From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller
Amanda Waller Waller was ranked as IGN’s 60th Greatest Comic Book Vil-
lain of All Time.[1]
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 second 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 recently re-
assigned to the leadership of Checkmate as White Queen,
but has been forced to resign because of her involvement
in Operation Salvation Run.
Amanda Waller as the White Queen
Art by Jesus Saiz Fictional character biography
Publication information
Early history
Publisher DC Comics
Amanda has been established as a widow who escaped
First Legends #1, (November 1986) Chicago’s Cabrini–Green housing projects with her sur-
appearance
viving family after one of her sons, one of her daughters
Created by John Ostrander (writer) and her husband were murdered. Waller eventually ob-
Len Wein (writer) tained a doctorate in political science (as revealed in
John Byrne (artist) Checkmate v.2 # 1 where she is addressed as "Doctor
In-story information Waller") and became a congressional aide. During that
time, she discovered the existence of the first two in-
Alter ego Amanda Blake Waller
carnations of the Squad. Taking elements from both of
Team Checkmate these, she proposed the development of its third incarna-
affiliations Suicide Squad tion to the White House and was placed in charge upon
United States Government its approval.
Agency
Shadow Fighters
Federal service years
Notable The Wall, White Queen, Black King,
aliases Mockingbird The Agency was formed by Amanda Waller to serve as
a small, quasi-independent branch of Task Force X.
Abilities Highly trained in logistics, strategic Valentina Vostok brought former NYPD Lieutenant Har-
management, military tactics, game theory,
ry Stein into the Agency as an operative. Amanda Waller
and espionage.
later promoted Stein to the command position and de-
moted Vostok. Harry Stein would later reorganize the
Dr. Amanda Blake Waller is a character published by DC
Agency and name it Checkmate.
Comics. She first appeared in Legends #1 in 1986, and was
Waller’s tenure as the official in charge of the third
created by John Ostrander, Len Wein, and John Byrne.
Suicide Squad was tumultuous and controversial. Despite
Despite not possessing any superpowers, she has persis-
many successes, she developed a habit of defying her su-
tently proven herself a powerful foe of the superheroes
periors in Washington in order to achieve goals both le-
of the DC universe and antiheroine, and in 2009, Amanda
gitimate and personal on more than one occasion. The
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Amanda Waller
earliest conflict between her and her superiors revolved Even that secret would eventually be revealed and
around the leadership of the Suicide Squad. Although she Amanda Waller would be put on trial. During this time,
proposed that the Bronze Tiger, the man she had helped the Squad also became involved in an interagency con-
out of his brainwashing, lead the team he was instead flict in a crossover between the Checkmate and Suicide
relegated to second-in-command, and Rick Flag Jr. was Squad titles called the Janus Directive.
made the leader. Waller resentfully presumed the situa- One of the field missions is against her will, as many
tion to be racially charged, related to not only her own members of the Squad, Waller included, are forcibly kid-
status as a black woman, but also Bronze Tiger’s own napped and taken to Apokolips. This is because team
skin tone, although the Tiger himself did not believe this member Duchess remembered her past as Lashina of the
was a factor, instead believing this was a result of mis- Female Furies, instead of being amnesiac as she pretend-
trust due to the brainwashing imposed upon him by the ed, and wished to return home with suitable sacrifices.
League of Assassins. The Squad suffers fatalities battling Apokolips forces,
Her relationship with the Squad itself was one of mu- with Waller personally confronting Granny Goodness.
tual dislike. Most of the team’s criminal members did However, the confrontation ended with the deaths of Dr.
not really take to Waller’s methods (most notably Cap- Light and one of Waller’s own nieces, and Count Vertigo
tain Boomerang), and even the team’s heroes were often near-fatally wounded.
at odds with Waller. Waller’s inability to deal and com- She eventually found herself serving prison time for
promise with her people led to Nemesis’ departure from her pursuit of an organized crime cartel based in New
the team and the death of a US senator, which indirectly Orleans called the LOA and killing its leadership, using
caused the death of Rick Flag Jr. Those type of conflicts, Squad operatives Ravan, Poison Ivy and Deadshot in the
however, were not only limited to her superiors and her process.
