Amanda Waller (DC Extended Universe)

Viola Davis as Amanda Waller in The Suicide Squad

Task Force X

FBI

Keeya Adebayo; (daughter-in-law)

### Abilities

Skilled strategist, Utilizes political influence, Skillful use of firearms, Expert markswoman

Amanda Waller is a fictional character in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and later the DC Universe (DCU) media franchise. She is portrayed by Viola Davis and is based on the DC Comics character of the same name. She is a morally ambiguous character as in the comics, Waller is a ruthless, calculating government official who oversees the operations of the Suicide Squad, tasking them with deadly missions.

As of 2023, the character is a major recurring figure in the DCEU, appearing in the films *Suicide Squad* (2016), its standalone sequel *The Suicide Squad* (2021), and *Black Adam* (2022) with an uncredited cameo, as well as the first season of the television series *Peacemaker* (2022-present).

Following the events of *The Flash*, in which Barry Allen reboots most of the DCEU, the character is set to be integrated into the rebooted continuity of the succeeding DC Universe (DCU) media franchise, and will return in both the animated miniseries *Creature Commandos*, and the live-action series *Waller*, which she will be the latter show's title main protagonist.

## Role in the Films

#### Creating Task Force X

Amanda Waller is introduced in *Suicide Squad* as an FBI official in charge of A.R.G.U.S.. She is shown to be in contact with vigilantes such as Bruce Wayne / Batman, to whom she provides intelligence in order for him to apprehend criminals such as Floyd Lawton / Deadshot. Following the death of Superman, Waller, concerned that the "next Superman" may not "share his moral code," creates Task Force X, later known as the "Suicide Squad", by enlisting incarcerated metahumans and other extraordinary criminals such as Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, El Diablo, and Killer Croc. She also attempts to enlist June Moon / Enchantress and Slipknot, but Enchantress goes rogue and creates a global threat while Slipknot is executed for desertion by squad leader Rick Flag during the squad's mission to contain Enchantress. The squad is forced to rescue Waller, much to their chagrin, as she is attempting to cover up her role in Enchantress' escape.

After the team neutralizes Enchantress, freeing Moon from her possession, Waller rewards most of its members except Captain Boomerang with 10 years reduced from their sentences and various gifts. She later meets in-person with Bruce Wayne, giving him classified government documents on several metahumans including Arthur Curry and Barry Allen so he can recruit them for his own team, in exchange for Wayne protecting her reputation and concealing her involvement with Task Force X.

#### Destroying Project Starfish

Waller deploys two Task Force X groups in Corto Maltese following a coup to disrupt the country’s "Project Starfish", revealed to be a mission to conceal America’s role in the project. The first squad, led by Flag and also including Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, and several others, attacks via amphibious warfare and save for Flag, Quinn, T.D.K., and Weasel, is annihilated by Corto Maltese defenses, with Flag being rescued by the local rebellion group, the Freedom Fighters, Quinn being captured by the military and T.D.K. and Weasel being left for dead but still had survived. Waller personally executes teammate Savant for desertion by remotely detonating an explosive planted in his head. The second squad, consisting of Robert DuBois / Bloodsport, whom Waller personally blackmails into joining by threatening to incarcerate his daughter Tyla, Chris Smith / Peacemaker, Cleo Cazo / Ratcatcher 2, and Abner Krill / Polka-Dot Man, infiltrates while the Corto Maltese military is distracted by the first squad.

As the second squad rescues Flag and Quinn before converging on the location of Project Starfish, it is revealed by the project's head geneticist Thinker, who had been hired by both the United States and Corto Maltese Governments to oversee the project, that Waller had assembled this squad not only to destroy it, but to scrub any evidence of the American involvement in the project, and that Peacemaker was specifically planted to ensure no one leaked this secret. The ensuing scuffle results in Peacemaker remorsefully killing Flag and almost killing Cazo before Bloodsport subdues him, in addition to Starro, the giant, starfish-like alien at the center of "Project Starfish", breaking out and wreaking havoc on the island. Waller orders the remaining squad members to evacuate, but they defy her orders out of concern for Corto Maltese's citizens. Enraged, Waller threatens to execute them all before her subordinate Flo Crawley knocks her out and, along with the tactical support team, including Emilia Harcourt and John Economos, give the squad the go-ahead to save Corto Maltese from Starro. After they kill the giant alien, Bloodsport is able to negotiate with Waller to let the squad go free along to still drop his daughter's incarcerate, using the evidence he took of the American involvement in Project Starfish as a bargaining chip.

