Amanda Waller is the Director of the Department of Justice and the leader of a clandestine group Task Force X, also known as the Suicide Squad, an off-the-books government organization comprised of criminals with no chance for release to serve as expendable soldiers in borderline, impossible missions.
An extremely stern and intelligent leader with an unshakable demeanor and iron will to help her country through her own unique brand of justice, Waller is not afraid to bend the law towards her own aims, but always with the purpose of helping her government and country at the forefront of her mind.
Waller's employment of dangerous criminals and assassins, as well as the damage and deaths caused by the 'suicide' missions she employs them in, forms an extremely uneasy rivalry with Batman. Knowing that Waller's ethics and moral code are much more lenient than his own, but also understanding that she and her colleagues have the entire government backing them, Batman resolves to keep a close eye on her activities, but never puts her out of commission entirely, so long as her ambitions do not target Gotham City.
History[]
Batman: Arkham Origins[]
In the aftermath of the Joker's Blackgate prison riot, Waller paid a visit to Slade Wilson, aka Deathstroke's cell. Deathstroke apparently anticipated her arrival, although she then supplied him with a clipboard requesting that he join the Suicide Squad, citing that the only alternative to working with her was to retain his prison sentence when he asked of the consequences for not signing.
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate[]
Three months later, Waller, alongside team captain Rick Flag, instigated the Blackgate prison riot from behind the scenes via a catburglar named Catwoman, contacting her anonymously with the offer of removing her criminal record in exchange for breaking out Bane. However, their plans reached an unexpected outcome when Batman arrived to deal with the prison riot and ended up entering a tedious alliance with Catwoman. Although Rick Flag suggested they abort the operation due to the risk of their involvement being exposed, Waller refused, as she saw some use in the development. While observing the prison riot, she bore witness to Bronze Tiger and Deadshot's fights with Batman, and had them recruited largely because she was impressed at how Tiger managed to nearly defeat Batman, and she wanted someone who was both a marksman and skilled at firearms, although Flag disagreed with letting the latter join due to his being emotionally unstable. Despite Catwoman failing her mission, forcing them to give Bane back to Blackgate to save face, Waller nonetheless had Catwoman's criminal record expunged as she had promised, as she succeeded in recruiting Deadshot and Bronze Tiger.
Batman: Assault on Arkham[]
Sometime later, Amanda Waller discovered that The Riddler had somehow managed to hack into government systems and stole a document listing every potential member of the Suicide Squad. She initially dispatched the A.R.G.U.S. black ops group to the Riddler's hideout, while also communicating with the Riddler to stall him long enough to get a pinpoint on his location. She also told the group to take him out and "make it hurt" when they cornered him, although the mission ended in failure due to Batman's interference, who had himself been hunting down the Riddler due to the latter's involvement in the Joker stealing a dirty bomb and hiding it somewhere in Gotham City. Left with no other options, she has various criminals apprehended to form the Suicide Squad, citing they have a new suicide mission.
After arranging for the apprehension of King Shark, Killer Frost, Black Spider, Captain Boomerang, KGBeast, Deadshot, and Harley Quinn, as well as managing to implant them with tracking explosives on their upper vertebrae to detonate should they fail, flee, or attempt to disobey an order, also making an example out of the KGBeast when he attempted to do just that and call her bluff. Now having them firmly under her control, she then told them about the Riddler stealing data and telling them to retrieve it and kill him. She also had them contact Penguin to provide them with a way into Arkham Asylum to conduct their mission, and then have Harley Quinn arrange for her capture to allow them in.
During the latter event, however, they also questioned her about what Batman was interrogating Harley Quinn about, with Amanda Waller reluctantly explaining the Joker's previous action of stealing a dirty bomb with enough power to wipe out half of Gotham City. She eventually discovered that the Suicide Squad, after meeting the Riddler, decided to have their bombs removed, and expressed anger at it. She then set off the self-destruct sequence anyways, which succeeded in killing King Shark (due to his super-tough skin preventing the device from actually being shorted out) and Black Spider (due to Batman having stolen his costume earlier).
Batman eventually paid her a visit in the aftermath and warned her against doing such an action in the future, although Waller paid no heed to his warning. She eventually found a laser dot on her, made by Deadshot (who by that point was a free man and reunited with his daughter) from a sniper rifle as revenge for placing him into the suicide squad.
Batman: Arkham Unhinged[]
Amanda Waller appears briefly 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.
After Assault on Arkham[]
While it is unknown what the immediate circumstances were following the events of Assault on Arkham, subsequent issues of the Arkham Knight Prequel Comics established that Waller was still alive and well and remained in government power years later. After the events of Arkham City, Deadshot is once again working for Waller, though willingly this time due to the benefits he reaps from his association with the stern leader, particularity immunity, money, and a chance to be with his daughter.
By this point in time, Waller and Deadshot seem to have a genuine respect for each other, with Deadshot having turned over a new leaf, despite doubts from Commissioner Gordon and Aaron Cash. This notion seemed to be cemented when he is willing to save Batman, killing Captain Boomerang when he made an attempt on the Dark Knight's life, and helped him protect Gotham in one of his more recent suicide missions to uncover the Penguin's latest plans and recent smuggling operations.
Waller is last seen storming into the GCPD following Lawton's arrest, due to his previous warrants, and leaves Gotham with him in her custody.
Trivia[]
- Shortly after meeting with Batman in the ending, she mentioned "Checkmate" when she thinks she's in the clear, alluding to a subdivision of the Suicide Squad of the same name.
- In the same scene, when Batman confronts her on her role in the events of the film, she said in response "What can I say? When I make an omelet, I break a lot of eggs.", The last line had earlier been said by the Joker in the 1989 Batman film by Tim Burton, in his case, referring to his implied then-recent murder of Alicia Hunt.
- The version of Amanda Waller shown in Assault on Arkham is depicted as being significantly more ruthless than most other incarnations of the character, as demonstrated by her casual willingness to set an example to the others via KGBeast when the latter did not believe her claims about the nanotech explosives as well as trying to have the Riddler killed simply to silence him regarding his finding out how to disable the nanotech explosives.
Gallery[]
Batman: Assault on Arkham[]
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