Amanda Waller

Director Amanda Blake Waller is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was created by John Ostrander, Len Wein and John Byrne. Despite not possessing any superpowers, Amanda Waller is a powerful antagonist and sometime-ally to the superheroes of the DC Universe, often serving as an antihero. In 2009, the character was ranked as IGN's 60th Greatest Comic Book Villain of All Time.^[1]

Waller is typically portrayed as a ruthless, high-ranking government official who uses political connections, intelligence, guile, and sheer intimidation to achieve her aims, often in the name of national security. She is often associated with the fictional government agencies Checkmate and A.R.G.U.S.. In many portrayals she directs the deadly missions of the so-called Suicide Squad, or oversees specialist research into people with powers.

In recent years, the character has been substantially adapted into animated and live action media. Several actresses have portrayed the character: C. C. H. Pounder for various animated projects; Pam Grier on the live-action series Smallville; Angela Bassett in the live-action film Green Lantern; Sheryl Lee Ralph in the animated series Young Justice; Cynthia Addai-Robinson in the live-action series Arrow and video game Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham; Yvette Nicole Brown in the animated series DC Super Hero Girls; and Viola Davis in the film Suicide Squad.

Publication history

The people most responsible for shaping the character in her earliest appearances were John Ostrander and Kim Yale, in the pages of the Suicide Squad series in the late 1980s.

Nicknamed "the Wall", she is a former congressional aide and government agent often placed in charge of the Suicide Squad, a semi-secret government-run group of former supervillains working in return for amnesty. She later served as Secretary of Metahuman Affairs under President Lex Luthor, before being arrested in the wake of Luthor's public fall from grace. Waller was reassigned to the leadership of Checkmate as White Queen, but was forced to resign because of her involvement in Operation Salvation Run.

Fictional character biography

Early history

Amanda has been established as a widow who escaped Chicago's Cabrini–Green housing projects with her surviving family after one of her sons, one of her daughters and her husband were murdered. Waller eventually obtained a doctorate in political science (as revealed in Checkmate v.2 # 1 where she is addressed as "Doctor Waller") and became a congressional aide. During that time, she discovered the existence of the first two incarnations of the Squad. Taking elements from both of these, she proposed the development of its third incarnation to the White House and was placed in charge upon its approval.

Federal service years

The Agency was formed by Amanda Waller to serve as a small, quasi-independent branch of Task Force X. Valentina Vostok brought former NYPD Lieutenant Harry Stein into the Agency as an operative. Amanda Waller later promoted Stein to the command position and demoted Vostok. Harry Stein would later reorganize the Agency and name it Checkmate.

Waller's tenure as the official in charge of the third Suicide Squad was tumultuous and controversial. Despite many successes, she developed a habit of defying her superiors in Washington in order to achieve goals both legitimate and personal on more than one occasion. The earliest conflict between her and her superiors revolved around the leadership of the Suicide Squad. Although she proposed that the Bronze Tiger, the man she had helped out of his brainwashing, lead the team he was instead relegated to second-in-command, and Rick Flag Jr. was made the leader. Waller resentfully presumed the situation to be racially charged, related to not only her own status as a black woman, but also Bronze Tiger's own skin tone, although the Tiger himself did not believe this was a factor, instead believing this was a result of mistrust due to the brainwashing imposed upon him by the League of Assassins.

Her relationship with the Squad itself was one of mutual dislike. Most of the team's criminal members did not really take to Waller's methods (most notably Captain Boomerang), and even the team's heroes were often at odds with Waller. Waller's inability to deal and compromise with her troops led to Nemesis's departure from the team and the death of a US senator, which indirectly caused the death of Rick Flag Jr. Those type of conflicts, however, were not only limited to her superiors and her team, but also extended to Batman, who opposed the forming of the Suicide Squad (although he would later help to reform it). Nonetheless, the team remained loyal to her, often choosing to side with her instead of the government.

It was ultimately revealed that the reason that Amanda Waller even kept the heroes such as Nightshade around, was in order for them to act as her conscience. Over the course of her first run with the Suicide Squad, her actions became increasingly erratic as she fought to retain control of the Squad. This was heightened by the public revelation of the Suicide Squad, and her being officially replaced, although her 'replacement' was in fact an actor, and Waller remained the team's director.

