Amanda Waller

"*Hey, all that stuff about his kid... you wouldn't really do that, right?*"
"*You don't know half of what I would do, John.*"
—John Economos and Amanda Waller[src]
**Amanda Waller** is a high-ranking official of the United States Government and the Director of A.R.G.U.S.. She has ties to several espionage and law enforcement agencies, and is the commanding officer for the expendable field team Task Force X.

Waller was informed about a coup in Corto Maltese, running the risk that information about the U.S.' participation in illegal experiments at the Jotunheim base would be made public to the world. In retaliation, Waller again recruited Task Force X on a mission to destroy all records of Project Starfish, causing the Jotunheim base to be destroyed, but freeing the beast known as Starro in the process. After the team rebelled to stop Starro and Waller was knocked out by her assistants, she was forced to negotiate with Bloodsport so that the records were not revealed in exchange for the freedom of the team.

Still having an operation to accomplish, Waller hired Clemson Murn to lead a new team, while rescuing one of the Task Force X members, Peacemaker to be re-recruited. In revenge for being betrayed, Waller also sent her former assistants Emilia Harcourt and John Economos to get involved in Project Butterfly and offered her daughter, Leota Adebayo to join the mission. In the aftermath of Project Butterfly, Leota made Waller's underhanded operations publicly known.

## Appearances

### Appears in

The Suicide Squad
Peacemaker (TV Series)
Creature Commandos (TV Series) (unrelased)
Waller (unreleased)
Superman: Legacy (unreleased)

## Biography

### Early life

#### Director of A.R.G.U.S.

Amanda Waller at some point became the Director of A.R.G.U.S. and swiftly built up a fearsome reputation for herself, being nicknamed "The Wall" due to how ruthless, dominating, and unrelenting she is when dealing with others. As a result, many frightening stories about Waller are told by those who have encountered her (as a warning), but practically everyone disbelieves them until dealing with her personally. Waller, therefore, is one of the most feared and respected people in the US government.

At some point she had a daughter named Leota. Waller wanted Leota to follow her steps and join A.R.G.U.S. but Leota rejected the offer every time Amanda pressured her about it. Despite this causing tension between the two, Amanda and Leota continued to be in good terms with each other. At some point, Waller ordered the creation of Task Force X Black Site under the sea in Antarctica, where various dangerous metahumans began to be imprisoned.

### 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]
Waller was informed of a violent military coup on the nation of Corto Maltese with the country's new dictator being a man named Silvio Luna with anti-American sentiment. According to Waller's intel, Luna intended to take control of Project Starfish and use it to declare war against America. Waller came to the conclusion that Project Starfish must be destroyed, for that purpose she reactivated Task Force X with the goal of destroying the Nazi laboratory Jotunheim where Project Starfish was held.

Before the mission, Waller asked Bloodsport to join Task Force X, When he refused, Waller threatened to incarcerate his daughter, forcing Bloodsport to comply. Waller gathered two separate Task Force X teams to participate in the mission, one team led by Bloodsport was meant to be the true team that would carry the mission while the second team which was composed primarily of weak individuals would be unknowing cannon fodder intended to distract the Corto Maltese army while the real team infiltrated the island unopposed.

Waller decided to put Rick Flag on the cannon fodder team after he made fun of her outfit one time out of spite. Before the teams left to Corto Maltese Waller made a backhanded deal with Peacemaker where she would fully pardon his crimes as long as he prevented any evidence of USA's involvement with Project Starfish from going public.

Waller did not inform anyone besides her mission control staff that she had assembled two separate Task Force X teams, leading each team to believe they were arriving at Corto Maltese at alone unaware of the other team's presence. Following Waller's plan the cannon fodder team was ambushed and then massacred by the Corto Maltese army as soon as they arrived on the beach while Bloodsport and Peacemaker's team landed on another nearby beach without any soldiers to give them trouble.

Rick Flag was a member of the first team who joined the initial battle with both of them being captured by different factions. Waller instructed the other team to rescue Flag before proceeding with the mission, instructing them to kill anyone who would seem like a threat without hesitation. Waller's instructions would cause Task Force X to murder most of Corto Maltese's freedom fighters, who had rescued Flag rather than kidnapping him, despite that Flag convinced the freedom fighters to assist Task Force X in infiltrating the capital city of Corto Maltese where Jotunheim was located.