team, but also extended to Batman, who opposed the
forming of the Suicide Squad (although he would later The Squad’s rebirth
help to reform it). Nonetheless, the team remained loyal Waller is eventually pardoned and released a year later to
to her, often choosing to side with her instead of the gov- reorganize the Squad as a freelance mercenary group at
ernment. the behest of Sarge Steel to deal with a crisis in Vlatava,
It was ultimately revealed that the reason that Aman- Count Vertigo’s home country; Waller allowed herself to
da Waller even kept the heroes such as Nightshade enter prison because she knew two things perfectly well:
around, was in order for them to act as her conscience. one, by confronting the LOA with Squad operatives, she
Over the course of her first run with the Suicide Squad, had crossed the line, and two, she would return to her
her actions became increasingly erratic as she fought to position quite easily if she was ever needed again. After-
retain control of the Squad. This was heightened by the wards, the Suicide Squad performs a variety of missions,
public revelation of the Suicide Squad, and her being offi- often treading dangerous political terrain when dealing
cially replaced, although her ’replacement’ was in fact an with Soviet and Israeli interests. Most notably, the Squad
actor, and Waller remained the team’s director. 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 ac-
companying 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 psy-
chic 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
Amanda Waller and her operatives having massacred the LOA. with a much larger team has much more success.
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Amanda Waller
She eventually rejoins federal service, initially as In the eight-issue series of Suicide Squad: Raise the
Southeastern regional director for the Department of Ex- Flag,
Flag she is again seen leading the Suicide Squad at some
tranormal Operations. She is promoted to Secretary of point when the General returned to Earth after his exile,
Metahuman Affairs as a member of the Lex Luthor Presi- and was promptly drafted into the Squad with special ex-
dential Administration. plosive implants grafted into his arm and brain to make
him compliant with Waller’s demands. Here, she person-
International Service ally uses technology devised by Cliff Carmichael to gain a
Lex Luthor’s brief tenure in office leads to Amanda measure of control over Chemo, allowing her to use the
Waller being jailed. This does not last long. She is re- toxic behemoth for the Squad’s benefit. Rick Flag is re-
leased and Luthor’s successor, Jonathan Vincent Horne, vealed to have survived the events at Jotunheim and was
orders her to take command of the secret agent organi- returned to Waller, who revealed to him Rick Flag, Jr. was
zation Checkmate. The organization had been shaken up never anything but an alias, and that he was in reality
due to the OMAC Project debacle and the related mur- a brainwashed soldier remade into Flag to serve Eiling’s
derous leadership of Maxwell Lord, whom Waller has had ends.
previous history with. Waller takes the rank of Black King She leads, as Chemo, an attack on a Dubai supercorp
until the United States and United Nations decide what intending to release a deadly virus. However, Carmichael,
to do with that organization. In the latter issues of 52, with Eiling and part of her team, betrays her as part of
Waller is shown commissioning the imprisoned Atom Eiling’s plan to benefit from the release of the virus, and
Smasher to organize a new Suicide Squad to attack Black she is nearly killed when Eiling orders a compliant Flag to
Adam and his allies. This ends with the death of Squad use her pen, actually a transmitter, to detonate her own
member Persuader and the expected public relations explosive implant. Instead, Flag, tricking him, detonates
turn against the Black Marvel family. Eiling’s own, releasing her and ultimately rejoining the
In the revamped Checkmate series set in the One Year Squad, refusing the chance of a normal life.
Later continuity, Waller is shown to have been assigned Most recently, she attempted to forcibly return sev-
by the UN to serve as Checkmate’s White Queen, a mem- eral members of the Secret Six (Bane and Deadshot) into
ber of its senior policy-making executive. Due to her pre- the Suicide Squad, and when her plan backfired due to
vious activities, her appointment is contingent on her the events of Blackest Night and the defiance of the Six,
having no direct control over operations.[2] Regardless, she was shot by Deadshot and privately revealed to King
she continues to pursue her own agenda, secretly using Faraday to be their new secret leader, Mockingbird.
the Suicide Squad to perform missions in favor of Ameri- When Faraday questioned the need to be informed of
can interests[3] and blackmailing Fire.[4] It is also implied the situation, and even the need to bring the Six under
that she may have betrayed a mission team in an attempt the banner of the Squad when she already controlled
to protect her secrets[5] and facilitated an attack on them, Amanda merely shrugged it off, stating "her left
Checkmate headquarters for her own gain.[6] and right hand only knew what the other was thinking"
She then is in charge of Operation Salvation Run, an in a strict need-to-know basis, implying Faraday will one
initiative involving the mass deportation of supervillains day need that knowledge.