#### Project Butterfly

Several months after Project Starfish, Waller commissions a new team to contain an extraterrestrial threat, an alien race called the Butterflies, with Clemson Murn assigned to lead and Peacemaker assigned after his recovery, unknown to her that Murn is killed and controlled by a rogue Butterfly named Ik Nobe Lok. As punishment for their insubordination during Project Starfish, Economos and Harcourt are also assigned by Waller, much to their chagrin as they feel as if they are being forced to "babysit" Smith. Waller's daughter Leota Adebayo, also assigned to the team, is conflicted between following her mother's orders to incriminate Smith and her bond with him. She asks her mother for aid when Smith's team finds the "cow" of the Butterflies, after which Waller summons the Justice League, albeit too late. Leota, becoming disillusioned with her mother, later leaks Waller's involvement with both Project Butterfly and Task Force X, clearing Smith's name and putting a shocking Waller in a predicament in the process.

#### Release of Teth-Adam

After Teth-Adam is awakened from a 5,000-year slumber in Kahndaq, Waller contacts Carter Hall / Hawkman and the Justice Society, dispatching them to contain Adam and prevent him from potentially unleashing another rampage for which he was imprisoned by the Council of Wizards. After coming to terms with Adam and facing off against Intergang, the Justice Society take in Adam, who surrenders out of remorse and feeling unfit to be a hero. However, Adam is broken out of his containment by Kent Nelson / Doctor Fate and helps save the country from Sabbac. Waller contacts Adam, who has now adapted the more modern name Black Adam, warning him not to leave Khandaq and sending a since-resurrected Superman to have a word with him.

### DC Universe

#### Forming the Creature Commandoes

In the continuity set after the events of *The Flash*, this intergation of Waller assembles a black ops team of monsters consisting of Rick Flag Sr., Nina Mazursky, Doctor Phosphorus, Eric Frankenstein, the Bride of Frankenstein, G.I. Robot, and Weasel.

## Appearances

* Suicide Squad - Viola Davis
* The Suicide Squad - Viola Davis
* Peacemaker - Viola Davis
* Black Adam - Viola Davis
* Creature Commandos - Viola Davis
* Waller - Viola Davis

## Reception

Mark Birrel of *Screen Rant* ranked Amanda Waller in *Suicide Squad* the best villain in any DCEU film, looking at the films up to 2019. He writes "Viola Davis' turn as the fan-favorite character produced the DCEU's most human, and most cunning, villain in what has been their most critically reviled effort yet. Davis manages to outshine some of the biggest, brightest, loudest stars in an almighty ensemble movie that's chock-full of conflicting motivations and personalities." He also notes that her unwavering confidence and ruthlessness makes her the perfect "don" of the Suicide Squad. Darren Mooney writes in a review of the film's sequel *The Suicide Squad* that Waller's character and "spymaster archetype" had been deconstructed in the film, due to factors such as having a less dominating presence in the sequel in favor of the second Suicide Squad's members and being more mistake-prone, making errors such as erroneously sending Weasel on an amphibious assault when he is unable to swim and being out-maneuvered by Bloodsport in the film's climax. Mooney also describes Waller as the DCEU's counterpart to Nick Fury of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, continuing to say that like Fury, Waller is "another seemingly mortal character manipulating the superheroes around her within a military framework."

After the release of the film *The Woman King*, which starred Viola Davis, Renaldo Matadeen of *CBR.com* wrote in 2022 that the DCEU was "wasting" her portrayal of Amanda Waller, given Davis' strong performance in the film. Matadeen argued that the DCEU should have portrayed more angles of Waller's character instead of having her "being put in a box in the *Suicide Squad* and *Peacemaker* properties, where she barks orders from the Task Force X headquarters", also calling her nothing more than a "corporate shill for the government" aside from when she met Bruce Wayne and came off as "quite scary" in *Suicide Squad*.