Whilst Task Force X succeeded their quest to destroy the lab, Waller came under fire from the squad when they found out the truth that the United States government were the true perpetrators of Project Starfish; American astronauts were the ones who discovered and captured the starfish-like alien lifeform that would be dubbed "Starro" in the first place and the government arranged for the illegal experiments on Starro to be conducted on Corto Maltese. Task Force X's real mission was only to destroy any evidence of USA's involvement with Project Starfish to avoid any liability should Starro be used to cause any international crisis. Flag intended to release all the incriminating evidence to the press only for Peacemaker to kill Flag due to his deal with Waller. Bloodsport defeated Peacemaker and obtained the hard drive containing all the evidence that flag died in order to obtain, when Starro broke free from its prison and escaped to the surface.

*"Turn back now, goddammit! What're you doing, Task Force X?! Fuck! Turn around now, goddammit! Useless pieces of shit! Motherfucker! Goddammit, Task Force X! This is your last motherfucking warning!"*
―Amanda Waller to Task Force X
The few surviving members of Task Force X insisted that they should stop Starro's rampage, only for Waller to tell the Squad that their mission had been completed and Corto Maltese was no longer an ally of the America, therefore the government no longer cared if Starro killed everyone in the island. Task Force X refused to walk away from the crisis and committed full-blown mutiny, with every known surviving member turning around to deal with Starro, knowing full well the risks they faced of being killed. Waller became enraged and ordered all their attached explosives to be activated while she angrily yelled and cursed at Task Force X for their insubordination. Just as she was about to execute the entire squad, Waller's aide Flo Crawley knocked her out cold with a golf club so that the mission control could aid the squad in order to save the people of Corto Maltese.

The squad ultimately came out victorious in their battle against Starro, followed by Bloodsport blackmailing Waller into letting them go free under the threat of releasing all the incriminating evidence linking the government to Jotunheim. Waller reluctantly agreed in shame simply claiming that she had turned Bloodsport into a leader.

### Project Butterfly

#### Forming a new Task Force

*"This is the guy Waller's giving us? I told you she's fucking us.""She's not fucking us.""Is that an eagle in his backseat?""She's fucking us."*
―Emilia Harcourt, Clemson Murn, and Leota Adebayo[src]
In the aftermath of the entire fiasco, Peacemaker was found buried under the rubble of Jotunheim and was taken to the Mount Rouge Health Center to recover under Waller's orders as she still had other plans for the vigilante and he was the only one who wasn't included in Bloodsport's blackmailing. Waller planned to create an unofficial branch of Task Force X to conduct Project Butterfly, she knew that any attempt to investigate the Butterflies would be shut down by her superiors, forcing her to conduct the mission illegaly by covertly diverging funds from other operations. Waller hired the mercenary Clemson Murn to lead the new team, due to the illegal nature of the mission the team had to work with very limited resources, so Waller had her staff assigned Emilia Harcourt and John Economos, to look after Peacemaker and participate in the mission as payback for them turning against her.

#### Recluiting her daughter

*"Well, why the fuck did you even come?""Because I lost my job and my mother offered me this one!"*
―Emilia Harcourt and Leota Adebayo[src]
Around the same time Waller's daughter Leota Adebayo had lost her job, when Waller found out about it she offered Leota a job at Project Butterfly which Leota reluctantly agreed due to needing the money despite knowing that it was yet another of Waller's attempts to recruit Leota into A.R.G.U.S.. Waller prepared a forged diary of Peacemaker which contained fake evidence meant to incriminate him for whatever crime her undercover team would commit throughout Project Butterfly. Waller instructed Leota to sneak the fake diary on to Peacemaker's house so that the police could find it later.