to an alien world. When this was discovered by the rest of
Checkmate, she was forced into resigning as White Queen Other versions
in exchange for their delay in revealing what the US gov-
ernment was doing.[6] She continues to run the Suicide Flashpoint
Squad, and has been implanted with nanotechnology to
allow her to directly control Chemo during missions.[6] In the alternate timeline of the Flashpoint event, Amanda
During the Superman/Batman storyline "K", it is re- Waller is an advisor to the President of the United States
vealed that Waller has hoarded Kryptonite and used it to who tells him that Hal Jordan is insubordinate and irre-
power an anti-Superman group called the Last Line and a
Line, sponsible. However, the President tells her that the world
Doomsday-like creature codenamed "All-American Boy", needs Hal as a hero.[7]
who has Kryptonite shards growing out of his body. All-
American Boy, (real name: Josh Walker) was deceived in- Batman Beyond
to an experiment to use Kryptonite to bond cell scrapin- Amanda Waller appears in the Batman Beyond comic se-
gs taken from Doomsday to a human host, battles Super- ries- set before the events of Epilogue-, where she was
man, devastating Smallville in the process. Batman, with involved in an attempt to clone Dick Grayson to create
the help of Brannon, the Last Line’s leader, locate Josh’s a new Batman- reasoning that Grayson was more stable
parents, who convince him to stop. Waller is forced to than his mentor-, only for the clone to become the new
pay towards repairing Smallville in return for her dealin- Hush and start killing off Batman’s old rogues’ gallery, in-
gs in the AAB project to remain secret. cluding retired villains such as Signalman and Calendar
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Amanda Waller
Man. Even after the clone’s attempt to destroy Gotham lifeforms programmed with implanted memories,
is only narrowly averted by Terry, the real Grayson, and intended to be a superhero team that would remain
the new Catwoman, Waller is shown to still be working loyal to the government. However, the cloning
on further clones.[8] process only gives them a lifespan of a year or two at
most. Galatea is a clone of Supergirl (though her
In other media costume is modeled after that of Power Girl), aged to
maturity so as to make her stronger. In contrast to
the Ultimen, there is no apparent problem with her
Television lifespan. When the Question discovers the project
and is captured, Waller and Lex Luthor give orders to
Dr. Moon to interrogate him. Shortly after the
Question is rescued by Superman and the Huntress,
Lex Luthor takes advantage of the incident to
momentarily hijack the binary fusion cannon
equipped on League’s satellite headquarters, using it
to obliterate the since-evacuated compound, causing
massive collateral damage. This has the effect of
both falsely implicating the League and drawing off a
large number of their members to assist in rescue
efforts. In response, Waller sends an army of cloned
Ultimen under Galatea’s control against the League,
intending to overload the reactor on the Watchtower
with the team on it. Batman presents evidence of
Luthor’s deception and Waller calls off the attack;
though Galatea ignores the order, the attack fails
anyway. With the founding members of the League
in tow, she personally goes to arrest Luthor and
stops his attempt to transfer his consciousness into a
copy Amazo. It is revealed that Brainiac implanted a
nano-holistic copy of himself within Luthor’s body
Amanda Waller as depicted in Justice League Unlimited. years earlier (during the Superman: The Animated
Series episode "Ghost in the Machine"), and the
• Amanda Waller appears in the animated television Justice League is forced to defeat the two of them
show Justice League Unlimited, played by Emmy combined. Unknown to them during this battle,
nominated voice actress C. C. H. Pounder. This Waller had ordered a massive airstrike on standby to
version of the character leads the top secret Project kill the combined villains, heroes, and even herself
Cadmus, a group that was formed at the behest of had the heroes failed to stop the menace. All this
the United States government to create a occurred in the four-part arc in the second season,
counterforce to the Justice League should they go including the episodes "Question Authority",
rogue. She is at first distrustful of the League, which, "Flashpoint", "Panic in the Sky", and "Divided We
aside from Cadmus’ projects, manifests itself in her Fall". In the final episode of the second season,
frequent dealings with Batman, which form most of "Epilogue", is set sixty-five years past the current
the interaction between Cadmus and the League. In Justice League timeline and 15 years after the events
her first appearance, she is able to rattle Batman by of the Batman Beyond series. In the episode, Terry
subtly hinting that she knows his secret identity McGinnis discovers that he is a partial genetic copy
("rich boy"). When Batman discovers her identity, of Bruce Wayne; knowing that the Cadmus Project
she calls him out on the very real threat the League was the only group to have technology advanced
would pose if they went rogue, and Batman is enough to alter DNA, he seeks out Waller to find out
actually convinced that she might be right in "The about his own origins. Waller reveals that she was
Doomsday Sanction". Two projects in particular responsible for changing Terry’s father’s genes,
Cadmus creates under her watch are the Ultimen having done so in an effort to create a future
and Galatea. The Ultimen are a team of superheroes replacement for the current Batman, whom she had
reminiscent of the lesser known Super Friends come to respect after his compassion towards Ace in
(specifically Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, the Wonder her final moments. This plan even included Terry’s
Twins, and Samurai). They are artificially-created parents being murdered by Andrea Beaumont (also
known as the Phantasm from the 1993 animated film
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Amanda Waller
Batman: Mask of the Phantasm) whilst he watched in Film
order to replicate Bruce’s childhood; Beaumont
• C. C. H. Pounder reprises her role as Amanda Waller
ultimately refused, as it would dishonor all Batman’s
in the movie adaptation of the comic book:
principles. Waller agreed and gave up on her project,
Superman/Batman: Public Enemies. In this version,
but destiny brought about murder of Terry’s father
Waller is depicted as a more sympathetic character,
by Derek Powers, and provided the necessary
betraying President Lex Luthor’s offer of a
motivation. Despite her belief that Terry taking up
prominent position in his "new world order" to
the role of Batman is a sign from God, she
provide Superman and Batman with information
encourages him to make his own choices and to take
that they can use to destroy a Kryptonite Asteroid
care of those who love him. Waller also admits that
that is heading for Earth.