Amanda Waller and her operatives having massacred the LOA.

Even that secret would eventually be revealed and Amanda Waller would be put on trial. During this time, the Squad also became involved in an interagency conflict in a crossover between the Checkmate and Suicide Squad titles called the Janus Directive.

One of the field missions is against her will, as many members of the Squad, Waller included, are forcibly kidnapped and taken to Apokolips. This is because team member Duchess remembered her past as Lashina of the Female Furies, instead of being amnesiac as she pretended, and wished to return home with suitable sacrifices. The Squad suffers fatalities battling Apokolips' forces, with Waller personally confronting Granny Goodness. However, the confrontation ended with the deaths of Dr. Light and one of Waller's own nieces, and Count Vertigo near-fatally wounded.

She eventually found herself serving prison time for her pursuit of an organized crime cartel based in New Orleans called the LOA and killing its leadership, using Squad operatives Ravan, Poison Ivy and Deadshot in the process.

The Suicide Squad's rebirth

Waller is eventually pardoned and released a year later to reorganize the Suicide Squad as a freelance mercenary group at the behest of Sarge Steel to deal with a crisis in Vlatava, Count Vertigo's home country; Waller allowed herself to enter prison because she knew two things perfectly well: one, by confronting the LOA with Squad operatives, she had crossed the line, and two, she would return to her position quite easily if she was ever needed again. Afterwards, the Suicide Squad performs a variety of missions, often treading dangerous political terrain when dealing with Soviet and Israeli interests. Most notably, the Squad help destroy the plans of the Cabal to throw Qurac, Israel and the US into political disarray.

During the course of her renewed tenure with this team, Amanda became closer to her operatives, even accompanying them on their field missions. This allows for her and her team to bond more effectively, although she retains her dominant and threatening personality.

Waller quits after a later field mission, in which she personally takes down the seemingly immortal dictator of a small, South American island nation. As it turned out, he wasn't immortal, but had an immense amount of psychic power, and by tricking him, Waller merely provided a form of assisted suicide.

Soon after, Amanda Waller organizes the Shadow Fighters to confront the villain Eclipso. Again, she would confront Sarge Steel. Her first attempt at a team, formed with the assistance of Bruce Gordon and his wife Mona, did not go well. Most of the team are brutally murdered infiltrating Eclipso's stronghold. Her second attempt with a much larger team has much more success.

During the Bloodlines debacle, the President sends Guy Gardner to fetch Waller from her island 'retirement'. She leads a multi-hero affair that results in the destruction of the alien parasites.^[2] She rejoins federal service, initially as Southeastern regional director for the Department of Extranormal Operations. She is promoted to Secretary of Metahuman Affairs as a member of the Lex Luthor Presidential Administration.

International service

Lex Luthor's brief tenure in office leads to Amanda Waller being jailed. This does not last long. She is released and Luthor's successor Jonathan Vincent Horne who orders her to take command of the secret agent organization Checkmate. The organization had been shaken up due to the OMAC Project debacle and the related murderous leadership of Maxwell Lord whom Waller has had previous history with. Waller takes the rank of Black King until the United States and United Nations decide what to do with that organization. In the latter issues of 52, Waller is shown commissioning the imprisoned Atom Smasher to organize a new Suicide Squad to attack Black Adam and his allies. This ends with the death of Squad member Persuader and the expected public relations turn against the Black Marvel family.

In the revamped Checkmate series set in the One Year Later continuity, Waller is shown to have been assigned by the UN to serve as Checkmate's White Queen, a member of its senior policy-making executive. Due to her previous activities, her appointment is contingent on her having no direct control over operations.^[3] Regardless, she continues to pursue her own agenda, secretly using the Suicide Squad to perform missions in favor of American interests^[4] and blackmailing Fire.^[5] It is also implied that she may have betrayed a mission team in an attempt to protect her secrets^[6] and facilitated an attack on Checkmate headquarters for her own gain.^[7]