#### Call to Leota

*"Empathy in this business, Leota, that would make you kill.""Yea, well, it doesn't really matters, that's it? I appreciate it but after this job is done, Keeya and I will be back to our feet, and I'll find a job that I actually like."*
―Amanda Waller and Leota Adebayo[src]
Once the team recruited Peacemaker, Leota made a call to her mother at night, while they talked, Leota commented on her teammates, Clemson Murn, John Economos and Emilia Harcourt. When Adebayo asked if they should tell them the whole plan, Waller told her no since she was the only person she trusted, Waller then asked her daughter if she had the fake diary, to which Adebayo showed it to her, so that Waller gave her the instructions on how to leave it in the trailer. Waller then asked her what she thought of as Peacemaker, to which Adebayo said that he was quite a character, however she also felt some sadness in him. Waller then warned her that in this job empathy would cost her life, Leota told her that when the mission is over she would return to her normal life since she was not made for that. Waller remarked that Leota was "wasting her talents" by not joining her at A.R.G.U.S. full time, but then she had to leave to go sleep and said goodbye to her daughter, ending the call.

#### Sending Caspar Locke

*"Waller said you needed my help."*
―Caspar Locke to Clemson Murn[src]
Early into Project Butterfly Peacemaker killed Annie Sturphausen who turned out to be a Butterfly herself, this prompted the Evergreen Police Department began an investigation on the murder which would put the entire operation in danger if Peacemaker were to be arrested. In response, Waller contacted Caspar Locke to inform him that Clemson Murn required his aid in keeping the Evergreen Police off Peacemaker's tracks for the time being by posing as the captain of the Police Department so that he could intercept any evidence that would prove Peacemaker's guilt. During one of the team's missions Harcourt informed the rest of the team of the illegal nature of their operations. The forged diary was used against Peacemaker earlier than Waller had anticipated when the Butterflies took over the entire Evergreen Police Department including Locke who had retrieved the diary. The incident also forced Leota to reveal that she's Waller's daughter.

#### Exposed to the world

*"What the fuck?"*
―Amanda Waller[src]
A few days later Leota called for a press conference where she publicly leaked all of Project Butterfly's secrets, cleared Peacemaker's name by clarifying that the incriminating diary was a forgery, and leaked the existence of Task Force X also revealing Amanda Waller's involvement with the program. Waller watched the press conference on TV through the KWUE news channel, shocked by the turn of events.

## Personality

She was also willing to disobey her superiors in order to fight against the Butterflies, which she perceived as a threat, by illegally directing an unofficial Task Force X under the radar. Along with that, she also posthumously respects Superman's benevolence and selflessness despite seeing his level of power as a threat, fondly acknowledging that he shared many of humanity's beliefs and appearing offended when her normal composure was mistaken by a lack of care for his death. She is also very patient and tolerant with the eccentric personalities of the new Suicide Squad, calmly responding to Cleo's "question" and Nanaue's "response", although her patience does have it limits, like when she went to Cleo's solitary cage and obligated her to wake up by yelling her to "move her ass". The same goes to her subordinates, withstanding that they do bet about which one of the Task Force X members will die first.

Amanda shows a significantly more amoral and corrupt side of herself during the mission of Corto Maltese, not only threatening to send Bloodsport's daughter to Belle Reve over a minor crime to blackmail him into joining Task Force X, but also sending two separate teams to Corto Maltese without informing either team, and using one of the teams as cannon fodder to distract the Corto Maltese military while the other team infiltrated the island disregarding that the cannon fodder team was being massacred. Waller demonstrated a vindictive and somewhat petty side of herself when she assigned Rick Flag into the cannon fodder team simply because Flag made fun of her outfit once and did so without informing him that he was on the suicidal team. Waller likewise lied to everyone except Peacemaker about the true nature of the mission, while bargaining with Peacemaker to pardon all his crimes as long as he prevents anyone from finding out that America was behind Project Starfish even if it meant killing the other team members including Rick Flag. Even though Peacemaker did technically succeed in his secret mission, Waller refused to maintain her side of the bargain and forced Smith to continue participating in Task Force X operations afterwards. She also punished John and Emilia, forcing them to work with Peacemaker due to "going against her" in the mission of Corto Maltese.

When Starro escaped from its captivity and went on a rampage killing thousands of people, Waller dismissively claimed that it was "not their problem" anymore as long as America's involvement in the incident had been covered up, demanding the few Taskforce X members still alive to just walk away from the crisis and let everyone on the island die. When Task Force X disobeyed her orders, Waller lost her composure and went into a full meltdown, angrily yelling and cursing everyone and threatening to kill them for trying to stop Starro, even though Starro's rampage was directly her fault in the first place.

