts that she should shut down Task Force X or else he and his friends will do it for her.

This scene makes no sense for several reasons. First, it completely goes against the character of Amanda Waller. The Waller we’ve seen for the entire movie is someone who is manipulative and doesn’t do quid-pro-quo exchanges. She bends people to her will and uses leverage to exert her influence. If she knows that Bruce Wayne is Batman, that’s huge leverage, and she could threaten to out him unless he offers her protection. Instead, she’s willing to make a trade with him. For a woman who’s willing to murder her own employees, I doubt she would make the distinction of playing nice with Wayne just because Wayne is a “good guy”.

Also, why is Wayne playing ball with Waller? The information he needs on future Justice League members he already has because of his alliance with Wonder Woman that we saw at the end of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Are we supposed to believe that Batman, the World’s Greatest Detective, has to make a deal with Waller to get more info on Flash and Aquaman when he already has Lex Luthor’s dossiers? Also, it makes Batman’s commitment to justice highly questionable if he’s willing to shield Amanda Waller, a person responsible for the deaths of countless people in Midway City, and his only chastisement is, “Don’t do that again.” Additionally, if Waller had the files of people like Allen and Curry, then why was her plan predicated on using supervillains? If Suicide Squad was a harder-edged picture, it could at least make the argument that the jobs Waller wants done are dirty jobs that superheroes would refuse to do. If it had been stated that Waller’s program is about killing people or doing other morally questionable acts, then compiling a team of supervillains makes sense. But Suicide Squad doesn’t make that argument. Instead, it just says, “we need meta-humans” and Waller wants people she can control.

And if all she’s looking for are people with superpowers that she can control, then why not try to make up a team of good people who still have pressure points? Isn’t it better to have a team of people who want to do good deeds rather than a team of people who are forced to do good deeds? By showing that Waller had the files of people like Allen and Curry, it makes her look even dumber and more reckless in her planning. She could have comprised her own Justice League rather than a team that includes the supervillain who necessitates the team in the first place. But in the scheme of franchise building, what’s sensible goes out the door. It’s all about teasing what’s next. So before you can even start unpacking the myriad of ways that Suicide Squad screws up, you’re already being sold Justice League. But after seeing Warner Bros. botch this superhero movie so badly, can you really get excited for how they’ll handle future movies in the DCEU?

For more on Suicide Squad, click on the links below:

• ‘Suicide Squad’ Video Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
• August Box Office Predictions: Can ‘Suicide Squad’ Ignite the DC Extended Universe?
• ‘Suicide Squad’: Jared Leto Teases “A Lot” of Deleted Joker Scenes; David Ayer Talks Editing Process
• Collider Heroes: ‘Suicide Squad’ Discussion; ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Title Change
• Watch: ‘Suicide Squad’ Cast and Director on Bringing Humor, Diversity, and Humanity to the Mayhem