She then is in charge of Operation Salvation Run, an initiative involving the mass deportation of supervillains to an alien world. When this was discovered by the rest of Checkmate, she was forced into resigning as White Queen in exchange for their delay in revealing what the US government was doing.^[7] She continues to run the Suicide Squad, and has been implanted with nanotechnology to allow her to directly control Chemo during missions.^[7]

During the Superman/Batman storyline "K", it is revealed that Waller has hoarded Kryptonite and used it to power an anti-Superman group called the Last Line, and a Doomsday-like creature codenamed "All-American Boy", who has Kryptonite shards growing out of his body. All-American Boy, (real name: Josh Walker) was deceived into an experiment to use Kryptonite to bond cell scrapings taken from Doomsday to a human host, battles Superman, devastating Smallville in the process. Batman, with the help of Brannon, the Last Line's leader, locate Josh's parents who convince him to stop. Waller is forced to pay towards repairing Smallville in return for her dealings in the AAB project to remain secret. 'Last Line' itself rebels against Waller because of her deceptions.^[8]

In the eight-issue series of Suicide Squad: Raise the Flag, she is again seen leading the Suicide Squad at some point when the General returned to Earth after his exile, and was promptly drafted into the Squad with special explosive implants grafted into his arm and brain to make him compliant with Waller's demands. Here, she personally uses technology devised by Cliff Carmichael to gain a measure of control over Chemo, allowing her to use the toxic behemoth for the Squad's benefit. Rick Flag is revealed to have survived the events at Jotunheim and was returned to Waller, who revealed to him Rick Flag, Jr. was never anything but an alias, and that he was in reality a brainwashed soldier remade into Flag to serve Eiling's ends.

She leads, as Chemo, an attack on a Dubai supercorp intending to release a deadly virus. However, Carmichael, with Eiling and part of her team, betrays her as part of Eiling's plan to benefit from the release of the virus, and she is nearly killed when Eiling orders a compliant Flag to use her pen, actually a transmitter, to detonate her own explosive implant. Instead, Flag, tricking him, detonates Eiling's own, releasing her and ultimately rejoining the Squad, refusing the chance of a normal life.

She later attempted to forcibly return several members of the Secret Six (Bane and Deadshot) into the Suicide Squad, and when her plan backfired due to the events of Blackest Night and the defiance of the Six, she was shot by Deadshot and privately revealed to King Faraday to be their new secret leader, Mockingbird. When Faraday questioned the need to be informed of the situation, and even the need to bring the Six under the banner of the Squad when she already controlled them, Amanda merely shrugged it off, stating "her left and right hand only knew what the other was thinking" in a strict need-to-know basis, implying Faraday will one day need that knowledge.

The New 52

In The New 52 (a reboot of the DC Comics universe), Amanda Waller is shown to be in direct command of the Suicide Squad, choosing its members and having final say over when and if their implanted explosives are detonated. It is revealed that she requested a command of a unit she could send to their deaths without regret after an operation she was involved in resulted in the death of all other squad members, including several she had personally recruited. She was also involved with Team 7 in some capacity, which led to her temporarily leaving the spy business. Also, this version of Amanda Waller is re-imagined as a young, thin woman in contrast with her original design.

Amanda Waller later formed the Justice League of America that is separate from the main Justice League where she is shown as the Director of A.R.G.U.S.^[9] Recently she has recruited James Gordon Jr who was revealed to be alive despite his apparent death at the hands of his sister Barbara while saving their mother. However, it is shown that James Jr only agreed to join as he is in love with Waller.

During the "Forever Evil" storyline, Amanda Waller is shown at Belle Reve trying to get Black Manta to join the Suicide Squad at the time when Deathstorm and Power Ring infiltrate the prison.^[10] Amanda Waller later contacts Deadshot in order to get the Suicide Squad back together.^[11] Later clues point to an imposter Amanda Waller causing trouble behind the scenes.^[12]

DC Rebirth

Amanda Waller returns to her original design with the DC Rebirth initiative. When confronted by Barack Obama about Task Force X, she convinces him that the Suicide Squad needs to exist to deal with threats neither the President or the Justice League can be aware of, while conceding to nominate a non-criminal field leader to carry out her directives during missions and keep the convicts in line. She visits Rick Flag in Guantanamo Bay, where he had been imprisoned for disobeying direct instructions in order to save his teammates, and tries to convince him to work alongside supervillains for a greater good; she succeeds, releases him and makes him the field leader of Task Force X.^[13]