Amanda would get her comeuppance for her corrupt behaviour when Bloodsport used the evidence of Project Starfish that Flag died trying to obtain in order to blackmail her into letting everyone in Task Force X go away unpunished for their defiance of her orders and avenging Flag's death which was also directly caused by Waller's underhanded deal with Peacemaker to which she simply claimed that she "made a leader out of Bloodsport".

Waller pressured her daughter, Leota Adebayo to join A.R.G.U.S. and follow in her own footsteps, making comments that Leota was wasting her talents by not joining her, something that left Leota visibly troubled over afterwards. Leota implied that; Waller had attempted to recruit her to A.R.G.U.S. several times over the years. Despite pushing Leota toward a career that doesn't interest her, Waller does seem to care about her daughter, offering her a job when she was struggling to get on her feet; which Leota appreciated. Waller has also stated that Leota was the only one she could trust with the true purpose behind Project Butterfly.

Waller, despite her serious and civilized attitude, is very foul-mouthed when stressed and can say the cruelest swear words one can think of. For example; when the members of Task Force X disobey her orders to leave Corto Maltese, she draws out her more impolite side by harshly insulting them.

## Relationships

* Keeya Adebayo - daughter-in-law
* A.R.G.U.S. - subordinates
	+ Clemson Murn †
	+ Emilia Harcourt
	+ John Economos
	+ Briscoe
* Cray
* Caspar Locke †
	+ Digger Harkness/Captain Boomerang †
	+ Abner Krill/Polka-Dot Man †
	+ Gunter Braun/Javelin †
	+ Richard Hertz/Blackguard †
	+ Mongal †
	+ Weasel
	+ Brian Durlin/Savant † - victim
	+ Cory Pitzner/T.D.K.
* Robert DuBois/Bloodsport - attempted killer and former manipulatee
* Cleo Cazo/Ratcatcher 2 - former manipulatee
* Nanaue/King Shark - former manipulatee
* Rick Flag † - manipulatee, subordinate and indirect victim
* FBI agents † - subordinates turned victims
* Starro † - target
* Corto Maltese Armed Forces
	+ Silvio Luna †
	+ Mateo Suarez †
* Flo Crawley - former subordinate turned enemy
* Butterflies
* Christopher Smith/Peacemaker - willing ally and subordinate turned incriminatee

## Trivia

* Amanda Waller is one of the extremely few individuals who know Batman's secret identity.

## Behind the scenes

* Oprah Winfrey and Octavia Spencer were the other two front runners for the role of Amanda Waller alongside Viola Davis.
* Viola Davis signed a three-film contract in her role as Waller starting with James Gunn's *The* *Suicide Squad*.
* Amanda Waller in the DC Universe is the first live-action incarnation of the character, following incarnations portrayed by Pam Grier, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Angela Bassett.

## References

1. ↑ DC (@DCComics) - Twitter
2. ↑ Gunn, James (writer & director) (January 13, 2022). "Best Friends, For Never". *Peacemaker*. Season 1. Episode 2. Max.
3. ↑ Gunn, James (writer and director) (August 6, 2021). *The Suicide Squad*.
4. ↑ *The Suicide Squad* post-credits scene
5. ↑ Gunn, James (writer & director) (January 13, 2022). "A Whole New Whirled". *Peacemaker*. Season 1. Episode 1. Max.
6. ↑ Gunn, James (writer) & Rodriguez, Rosemary (director) (January 27, 2022). "Monkey Dory". *Peacemaker*. Season 1. Episode 5. Max.
7. ↑ Jump up to:11.0 11.1 Gunn, James (writer & director) (February 17, 2022). "It's Cow or Never". *Peacemaker*. Season 1. Episode 8. Max.
8. ↑ Gayden, Henry (writer) & Sandberg, David F. (director) (March 17, 2023). *Shazam! Fury of the Gods*.
9. ↑ "Suicide Squad's Viola Davis Has A Three Picture Deal" - ComicBook.com

## External links

The **DC Universe Wiki** has a collection of images and media related to **Amanda Waller**.

* Amanda Waller on DC Database
* Amanda Waller on Wikipedia