A.R.G.U.S.

The **Advanced Research Group Uniting Superhumans** or **Advanced Research Group United Support**, commonly known as **A.R.G.U.S.**, is a United States government organization directed by Amanda Waller. A.R.G.U.S. is known to collaborate with the CIA and FBI in some instances and uses people with superpowers or otherwise impressive skills to make their ends, protect the country, and handle major threats.

## History

### Foundation

A.R.G.U.S. was formed by the United States government as an agency with the intention of conducting advanced research on superhumans. Eventually, Amanda Waller became director and under her leadership, she gained a fearsome reputation. At some point, A.R.G.U.S. developed a government website that only authorized agents could access, containing files on the investigations carried out. Eventually, under Waller's orders, A.R.G.U.S. built the Task Force X Black Site facility under the sea in Antarctica, where various dangerous metahumans were imprisoned.

### Butterfly investigation

*"A year ago, Alan Kupperberg, the billionaire CEO of Waresoft, and pop singer Vandalia perished in a plane crash. During their autopsies, small insect-like winged creatures, presumably extraterrestrial, were found in their skulls. This is when we first became aware of the butterflies."*
―Clemson Murn[src]
In early 2020, businessman Alan Kupperberg and pop singer Vandalia traveled on a plane with butterflies on their heads. During the trip, the plane crashed, killing them. When they were taken for autopsies, dead alien creatures were discovered in their skulls. This led A.R.G.U.S. to notice butterflies for the first time, beginning an exhaustive investigation into other individuals carrying these life forms, hiring mercenary Clemson Murn to run a domestic operation to stop the alien menace.

### Mission in Corto Maltese

*"I wouldn't take such extreme measures if this mission weren't more important than you could possibly imagine. I'm protecting this country."*
―Amanda Waller to Robert DuBois[src]
In August 2020, A.R.G.U.S coordinated a new mission as Waller launched a new iteration of Task Force X to Corto Maltese to assassinate Silvio Luna and destroy any evidence of Project Starfish. However, the true purpose of the mission was to erase America's involvement in it. When the remaining members of Task Force X destroyed Jotunheim, Starro was inadvertently released and wreaked havoc on Valle Del Mar. When Waller threatened to kill the remaining Task Force X members after they decided to disobey her orders and kill Starro, some of her subordinates also decided to rebel against her and help Task Force X take down Starro with success. With the crisis now over, Bloodsport, an assassin and a team leader blackmailed Waller into releasing them or he would release the evidence behind Project Starfish that field leader Flag obtained prior to his death at the hands of Peacemaker, a delusional pacifist who turned on the team after it was revealed he was tasked to ensure no one knew the truth about Project Starfish in exchange for a pardon.

### Project Butterfly

*"Anytime anyone officially starts to deal with the butterfly situation, someone higher up in the government shuts them down.""Which is why this task force doesn't officially exist. Waller is funding us by secretly diverting funds from other operations, which... leaves us on our own."*
―Emilia Harcourt and Leota Adebayo[src]
## Staff

### Employees

* Emilia Harcourt - agent and liaison
* John Economos - tech support
* Fitzgibbon - physician
* Briscoe - pilot
* Dale Biner

### Former

* Rick Flag † - Field leader for Task Force X
* Flo Crawley - mission coordinator

## Relationships

	+ Harleen Quinzel/Harley Quinn
	+ Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang †
	+ Robert Dubois/Bloodsport
	+ Abner Krill/Polka-Dot Man †
	+ Cleo Cazo/Ratcatcher 2
	+ Nanaue/King Shark
	+ Christopher Smith/Peacemaker
	+ Gunter Braun/Javelin †
	+ Mongal †
	+ Weasel
	+ Cory Pitzner/T.D.K. †
* NSA
* Caspar Locke †
* Corto Maltese Armed Forces
	+ Silvio Luna †
	+ Mateo Suarez †
	+ Vera †
* Gaius Grieves/Thinker †
* Richard Hertz/Blackguard † - former ally
* Brian Durlin/Savant † - former ally and victim
* Butterflies

## Locations

* Belle Reve Federal Penitentiary - A federal supermax prison in Louisiana for incarcerated criminals and metahumans, where Waller composed most of the members of Task Force X.
* John F. Ostrander Federal Building - A federal government building in Midway City that served as one of A.R.G.U.S.' field offices and has a command center where Waller would observe field teams. The command center was later vacated and files regarding Task Force X would be deleted, with Waller herself executing all of the remaining on-duty personnel to ensure the continued security and secrecy of their operations.
* Task Force X Black Site - *To be added*

## Behind the scenes

* A.R.G.U.S. was also mentioned in Lexical Analysis.

## Trivia

* In DC Comics, Steve Trevor is the head of A.R.G.U.S..
* The motto for A.R.G.U.S. is "Noster quaerere incipere", which is Latin for "Our search begins".
* The film *Suicide Squad* reveals that A.R.G.U.S. is the first to refer to Barry as "Flash" even before he starts to use the name.

## References

1. ↑ Jump up to:1.0 1.1 1.2 Ayer, David (writer and director) (August 5, 2016). *Suicide Squad*.
2. ↑ Gunn, James (writer & director) (January 13, 2022). "Best Friends, For Never". *Peacemaker*. Season 1. Episode 2. Max.
3. ↑ A.R.G.U.S. website - Archive
4. ↑ Jump up to:4.0 4.1 4.2 Sztykiel, Adam (writer) & Collet-Serra, Jaume (director) (October 21, 2022). *Black Adam*. Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "BA" defined multiple times with different content
5. ↑ Lexical Analysis
6. ↑ Gunn, James (writer) & Rodriguez, Rosemary (director) (January 27, 2022). "Monkey Dory". *Peacemaker*. Season 1. Episode 5. Max.

## External links

* A.R.G.U.S. on DC Database
* A.R.G.U.S. on Wikipedia