Other versions

Flashpoint

In the alternate timeline of the "Flashpoint" event, Amanda Waller is an advisor to the President of the United States who tells him that Hal Jordan is insubordinate and irresponsible. However, the President tells her that the world needs Hal as a hero.^[14]

Batman Beyond

Amanda Waller appears in the Batman Beyond comic series, set before the events of "Epilogue", where she was involved in the creation of Dick Grayson's clone to create a new Batman, reasoning that Grayson was more stable than his mentor, only for the clone to become the new Hush and start killing off Batman's old rogues' gallery, including retired villains such as Signalman and Calendar Man. Even after the clone's attempt to destroy Gotham is only narrowly averted by Terry McGinnis, the real Dick Grayson, and the new Catwoman, Waller is shown to still be working on further clones of the original Batman and his allies.^[15]

DC Comics Bombshells

In DC Comics Bombshells, Commander Amanda Waller is the head of the "Bombshells" project during World War II.^[16] In DC Comics Bombshells Annual 1, she is shown to also be Superintendent of the United States Military Academy.

In other media

Television

Animation

Amanda Waller as depicted in Justice League Unlimited.

• Amanda Waller makes her debut within animated form in Justice League Unlimited, voiced by Emmy nominated actress C. C. H. Pounder. This version of the character leads the secret Project Cadmus at the United States government's behest to create a counterforce to the Justice League should they go rogue like their alternate reality counterparts. Under her watch, several Cadmus projects were created by Professor Emil Hamilton: the artificial Ultimen superhero team (Long Shadow, Juice, Shifter and Downpour, and Wind Dragon) that were programmed with implanted memories intended to be a superhero team that would remain loyal to the government but are only given a lifespan of a year or two at most, the Kryptonian clone Galatea created from Supergirl's DNA aged to maturity to make stronger, and the even more dangerous clone Doomsday. Originally distrustful of the League, Waller frequently deals with Batman (which forms most of the interaction between Cadmus and the League). In "Ultimatum", she rattles Batman by subtly hinting knowing the Dark Knight's secret identity as 'rich boy' (likely thanks to Hugo Strange). In "The Doomsday Sanction", Batman discovers her identity to which Amanda calls Batman out on the very real threat the League would pose if they went rogue. When the recently fired Professor Milo released Doomsday to get revenge, Waller could only watch as General Wade Eiling unleashed a nuclear warhead to sanction Doomsday and Superman, however, Batman managed to derail the Kryptonite-equipped warhead's path. Waller also makes cameo appearances when she complements Rick Flag Jr. in "Task Force X", and when she and Lex Luthor celebrate Superman's humiliating fight with Captain Marvel in "Clash". Waller is a central character during the Cadmus four-part finale arc ("Question Authority", "Flashpoint", "Panic in the Sky" and "Divided We Fall"). When the Question discovers Cadmus files and then is captured by Luthor, Waller orders Dr. Moon to interrogate. Shortly after Question is rescued by Superman and the Huntress, Luthor momentarily hijacked the Justice League's binary fusion cannon to obliterate Waller's Cadmus compound (which was already evacuated) which caused massive collateral damage and falsely implicated the League. In response, Waller sends an army of mass-produced Ultimen clones under Galatea's control against the expended Justice League and have Galatea overload their enemy's reactor with the team inside. While watching the satellite headquarters' 'sanitation' with Eiling and Hamilton, Batman presents Waller evidence of Luthor's deception. Upon discovering that Lex 'played her', Waller calls off the attack, however, Galatea ignores the order but the attack fails anyway. When Waller stops Lex's attempt to transfer himself into a copy of A.M.A.Z.O., the founding Justice League members personally help her in trying to arrest Luthor, however, a nano-holistic copy of Brainiac appears from within Lex's body. During the Justice League's battle against the two combined villains, Waller had ordered a massive airstrike on standby to kill the villains, heroes and even herself had the heroes failed to stop the menace but called it off. Afterwards, she eventually becomes the League's official government liaison. In the Batman Beyond-set episode "Epilogue", Terry McGinnis seeks out an elderly version of the character to find out about his own origins as Batman's genetic son. Waller reveals that she was responsible for Terry's existence in an effort to have Batman's future replacement as she had come to respect Batman (with Waller remembering Batman's compassion towards Ace as an example). Waller's plan originally included Terry's parents murdered by an assassin whilst Terry watched in order to replicate Batman's childhood. However, the assassin thought that would dishonor all of Batman's principles so Waller agreed and gave up on her project (yet destiny later brought the necessary motivation). Despite her belief that the second Batman is a sign from God, she encourages Terry to take care of his own loved ones. Waller also admits that many of her actions have been unorthodox and she will have much to account for with God when her time comes, thus showing she is not a self-deluding opportunist.
• Amanda Waller appears in Young Justice, voiced by Sheryl Lee Ralph. This version is the warden of Belle Reve.