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.
• Pam Grier plays Amanda Waller in the ninth season
of Smallville. She first appears in the two-hour
episode "Absolute Justice." Waller is portrayed as a
ranking agent of both Checkmate and the Suicide
Squad. She recruits Icicle to attack and kill the
former members of the Justice Society of America. Angela Bassett as Amanda Waller in Green Lantern.
Waller’s true intention, however, is to have Icicle fail
his task, so that the JSA can reform and come • Waller appeared in the live-action Green Lantern
together with the new generation of superheroes to played by Angela Bassett.[10] This version is a
battle what she describes as a "coming apocalypse." scientist who works for the DEO under the command
Waller also gets Lois Lane to reveal the existence of of Senator Hammond, father of xenobiologist Hector
the JSA and paint them in a positive light, and has Hammond. After Hector acquires the power to read
Tess Mercer as one of her agents. Grier returns as minds from exposure to Parallax’s DNA (a fragment
Waller in the episode "Checkmate," in which she of which remained in the body of Abin Sur until
captures the Martian Manhunter in the agency’s Hammond was called on to perform the autopsy),
headquarters after failing to kidnap Green Arrow contact with Waller reveals that her family was
and recruit him for the government. After the killed by an unidentified gunman when she was
Martian Manhunter manages to escape, the red younger. Hammond attempts to kill her using his
queen appears on her chess board to show that there telekinetic powers in a later confrontation, but
are more ways to look at things than black and white Green Lantern caught her in a ring-formed ’pool’ of
and to announce there is a new player in Waller’s water that subsequently carried her out of harm’s
game. In the episode "Sacrifice," Waller is working way.
with the "White Knight" aka Stuart Campbell to • She is reportedly featured in David S. Goyer’s script
track down Tess Mercer who can lead Checkmate to for an upcoming Green Arrow film project entitled
the Kandorians. Waller attacks several of the Green Arrow: Escape from Super Max.[11]
Kandorians but before any are killed, Clark saves
them. Waller is later attacked by General Zod Video games
because she had taken Faora hostage. When Zod
• Amanda Waller appears in DC Universe Online voiced
learns of what Checkmate has been doing, he
by Debra Cole. In the Bludhaven Alert, Major Force
destroys the headquarters and presumably kills
mentioned to the players that Amanda Waller has
Waller and Campbell.
sent him to Bludhaven to gather samples of Chemo
• Amanda Waller appears in Young Justice voiced by
and to test out the Chemoids.
Sheryl Lee Ralph. This version is the warden of Belle
Reve. When Joar Mahkent leads a prison breakout,
Toys
she and Hugo Strange (the prison therapist) are put
in a cell. Waller is saved twice by Strange. After the • Mattel released Amanda Waller as a figure in their
breakout is foiled, she is replaced by Strange as the Justice League Unlimited toyline in 2009.
warden.[9]
References
[1] Amanda Waller is number 60 , IGN.
[2] Checkmate vol. 2 #6
5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Amanda Waller
[3] Checkmate vol. 2 #7 [11] "Supermax: Green Arrow Story Details + Villains/
[4] Checkmate vol. 2 #5 Inmates Gallery - Movie News". Latinoreview.com.
[5] Checkmate vol. 2 #18 http://latinoreview.com/news/supermax-green-
[6] ^ Checkmate vol. 2 #20 arrow-story-details-villains-inmates-gallery-4673.
[7] Flashpoint: Hal Jordan #2 (July 2011) Retrieved 2011-01-30.
[8] Batman Beyond #1-6 (July–November 2010)
[9]
[10]
young Justice Terrors
"News: How Stella Got Her Green Lantern Back".
External links
Latino Review. 2010-03-24. • DCU Guide: Amanda Waller
http://www.latinoreview.com/news/how-stella- • Comic Book Awards Almanac
got-her-green-lantern-back-9538. Retrieved
2011-01-30.
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Amanda_Waller&oldid=470178542"
Categories:
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• Characters created by Len Wein
• Comics characters introduced in 1986
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• Fictional doctors
• Smallville characters
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