In a universe filled with superheroes, cosmic beings and gods across the multiverse, one of the most incredible characters in all of DC is a middle-aged Black woman from Chicago. But Amanda Waller is no mere wife and mother of five. Since her first appearance as the head of Task Force X (better known as the Suicide Squad) in 1986, Amanda Waller has consistently been presented as one of the most tenacious, strong-willed and ruthless people in all of the DC Universe. Over the years, controlling both powerful heroes and dangerous villains has taken her career from the highs of the White House to the fire-pitted lows of Apokolips. Waller’s history is littered with astonishing moments of strength, conviction and pure badassery—something that will undoubtedly continue with her lead role in Absolute Power.
In other words, there’s never been a better time for a look at Amanda Waller’s five most insane, most hardcore, most what-did-I-just-witness moments.
Backing Down the Batman
One of Amanda Waller’s most memorable moments comes early on in the pages of Suicide Squad and would mark the start of a tumultuous relationship rippling throughout numerous adaptations. In Suicide Squad #10, the Belle Reve prison that serves as the Squad’s secret base of operations welcomes a new prisoner: Matches Malone. Unbeknownst to Waller and the prison warden John Economos, Malone is secretly Batman, who has infiltrated Belle Reve to investigate Task Force X. Disgusted that the government is involved in putting unreformed super criminals back on the streets, Batman plans on exposing the Suicide Squad.
Despite the murderous wishes of Deadshot, Waller has no intention on killing Batman, implicitly understanding it would only lead to more heat on the Squad’s secrets. Instead, she uses Batman’s own investigative methods against him, weaponizing his Mathes Malone identity by revealing that he’s left fingerprints throughout the prison that are now in their possession. Threatening to expose both him and the Gotham City Police Department by exposing his real identity, Waller has the World’s Greatest Detective at a stalemate, resulting in him admitting defeating and vowing to bring the Squad to justice another way. This battle of wits would prove influential, finding itself reinterpreted in various media from Justice League Unlimited to the 2016 Suicide Squad mid-credits teaser.
Controlling Chemo
In the eight-issue 2007 Suicide Squad miniseries, it’s revealed that Rick Flag Jr survived his supposed death back in 1989’s Suicide Squad #26. He’s back, and just in time to help the team stop the production of Scarlet Tears—a new virus being passed around by shadow cabinets of various corrupt governments.
Having commanded custody of the bioweapon villain Chemo’s body, Waller (with the help of Cliff Carmichael) devises a way to technopathically control Chemo with her brain through nanites. At this point, Waller is both mentally and physically the most powerful operative on the Squad. Of course, in true Suicide Squad fashion, this doesn’t last due to an eventual betrayal, but that’s par for the course with a team comprised almost entirely of bad guys.
Waller’s Deadly Little Secret
Multitasking is essential at most jobs these days and Amanda Waller is no slouch in that department. But her ability to manage multiple teams was put to the life-or-death test in 2010!
During the “Blackest Night” saga, Waller hired the Secret Six, DC’s other work-for-hire team of villains, on a covert mission to break Deadshot out of Belle Reve. However, Waller’s plans were thrown out the window when a host of animated Black Lantern zombies attacked Belle Reve, forcing the Secret Six and the Suicide Squad to temporarily join forces to survive. In the end, Waller offers the Six membership but gets rejected by not only the team, but Deadshot himself, who shoots her nonfatally, but serious enough to require immediate medical attention. Deadshot vows to kill Waller should she ever try to manipulate him again, a promise Rick Flag swears he won’t soon forget, hinting at a violent encounter between the two in the future…
Use Them or Lose Them
In the 2014 one-shot Suicide Squad: Amanda Waller #1, Waller finds herself on the run from a super-powered experiment named Kriger-3, whose abilities include absorbing and redirecting intense heat. Utilizing his powers to turn the desert into an ice-capped snow-zone, Kriger-3 chases Waller, who finds herself reflecting on the choices she’s made and forced others to make in the Suicide Squad. Fittingly, it’s not long until she’s faced with precisely such a choice. She can kill Kriger-3, a once innocent man who was a victim of violent experimentations, or Issen, the man responsible for Kriger-3’s destructive powers.
After incapacitating Kriger-3, she executes him as the fastest way to stop the current violence and ensure her survival, while bringing Issen into her employ as a part of Task Force X. Despite the violence and death that she’s cursed to live with her whole life, Waller ultimately never fails to do what she feels is right, no matter the consequence.
A Furious Faceoff
In one of the most seminal Suicide Squad story arcs, Task Force X member Duchess is revealed to be Lashina of the Female Furies, assassins from Apokolips under the heel of Granny Goodness and Darkseid. After resuming her identity, Lashina kidnaps the Squad and takes them to Apokolips as tribute. Several members of the Squad are killed in what follows including Dr. Light and Waller’s young cousin Flo, while Waller squares off with Granny Goodness herself. Physically outmatched, she manages to go blow for blow with the leader of the Furies, wielding Apokolips weaponry against her and resorting to old fashioned fisticuffs once that fails.
Waller holds out just long enough for Big Barda to arrive and even the odds. When Darkseid finally makes his presence known, he offers to resurrect Waller’s fallen comrades. Waller refuses, knowing they would be revived as slaves, and Darkseid, in a showcase of cruel benevolence, allows the rest of the Squad to return to Earth with their lives.
Absolute Power #1 by Mark Waid, Dan Mora and Alejandro Sanchez is now available in print and as a digital comic book.
Donovan Morgan Grant writes about comics, graphic novels and superhero history for DC.com. Follow him on Twitter at @donoDMG1.
NOTE: The views and opinions expressed in this feature are solely those of Donovan Morgan Grant and do not necessarily reflect those of DC or Warner Bros. Discovery, nor should they be read as confirmation or denial of future DC plans.