Live action

• Amanda Waller appears in the ninth season of Smallville, played by Pam Grier. Introduced in the two-hour episode "Absolute Justice", this version is a ranking agent of both Checkmate and the Suicide Squad. In the episode "Checkmate", Waller captures Martian Manhunter in the agency's headquarters after failing to kidnap and recruit Green Arrow for the government. In the episode "Sacrifice", Waller is working with Stuart Campbell (aka the White Knight) to track down Tess Mercer to lead Checkmate to the Kandorians, leading to a confrontation with Major Zod.

Cynthia Addai-Robinson as Waller in the television series Arrow.

• Amanda Waller/Mockingbird appeared on the CW series Arrow, played by Cynthia Addai-Robinson. This version is the Director of A.R.G.U.S., making her first appearance in the season two episode "Keep Your Enemies Closer". She had John Diggle abducted as she needs him and the Arrow's help in retrieving Lyla Michaels from Russia, and is aware that Oliver Queen is Arrow. She later appears briefly in the season two episode "Tremors" talking to Bronze Tiger after the latter returns to prison. She offers him a position on her unit, heavily hinted to be the Suicide Squad, in order to reduce his sentence and because she needs someone of his talents for her squad. In the episode "Suicide Squad", Waller assemble the team (consisting of Deadshot, Bronze Tiger, Michaels, Shrapnel and Diggle) to destroy a biological weapon. It is implied that Waller first met Oliver (as they're on a first name basis) during the latter's time as a castaway along with Slade Wilson.^[17] She is seen again in the episode "City of Blood" where Diggle and Felicity ask for her to help them find Oliver having gone missing after his mother's death, and traces Oliver down for them. In the following episode "Streets of Fire", Waller is shown to be preparing to bomb Starling City to contain Slade's Mirukuru army. After Oliver reveals to her that he has the cure for the Mirukuru, she gives Oliver until dawn to stop Slade and his army. In the second season finale "Unthinkable", Waller calls off the drone from bombing the city after Slade's defeat. In the finale scene in a flashback, she rescues and recruits Oliver in Hong Kong. Throughout the beginning of the third season, flashbacks explore how Waller attempts to get Oliver to cooperate and train to become a valuable asset of A.R.G.U.S., and has to use blackmail and other tactics to ensure his loyalty and commitment to training. She is shot in the head and killed in the season four episode "A.W.O.L." when A.R.G.U.S. is infiltrated by the criminal paramilitary organisation Shadowspire after Waller confirms that she cannot be forced to give Shadowspire access to any information from A.R.G.U.S. records. Lyla Michaels later becomes Waller's successor, and works to reform A.R.G.U.S.

Film

Animation

• Amanda Waller appeared in the movie adaptation Superman/Batman: Public Enemies, voiced again by C.C.H. Pounder. This version is depicted as more sympathetic, betraying President Lex Luthor's offer of a prominent position in the President's "new world order" to provide Superman and Batman with information that they can use to destroy a Kryptonite Asteroid that is heading for Earth.
• Amanda Waller appears in the Batman: Assault on Arkham animated movie, with C. C. H. Pounder reprising her role. This version serves as the secondary antagonist of the film. Set in the universe of the Batman: Arkham video games, she is shown in a rather negative light, sending the Suicide Squad in a smoke screen mission whose only real purpose is killing Riddler, as the villain knows how to defuse the Suicide Squad's implanted bomb. At the end of the movie, she is warned by Batman to avoid activating the Suicide Squad in the future and dismisses his warning, challenging him to try and denounce her. She finds a laser dot from Deadshot's gun on her in the final scene, but, as revealed in Batman: Arkham Underworld, Batman prevented Deadshot from ultimately carrying out the assassination.
• An alternate version of Amanda Waller appears in Justice League: Gods and Monsters, voiced by Penny Johnson Jerald. This version is the President of the United States in the alternate reality that this series takes place in. Unlike her many past incarnations, Waller is shown to be a more sympathetic person, not willing to take lives if unnecessary.

Live action

• Amanda Waller appeared in the live-action film Green Lantern, played by Angela Bassett.^[18] This version is a scientist who works for the DEO under the command of Senator Robert Hammond. After the xenobiologist Hector Hammond acquires the power to read minds from exposure to Parallax's DNA (a fragment of which remained in Abin Sur's body until Hammond was called on to perform the autopsy), contact with Waller reveals that her family was killed by a gunman when she was younger. Hammond attempts to kill her using his telekinetic powers in a later confrontation, but Green Lantern caught her in a ring-formed 'pool' of water that subsequently carried her out of harm's way.
• Amanda Waller was reportedly featured in David S. Goyer's script for a Green Arrow film project Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max.^[19]

• Viola Davis played Amanda Waller in the Warner Bros. film Suicide Squad, part of the DC Extended Universe series of films, which was released in 2016.^[20][21] Davis has revealed that she has signed for three films.^[22]

Video games

• Amanda Waller appears in DC Universe Online, voiced by Debra Cole. In the Bludhaven Alert, Major Force mentioned to the players that Waller has sent him to Bludhaven to gather samples of Chemo and to test out the Chemoids. Amanda Waller also provides the intro message to PVP missions when the option for "suicide squad" is turned on.
• Amanda Waller appears in Batman: Arkham Origins, voiced once again by C.C.H. Pounder. In the post-credits scene, she approaches Deathstroke at a prison cell and offers a spot in her Suicide Squad in exchange for commuted prison sentence to which Deadshot is left considering. Amanda Waller appears again in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate. She is heavily implied to be the true mastermind behind the prison uprising, having orchestrated the events and manipulated both the criminals and the agents in order to find the best candidates for the Suicide Squad. She purposely hired Catwoman to break Bane out of Blackgate, though the mission was a failure due to Batman's involvement. However, Waller picked out Deadshot and Bronze Tiger as two new candidates for the Suicide Squad.^[23]
• Amanda Waller appears via downloadable content as a playable character in Lego Batman 3: Beyond Gotham, with Cynthia Addai-Robinson reprising her role from Arrow. Waller narrates "The Squad" level where the The Squad must fight through Belle Reve Penitentiary and stop a mysterious villain that has infiltrated Belle Reve.^[24]

Web series

• An alternate version appears in Justice League: Gods and Monsters Chronicles (which is a companion to Justice League: Gods and Monsters), voiced by Penny Johnson Jerald.
• An alternate version appears in DC Super Hero Girls, voiced by Yvette Nicole Brown.^[25] She is the principal of Super Hero High.

Miscellaneous

• Amanda Waller appears briefly in Arkham Unhinged (the comic book companion piece to the Batman: Arkham City video game). She is seen in a flashback where she recruits Deadshot into the Suicide Squad, and is implied to have had a hand in allowing him to infiltrate Arkham City.^[26]
• As an alternate reality game to promote the Green Lantern film, Amanda Waller's official blog—written by Waller's creator John Ostrander—was posted online. "Waller" invited readers to participate in the Zooniverse project;^[27] participants were rewarded with audio clips of the film's characters.^[28]

Toys

• Mattel released Amanda Waller as a figure in their Justice League Unlimited toyline in 2009.

References

External links

• Amanda Waller's "official blog" (via archive.org)
• DCU Guide: Amanda Waller
• Comic Book Awards Almanac